NASA
The Challenge
Users interested in learning about the universe and space exploration from NASA’s online source need to manage and sort through decades of data collected from 1958 to current day.
The Goal
The goal was to redesign a new web navigation system and a NASA Missions page experience that was both user friendly and educational at the same time.
My Role
I defined the brand and created the style guide. I also facilitated the user interviews, created the prototype, and presented the project after our 1 week design challenge.
Lets explore the universe!
NASA’s Solar System Exploration website is a real-time, living encyclopedia of the exploration of our solar system. The website’s goal is to provide the public with reliable, accurate, up-to-date information about the planets, moons, asteroids, comets and everything else in our solar system. They also provide a complete historical record of deep space exploration.
Proto Persona
Below is the proto persona created after brainstorming our potential users. Having a better understanding of who our target audience was helped our team make better design decisions to satisfy the users' needs and wants.
Guerilla Testing - NASA Original Website
The goal of our testing is to determine if new users can understand and navigate through NASA's original website. The users were tasked with finding information about our solar system's moons and the most recent NASA missions into outer space. We are aiming to test with willing adult users of any age, gender, and background that have access to computers and smart phones. Ideally, we would aim to test with users that are interested in space and learn more about the galaxy. We conducted our testing with these questions in mind:
1. How easy is it for the user to navigate through the website?
2. How easy is it for the user to search for the moon using the most recent layout?
3. How quickly can the user move through the frames?
The first major thing we noticed was that users were having a hard time navigating through the site. The main navigation was placed closely together in the top right corner with other buttons/widgets, which created an inconvenient UX for users. The cards were placed in the middle of the page instead of a left alignment which created an inconsistent placement. From the results of our user testing, we decided to focus on redesigning the navigation bar as well as the homepage and missions page, since the users struggled the most navigating those areas.
Feature Prioritization
Created a feature prioritization matrix to prioritize the features based on our interviews. We found that users wanted a website with more visuals (photos or videos), intuitive navigation, and digestible information to learn more effectively.
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Card Sorting
During the card sorting interviews, I noticed that most of the interviewees were having a hard time placing certain topics. Most of the topics were under "NASA" and "Resources" section. Some interviewees were also not aware of certain words and had to search for the meaning during our interview.
Our Opportunities
How might we improve NASA’s digital representation to create an engaging learning experience so users can learn more effectively and return to the website?
Site Map
After gathering data from the card sorting interviews, we then analyzed our potential navigation and created a Site Map. We decided to add an overview page under each category. We also changed the "More" section label on the navigation bar to "NASA" and divided the information into two sub categories, "NASA Overview" and "Resources/Reports", for a better navigation experience.
Wireframes
We created our sketches based on our site map and transformed them into low-fidelity wireframes. We wanted to create a delightful experience for the users by decluttering the information and adding more visuals. We then conducted user testing using our low fidelity prototype.
5-Seconds User Testing
We conducted three user tests for our low fidelity prototype. The goal of these tests were to fine tune the experience from a first glance perspective. We revealed the design to testers for 5 seconds, then asked what they remember. This told us which pieces of information got through in this short time and what did not.
Initially, users did not like the original bar in the right corner because the letters were too small and close together with other site features. After the redesign, we received overwhelmingly positive feedback on the new layout and redesigned navigation bar.
Last but not least...
I am proud to present our redesigned NASA website; I hope to be able to develop this website more in depth in the future. I also hope to ber able to take this learning experience and help others in creating a welcoming online learning experience as well. Using our test results and multiple rounds of user feedback, my team and I were able to successfully redesign the website and create a seamless user experience.
Final Product
Our team designed high-fidelity wireframes based on our research and testing. After many iterations, we were able to create our final product.
Moving Forward
There is still a lot more to explore with NASA.
Some of the features we want to include are
1. Online Video Courses
2. Developing the secondary pages
3. Building out the mobile application
Success Metrics
To measure success, we will track:
1. Number of new and returning visitors
2. Bounce Rate
3. Average time on page and CTA
Before and After
This website was redesigned in the hopes of creating an engaging and exciting learning experience. Many sources of knowledge have moved from a physical copy into the digital world, so the experience must be a good and easy one so that the knowledge sticks with the users. Along with redesigning the site map, we made the website overall more vibrant and included more images to take up what was white space before. With user testing in mind, we improved upon the navigation bar, redesigned layouts of multiple pages, and restructured the site layout to be more user friendly. Lastly, we developed a mobile webpage inline our redesign so that mobile users can also explore NASA's new site.
Homepage - Before and After
Missions Page - Before and After
Reflection
This NASA project helped me grow as a designer by pushing me to work quickly and efficiently with team members to reach a team-defined end goal. Since this was primarily an educational site, we had to make strategic design decisions to improve the user experience but not compromise information outreach. Through many design iterations, we were able to pinpoint gaps in quality and made appropriate, targeted changes that ultimately lead to a successful product.
