KnowQuest Redesign
UX Research, Digital Branding, UX Design
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Challenge
Completely overhaul an education brand and website to better fulfill the needs of its users.
Solution
A modern, relatable rebrand streamlined, human-centered interface
Results
The client was extremely satisfied and 100% of users tested reported that the re-design was easier to use.
What's KnowQuest?
KnowQuest is a website that provides university students and professors with a free platform to anonymously rate and review textbooks.
This fall, KnowQuest reached out to the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies at Miami University as a client for my Advanced User Experience class. In a group of 5, we were tasked with performing research, ideating a solution, and designing a prototype to solve KnowQuest's problem.
Phase 1: Discovery
Content Audit
The purpose of phase 1 was to discover as much as we could about KnowQuest, both as a website and as a business. One of the first things we did was look through every page on the site and critiqued them. We made sure to document every single detail we wanted to change so we could test them with users and fix them with our new designs.
Comparative Assessment
In order to get a better understanding of the market, we analyzed 4 of KnowQuest's competitors. We looked at EDReports, GoodReads, Compass and Book Riot. Each competitor had something different to bring to the table and we learned a lot by checking them out.
Phase 2: Research
Usability Tests
In order to justify the changes we proposed in the Content Audit, we had external users run simulated flows on KnowQuest to see what they thought. We tested 2 professors and 5 students. Almost all the users reported that they would have quit the site out of frustration. Here's a recording of our test with Prof. Garrison LeMasters. You can find our test script here.
Persona & Storyboard
We took some of our findings from our usability tests to develop a persona and storyboard for a potential user, Professor Greyson. We created an entire user journey around Prof. Greyson so that we had someone to keep in mind while designing that wouldn't be influenced by bias. It also helped to illustrate the needs of our users to our client.
Phase 3: Design
Mood Boards
One of the first things we wanted to address when entering the design stage was KnowQuest’s branding. A site-wide overhaul demands a rebrand that can keep up with the new product. We started out by creating small mood boards that illustrated potential design ideas alongside thematic imagery that displays the brand’s tone visually. They are all pretty unique, as we wanted to try to get as experimental and creative as possible.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
Brand Assets
This is the new face of KnowQuest. KnowQuest as service empowers students and professors by giving them a platform to rate textbooks anonymously. This power, in turn, allows KnowQuest users to learn and share knowledge with each other. This cycle is embodied in the new logo, with subtle imagery found in a pencil and sword hidden inside the word KnowQuest. Along with the tagline “Knowledge is Power”, this rebrand is a more modern and impactful approach to the standard and sometimes patronizing educational tone. The logo is identifiable even when monochromatic, allowing it to be used in a variety of situations.
Sitemaps
We mapped out each page in KnowQuest before and after our redesign. Our goal here was to create a visual representation of possible navigation paths. As you can see, we have simplified the site layout and grouped specific pages together for an easier flow and layout.
To see the final prototype we put together, take a look at our interactive demo.