NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY / FINANCE SERVICES
I led the experience redesign of a 504-page finance website, connecting content cleanup, task-based navigation, and reusable page patterns into one service experience.
A central starting point for finance services.
Use familiar tasks to reach the right guidance.
Connect service information with the university’s brand.
THE CASE IN ONE MINUTE
I connected a 504-page audit to three delivery decisions: consolidate information, organize around tasks, and make page patterns reusable.
The audit made content quality and structure part of the redesign problem.
Research and working artifacts support the decisions shown below.
Reported satisfaction rose from 42% to 81%; measurement context appears with the results.
Faculty and staff relied on the finance division’s website to find guidance and complete work. The audit found outdated information, confusing navigation, and overlapping content. Users had to interpret the organization before they could find the service they needed.
I combined the website and content audit with focus groups, usability testing, and satisfaction research. These inputs connected the structural problems to user needs and informed three priorities: reliable content, understandable navigation, and a maintainable system.
Merge overlapping material, update content, and connect related information through links.
Content decisions ↓Use user requirements and process flows to shape the information architecture and entry points.
Navigation decisions ↓Use consistent page hierarchy, navigation components, and HTML guidance to support the journey.
Page-pattern decisions ↓PROJECT EVIDENCE
The site and content audits made the structural issues visible. I used these findings to connect the redesign priorities to specific problems in the existing experience.
I led experience design from audit through delivery and presented research insights and design updates to the finance division’s senior leadership. The PM supported SWOT analysis and usability testing; content, Engineering, and creative partners helped develop and deliver the experience.
I produced wireframes, prototypes, final UX specifications, and development documentation, then continued quarterly performance review and refinement after launch.
PROJECT EVIDENCE
Workshop materials, audience needs, and persona work connected the team’s discussion to concrete user tasks.
The source material identified duplicate and outdated content as a core problem. I merged and updated overlapping information, using cross-links rather than repeating content across pages. Converting informational PDFs to HTML also made guidance discoverable within the site.
Overlapping information and document-based content added effort to finding the right answer.
Updated information, contextual cross-links, and HTML guidance support the same user journey.
I introduced task-based navigation to organize content around user requirements. Journey mapping and sitemap work connected the navigation structure to the steps people needed to take, rather than asking them to understand finance’s internal functions.
STRATEGIC CHOICE
The redesign shifted from a function-driven structure toward a user-centered experience. Task-based entry points and related links carried that direction into the interface.
PROJECT EVIDENCE
Task flows and journey mapping provided a lens for organizing content. The grouping artifacts show how service areas and page relationships were explored.
I used clear headings, prominent calls to action, and navigational components to make text-heavy information easier to scan. Reusable layouts and guidelines gave related pages a consistent structure while accommodating different finance services.
This supported both the user’s next step and the longer-term need for regular, relevant content updates.
PROJECT EVIDENCE
Wireframes and design guidelines made the intended hierarchy and shared page patterns concrete for delivery.
Concept validation and usability testing informed the design before development. Feedback supported the clearer organization and consistent presentation, while also exposing problems with terminology and where users expected to find tools.
Participants described the organization as clear and found headings and tabs helpful for scanning. The “How Do I…” entry resonated as a way to start a task.
Some participants missed tools in the top navigation and expected them within the task entry. Feedback also called for headers phrased from the user’s perspective.
PROJECT EVIDENCE
The original testing record captures both the strengths of the structure and the remaining gaps in language and discovery.
The initial release launched on January 2, 2020. The original case study reports customer satisfaction increasing from 42% to 81% after launch. I continued reviewing and refining website performance quarterly.
REPORTED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
42% → 81%A 39-percentage-point increase.
The source reports testing with target users, but does not specify the survey sample or measurement window. This is a project-level outcome from the team’s work.
PROJECT EVIDENCE
The delivered pages applied a shared visual language across service discovery, guidance, and forms.
The work connected content quality, information architecture, and interface design. My role was to make those decisions coherent for users and concrete enough for cross-functional partners to deliver. Regular review after launch helped keep content maintenance part of the work.
Original project artifacts are preserved at full size. The narrative summarizes the supplied case study; design directions and research feedback are distinguished from measured outcomes.