Duke University
Duke Alumni
Role
UX Director
Responsibilities
Design Execution
Information Architecture
Accessibility
Prototyping
Design System
Overview
Duke University is within the top 10 universities in the US. We worked in collaboration with Duke to redesign their alumni hub. The project lasted for about 3 months where we took the project from discovery and research to development, including multiple rounds of stakeholder interviews, and design workshops. We delivered a full redesign of their main Alumni site, and logged in area for both mobile and desktop. As part of our deliverables, we also worked with their development team to create their first ever design system, with clear guidelines and modular components in Figma.
10%+
200K+
30+
100+
Research
When we joined, Duke had already conducted multiple interviews with students and alumni to gather feedback on their current Alumni hub. Our first step was to analyze that data and run design workshops with key stakeholder groups to define the problem statements, design principles and insights that would guide the redesign. These workshop also allowed us to identify alumni platforms or similar membership sites for later benchmarking.
Problems
The interviews conducted by Duke with alumni, students and staff uncovered 4 core issues with their Alumni hub.
The site architecture was based on Duke's internal departments rather than alumni needs
Alumni benefits and experiences were hard to find
Low engagement on alumni groups and class events
Alumni profiles were confusing and didn't offer key information for students looking to network
Ecosystem and Sitemap
With the site architecture rooted in Duke's internal departments, alumni were struggling to find what they needed. We restructured the navigation around alumni needs and behaviors, organizing content around key areas like benefits, experiences, networking and class groups. We developed and tested multiple sitemaps with key stakeholder groups to align on a structure that would make it easier for alumni to find services, connect with each other and engage with the institution.
Robust Design System
As part of our deliverables, we worked in collaboration with Duke's internal team to develop the groundwork and first version of their design system. We created a modular structure with complex components built from smaller base components, ensuring scalability and consistency. Typography and color styles focused in a clear hierarchy and accessibility.
Base Components
Homepage
Duke Travel
Alumni Directory
Alumni Profile
Duke has over 200,000 alumni worldwide. We designed a modular profile template to offer flexibility to each alumnus/alumna to present themselves as they wish, showing as much information as they see fit. A clear information hierarchy allows users to easily identify important details when browsing another alumni's profile. The side tab navigation was added to break information into clear and concise categories.
Navigation
During the research and strategy phase, one of the most recurring pieces of feedback was the challenge of getting to second, third, and fourth level pages. With that in mind, we completely redesigned Duke's navigation: we introduced a meganav offering a full overview of every section, and sidebar navigation on internal pages.
Mobile Nav
