Virginia Tech

Problem Statements

Prospective students, like Ethan, struggle with navigating graduate program websites due to their cluttered structure, overwhelming information, and field-specific terminologies. This creates frustration and increases the likelihood of users abandoning their search.

Crucial details about academics, research, and faculty interactions are buried under layers of poorly organized content, making it difficult for students to form a complete understanding of the program offerings.

The existing website design fails to cater to the motivations, goals, and challenges of potential applicants, leading to a disconnect between what users seek and what the platform delivers.

The absence of usability features like error prevention, user control, and flexibility reduces engagement and prevents users from efficiently completing tasks such as exploring faculty profiles or applying to programs.

The current system does not adequately involve faculty, marketing teams, and students in creating a cohesive and appealing platform that reflects the department's strengths and unique selling points.

Phase 1: Discovery

Planning, scoping, and Definition

Competitors:

Purdue

NC State

Wisconsin Madison

Georgia Tech

Michigan Ann

Areas of Concentration:

Research

Learn More

Ethan is considering a graduate degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering to enhance his career, despite coming from a slightly different undergraduate background.

Ethen

Behavior:

He spends a lot of time on sections like Home, Academics, Research, and People, trying to gather information but often ends up lost and frustrated..

Goals:

His goals include understanding the field of Industrial and Systems Engineering thoroughly and finding a program that offers a good mix of theory and practice..

Challenges:

Ethan struggles with the complexity of graduate program websites, finding them intimidating and hard to navigate due to his unfamiliarity with the field.

Pain Points:

His frustration stems from the overwhelming amount of information, confusing website structure, and his difficulty in understanding field-specific terminologies, which complicates the application process for him.

Motivations:

Ethan is motivated by the desire to advance his career in a field that blends technical skills with system-level thinking, and he is actively seeking a program that is both academically enriching and supportive.

Few of the selected Heuristic violations that scored high on the severity scale are shown below, click to see more.