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Husky Media Lab
Responsive Web | B2C & B2B | Brand Design
Husky Media Lab is a faculty-led, student-run virtual firm within Northeastern University that integrates real-world projects into the NU experience, connecting our global students.
My Role
Product Lead, leading and mentoring a team of 8 master students
Deliverables
PRD, Competitive Analysis, Statistical Data Analysis, Market Research, Interviews, Surveys, new Logo and name, style guidance, storyboards, high-fidelity website prototype, Heuristic Assessment
Scope
Led a team of 8 students through a summer practicum ( 2 months). The rebrand is about to launch.
Team Members
4 designers, 1 developer, 2 content strategists, 1 marketing specialist, 1 social media manager, 2 program directors
2 Main Tasks
1. Husky Communications aims to expand the scope of services from PR to digital media to attract more
students. The website needs to reflect this transition.
2. Remove brand confusion with Husky Communicators
Solution & Impact
Set design requirements through market and user research, and redesigned the name, logo, and website to unify the brand identity.
A New Vision As a North Star
Unify and expand brand awareness attracting potential and current students to join digital media programs. Meanwhile, we want to evoke their excitement about their’ new adventures and opportunities.
Goals Based On the Vision
1. New Name & Logo
Reflect new branding while maintaining a strong NU connection
2. Website Redesign
Increase the engagement rate from web experience and marketing perspectives
Success Metrics
+25%
Brand awareness
+50%
CTAs Click Rate
+25%
User Engagement
Let’s get started!
Rebranding
New Name - Husky Media Lab
We came up with 10 different names, but “Husky Media Lab” emerged as the top choice not only in the survey but also among team members.
But wait, before we design the logo, what feelings do I want to convey to the audience through color?
New Logo With the Color Theme
I use a simple husky shape to match the NU identity as a whole, along with various versions with different themes to meet different business needs.
It turned out that the whole team loved my design😃, allowing us to smoothly transition to the next stage—website redesign.
At the same time...
Web Design - Market & User Research
Before Diving Into Design...
I analyzed website performance and behavior data using Google Analytics and found short session durations, suggesting unengaging content or visuals.
Additionally, views for the Project Showcase Page are low, likely due to unclear CTAs or misaligned content.
Statistical Data Analysis
We have gathered many insights, but two main ones are directly related to this redesign.
Firstly we have short session durations on pages, suggesting unengaging content or visuals.
Additionally, views for the Project Showcase Page are low, likely due to unclear CTAs or misaligned content.
As the team was new to the project, conducting a survey was the best way to quickly know users, understand the underlying issues, expectations, and feelings about the website and the service.
Mentor and Design the Survey
We designed high-quality questions to obtain the answers we seek. We were excited to distribute the questionnaire to 120 participants over the course of two weeks.
Insights
First, over 50% favor multimedia content like videos and testimonials, likely due to an aversion to text-heavy materials and a need for validation.
Notably, 30% of negative feedback stems from unclear navigation and CTAs.
Lastly, while both qualitative and quantitative data show interest in project case studies, actual views remain low.
However, the survey doesn’t tell us too much about audience’s concerns when choosing a program and their goals.
Interview - “Tell me your goals and biggest concerns?”
Working in sprints, I conducted 10 interviews and synthesized our interview and survey by creating affinity diagrams to derive insights.
"
Potential Students
My main concern is how it will shape me into a better person, and exactly what opportunities beyond the theoretical aspects are available based on my life's trajectory.
I'd also love to have a counseling session before making my decision!
"
"
Current Students
I’m nervous about finding a job, and I’d love to know more about real-world project opportunities!
"
Tell Stories to Stakeholders
We developed a set of storyboards which we shared with stakeholders to bring audience vividly “in front of” them and gather their feedback.
Let’s Set the Design Strategy
Multimedia-Rich Content
Be more engaging and conserve the cognitive energy
Optimize CTA-Related Pages
Improve the conversions
Clarify Navigation
Easily access case studies and other key content
Web Design - Wireframing
Information Architecture & Wireframe
Upon identifying the key user scenarios and defining the challenges to be addressed, we embarked on two iterative sprint cycles to craft wireframes that strategically align with the updated business objectives, while simultaneously mitigating students' concerns and delivering tailored solutions.
Concept Validation Workshop
We gathered everyone together to review the design and gather feedback from design and business angles.
The most important feedback was to clarify the CTAs on the homepage, make pages more image-focused, and ensure we have unique content with proper copywriting.
I led a new 5-day design sprint to revise the prototype through user testing. Then it was time to transform the low-fidelity prototypes into high-fidelity prototypes.
Let’s dive into some important design pages.
Based on the architecture information design, we jumped into
Web Design - Prototyping
What are the Main CTAs?
Join Husky Media Lab
Potential Students
Join Husky Communicators
Potential & Current Students
Become a client
Busniess Collaboration
Dispelling Concerns
The reasons to 'Join Us' based on their real pain points identified in our research.
Multi-Media with Credible Feedback
Authentic and credible feedback enhances the credibility of the team's value.
Envision Achievements
Present specific, successful projects to help them envision achieving similar results.
Feel Relate
& Connected
Share testimonials and videos from current students to help potential students relate and connect.
A Sense of Growth
Give clients a sense that our services can help them grow.
Low Click Rate
The dropdown only shows project names, giving no full impression, which reduces interest.
Remove the dropdown menu and rename "Our Work" to "Real-World Projects" can boost click rates.
The Original Navigation
Wait... Why the blog is important?
According to Google Analytics, our blog has the second-highest traffic, showing that people enjoy the content. I want to leverage this by guiding them to share it on LinkedIn and other social channels to increase brand exposure and potentially attract more students.
Sharing Options
Provide sharing options to drive more traffic and amplify your brand's presence.
Increase Click Rate & Drive Conversions
Not only attracts more readers but also guides them to learn more about the team, potentially increasing conversion rates.
Is This the Best Way for Highlighting Key CTAs 🧐?
Originally we chose this layout because it's a good way to highlight the main CTAs—two key ways to join our program.
However, looking back, I think it would be better to make each section an individual page. This would reduce the user journey to just one click and allow us to convey detailed info that our programs are truly unique and worth joining.
Presentation With Leadership Team
My presentation became the highlight, helping the team clearly articulate the business benefits and how we solve user pain points as a whole.
Two colleagues asked for the link to my slides, showing that my presentation not only communicated clearly but also captured their interest.
“I feel excited about our new brand and new adventure!”
-Kashish, a leadership member
So What’s Next?
1. Conduct the marketing strategy to promote the new brand;
2. Iterat the design based on the feedback from leadership and from Heuristic Assessment;
3. Implement the design on the live website within 2 months;
4. Track user behavioral data to validate the design solutions.
I gained valuable management and leadership skills, but I want to share something beyond that.
Initially, I wanted to handle the key designs since I had more experience.
However, I quickly realized that it was precisely because they didn’t have fixed ways of thinking that they could break boundaries and bring innovation. They taught me a new way of thinking. They also taught me to be more open-minded and listen to everyone's ideas, helping them leverage their strengths as we worked toward the North Star together.
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