Dept of Education, Science & Training
Australian Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) website Home page
DEST engaged Hiser to redesign its main corporate website, to:
- make navigation easy for both frequent and first-time visitors, including links to DEST’s many special-purpose websites
- meet the information needs of a wide variety of Australian and international users, including students, education professionals, administrators and researchers
- complement the capabilities of a new content management system.
What we did: every step of the way
- Analysis of stakeholder goals and user requirements (including online user survey)
- Information architecture, including full site structure and an extensive menu system
- Interface design, including page templates for all levels of content
- Visual design concepts (final visual design was undertaken by DEST)
- Electronic prototype (built by a subcontractor to our specifications)
- Comparative usability testing of prototype and current site
- Design documentation and content migration plan
- Technical and business impact consulting.
Result: pathways to discovery
The new design offers multiple pathways to cater for different users, with extensive cross-links to relevant detail and related topics, and a consistent description framework for standard content types.
Comparative usability testing with the prototype showed the new design performed better than current site, and was preferred by users. In particular, the prototype scored well in terms of ease of finding information, efficiency of navigation, and user satisfaction ratings.
