For the first time in over a decade, Penn State will launch a full website redesign in February 2013. As part of the planning and development process for this large-scale effort, a team assembled from various departments across the university has been working to incorporate a wide range of research, user feedback, and usability testing into the redesign. This presentation will step through the way research has informed each phase of this process, including early benchmarking, usability testing on the current site, card sorting during information architecture, testing and analysis of the various elements of the feature “slider” area in order to optimize the level of user engagement, clicktracking tests on wireframes and design comps, and “live wireframe” testing (at the time of this writing, the site is currently in development, and we anticipate further testing after launch). This presentation will share the unexpected and anticipated results, along with follow-up actions, throughout the development period. We’ll share testing goals, methods, and analysis, with an eye toward what attendees may want to bring back to their own work. Attendees will gain a greater understanding usability testing and the manner in which results can be applied throughout the process of website development, as well as a feel for the range of affordable usability testing resources that are available.
