ASCD

ASCD identified a clear need to redesign their website to meet the evolving needs of an increasingly connected educator workforce. Their website had struggled to keep up the pace of change, with cluttered and confusing navigation, technology infrastructure that was siloed and falling behind, and a brand that had become diluted with sub-brands and confusing messaging.
Our objective was to reimagine ASCD.org as a user-first, engaging digital presence centered around their passionate community of life-changing educators, giving them the information, tools and support they need, when and how they need it. We partnered on digital strategy, experience and visual design, UX research and workshops, content strategy and technological implementation.
The project followed best-in-class agile methodologies, with features released and tested with real users for efficacy, and adjustments made based on user feedback. The discovery phase, included user research and interviews to understand the goals of the site's visitors and an audit of the current website to understand how it stacked up against those expectations.
Improved UX and functionality features include:
Streamlined navigation, creating an aesthetically pleasing and intuitive UX
Simplified and clear IA and new meganav gives users easy access to the most important sections of content on the site.
Organized and consistent page structures reinforce this hierarchy and provide an intuitive way to explore content.
A preview that lets readers stay where they are on the site, but still navigate through book chapters, make notes and highlight important sections, streamlining the experience and making it easier for educators to return to exactly where they left off.
Easier access to short form content, including moving the most important information to the top of articles - like read time and an outline of the topics - improves engagement with educators and reflects the authoritative source that ASCD is in the industry.
Pageviews per user session increased 25%, demonstrating that users are more engaged with content.
Bounce rates decreased by 13%, meaning a more efficient and enjoyable UX.