DePaul Migration Collaborative: Hub for Migration Research & Advocacy
The DMC website is where students, researchers, and activists meet to address migration issues. It showcases innovative projects, fosters collaboration, and bridges research and action, positioning it as an active place for learning, networking, and bringing change in migration research.
Figma
2-3 Months
Social Justice
UX Designer
Challenge
The existing DMC website is not doing a good job of conveying the initiative's distinct value. Users don't grasp what's special about DMC, there's hidden valuable research and opportunity, and there are no collaborative features. Behind the scenes, technical constraints on what can be introduced make it more difficult for DMC to scale, bring communities together, and have an impact on migration.
Results
Redesigning the website to better reflect the mission of DMC and facilitate engagement. The new site will highlight current research, showcase community partnerships, and bring premier resources to the front. It will also offer clearer pathways for donating, networking, and getting involved—all within a structure that works within current tech constraints while elevating the user experience.
Process
Discovery
From the user interviews and competitor research, we determined the most important pain points: the existing DMC website does not adequately highlight projects, does not have networking capabilities, and has limited resource discoverability. Technical limitations because of Sharepoint also constrain functionality. This hinders DMC from connecting with its community and conveying its distinctive value in migration research.
Ideation
Created information architecture and user flows for each role and turned them into testable wireframes. After refining executive dashboards, PM tools, and team workspaces based on user feedback, we had a solid foundation for development of the prototypes.
Create
Developed wireframes of all pages, including project showcases and community features, with a DePaul-branded design system. High-fidelity prototypes are being user-tested with students and faculty now to lock in usability before development.
Measure
Post-launch, we will monitor metrics such as downloads of resources and community activity. We will use user feedback for ongoing refinement to enable the site to best connect stakeholders and communicate DMC's work.
