The Masters University
Visitors to TMU’s campus often remarked “this is so much nicer than I thought.” Their former website didn’t reflect the academic rigor and exciting experience of campus. Their online ecosystem became disorganized and TMU site editors had trouble making updates. The overall brand system became somewhat undefined and confusing, with only a limited color palette and fonts to guide them.
Role
Lead Designer
Team
Designer
Strategist
Lead Engineer
Engineers x2
Skills
Product Design, UX/UI
User Research
QA + Testing
Design systems
About
The Master’s University is one of the most respected Christian liberal-arts institutions, all on a beautiful Southern California campus.
UX Challenges
Working alongside strategy, we created a research plan to see the challenge from all angles: How should we design the site so that it helps visitors find what they need, stands out from the competition, and simultaneously feels authentic?
Catering to a diverse audience and showcasing an array of exceptional programs, centers, and faculty, the redesign demanded a focused and simplified approach.
Creating interactive wireframe prototypes illustrated our strategic thinking in action, enabling key stakeholders to visualize the overall structure of the site. It also gave us the space to test, experiment, and validate our UX approach before reaching the design phase.
Research Methodologies
Gathering feedback from current students was essential, as it provided valuable insights into how to attract the next generation of applicants. A key question that revealed a wealth of information was: "What would you do to improve this site?" By posing this question to the university’s diverse student body, I was able to uncover hidden opportunities that had previously gone unnoticed.
Stakeholder & user interviews
Workshops
Competitive analysis
The Solution
Creation of an institutional site and design system that accurately reflected the real life experience of campus life through vivid and intimate photography and video testimonials, a bright and modern layout, and interactive elements. The digital system worked across a large amount of content for the different schools and departments within TMU, ensuring user-friendly editing for a wide array of editors.
Results
44%
increase in admission applicants
Summary of Role
Comprehensive brand expansion focusing on expanded color palette and fonts, layout, photography, and graphic elements.
Collaborated with strategy to create wireframes and information architecture
Led discovery exercises to identify issues and ideate solutions collaboratively with the client
Led weekly client relationship meetings to discuss progress and solutions
Created responsive website design that included:
13 templates
41 content blocks
Ensured quality by leading a robust visual and functional QA, partnering with the development team
Actively worked within client’s CMS to populate content and imagery
The views and opinions expressed by TMU are solely those of TMU and do not represent those of the designer, Brianna Nieman.