Prototyping the Digital University

Chris Scott | HeadscapeAnja Hazebroek | University of Hull

Freedom to experiment

Disruption

Collaboration

Testing

Learning

Prioritisation

Selling

Confidence

2014 at the University of Hull•Out of control website•Obsolete, unsupported CMS• 1,000s of pages of out of date and duplicate content•No overall editorial control•Departments doing crazy stuff – FTP access•Website outage during clearing• Stalled CMS procurement project•Web team overwhelmed by firefighting

Hull’s aims•Disrupt business as usual• Kick-start building a vision for the future• Experiment with designing for user journeys• Convince senior management • Convince University staff• Engage with users• Inform the CMS procurement process

Edinburgh’s aimsCommunicate a vision of future student digital experiences

Motivate an agenda for transforming how the University “does” digital

Six prototypingsuccess factors

Visual fidelityInteractivity

ToolsTeam

ProcessLife cycle

Visual fidelity

Interactivity

Tools

Why use a CMS?Interactivi

ty

Interactivity

Content typesDisplay logicTaxonomiesRelationships

MenusBreadcrumbsURL structuresContent workflows

Team

Who to involve?• Start with the web team• Content people•UX designer - wireframe “live” • CMS developer - build on the CMS “near-live”• Someone to critique at end-of-day reviews• Someone to facilitate

What about “business” specialists?

Working environment

Process

Dedi

cate

d se

ssio

n

Preparation Declining momentum

Planned follow-up activity

Wor

k in

tens

ity

Time

Wor

k in

tens

ity

Time

Life cycle

Wins

Confidence in user-centric design approach

Reusable processes and tools for user-centric

design

Ideas “brought to life” for stakeholders

User validation of some

key features

“How would we achieve X, Y, Z, …?” questions for CMS

vendors

Lessons

Minimise the gaps between prototyping

sessions

Document prototype evolution and decisions

Make time to train editors adding content

to the CMS

CMS-based prototyping – not “real-time”, but

worth it

So, to conclude…

ExperimentDisrupt

CollaborateTest

LearnPrioritise

SellBe confident

GET PROTOTYPING

Thank you