Anne Elaouiti
Canadian Space Agency
Role
Product Designer—user research, design, prototyping, and user testing
A government website that was not motivational towards young space enthusiasts searching for information on the Canadian Space Agency website. Making the site more space-themed might help to increase interest.
The Challenge
The Canadian Space Agency is a Canada Government website used to inform and educate young people about space and careers in this sector. The existing site has very confusing navigation which would make it difficult for young users to find what they were looking for. We began with user tests and focusing on card sorting to simplify the navigation.
Meet the Team
Anita Esufali
Assistant Researcher &Â UI Designer
Dave Marseille
Head Researcher
Anne Elaouiti
Team Leader & Head UI Designer
Research
We started by doing research and user interviews to uncover the issues with the navigation and overall site.
We learned that users found the existing navigation to be too complicated and confusing. Users expressed that they want a site that is simple to navigate and inspiring to look at.
Affinity Diagram
Key points of how users felt during our user interviews
"The site is too bland, it needs more pictures to be as interesting as space"
"The site is not that interesting and really should be updated like the NASA site. Now that site makes space look good."
"Would like it if the site was easier to find things"
"Tried to go back to main page but kept clicking on the website logo that takes you to canada.ca not CSA"
"It would be nice if the site was easier to navigate and in a manner that made more sense."
"Too much information that they said they didn’t want to read or was unnecessary."
Design Process
We started by card sorting the existing site's navigation while also creating a site map and user flow to map out the direction of the redesign.
Using this direction I created a mobile wireframe with a focus on the new simplified navigation and a focus on adding space-inspiring images to the hero image. I also created a style guide and tile to help direct the design decisions that would occur during the prototyping phase.
User Testing
Armed with the wireframes I took them and conducted user testing to uncover the thoughts users had about the redesign. I learned that users found the site simple to navigate but pointed out that the design seemed to be outdated. With this in mind, I tried to update the design to suit a more modern design that is in line with a government website.
Statistics
100%
of participants expressed that they would want the site to be easier to navigate
80%
Would be willing to use the existing site if they had some guidance
6
of user interview participants said the existing CSA site is confusing with too many pages
Prototyping
After analyzing the results of the user testing, I took the feedback to create a high-fidelity prototype. I decided to stick to a grey colour scheme to not be too overwhelming in a darker black or lighter white colour scheme.
I conducted more user testing to aid in the final design decisions. This really helped me make the decision to stick to a darker colour scheme for the homepage as the feedback I got was the grey made the design look outdated.
Prototype
Final Product
The End
The existing website has a lot of potential, but there are areas where it can be improved by simplifying the navigation to make it easier for all users to navigate and to inspire young space enthusiasts. My aim was to show the potential of what could be done to simplify navigation and inspire the young.
For the future, if the Canadian Space Agency focused on simplifying their existing extensive navigation and on building a social media presence this might help increase overall interest.
Pandemic Health and Safety Information (PHSI)
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