The goal was to redesign the University of Vermont's website to ensure scalability and cohesion across the entire online presence of the institution.
One of the first steps was developing guiding principles to steer our design choices. I helped establish and maintain them.
Design for people: Our approach is centered on users.
Embrace accessibility: We champion diversity and aim to provide an inclusive, accessible experience for all.
Build for consistency and scalability: Consistency aligns our visual brand, communication teams, and values.
Design with purpose: Our work is intentional, aimed at informing, engaging, and addressing genuine needs.
After the foundations like principles and atomic elements were established, we started designing components. We based this work on the parameters outlined in a creative brief and a functional description. We co-authored these docs with the communications teams. Requirements were given to us from that team and we would update the docs with things like character and notes about interactions as the designs progressed. This would be helpful later as reference and training materials for the thousands of editors.
We also conducted testing of edge cases to ensure that the components meet content needs and that the design remains intact with minimum and maximum content at all breakpoints.
