A not-for-profit organisation providing B2B information and tools to organisations looking to strengthen their online security. Their platform hosts keynote speeches, panel discussions, interactive workshops and tools designed to foster collaboration, educate and upskill. Its content is designed for both experts and realtive beginners.
What did they want to achieve
- Increase in traffic to grow membership
- Increase in service use
- Increase in information downloads
- Increase in Collaoboration both within and outside the platform
The first step was to define the problem statement and examine the current layout of the ISF Live platform and its services. This involved conducting several workshops with stakeholders to identify their pain points and areas for improvement. These workshops were held both in person and online using Fig Jam, where participants could use post-it notes to highlight key issues with the site and its content.
Concerns about the site’s navigability as well as the clarity of its information architecture.
The website suffered from several usability issues that hindered user engagement including accessibility problems
A cluttered and outdated user interface, slow load times and insufficient mobile optimisation
Stakeholders also pointed out specific content areas that needed enhancement, as well as technical issues that hindered user engagement.
The platform included complex navigation
The content organisation lacked clarity
The site also lacked interactive features and tools that could foster community engagement and collaboration among users.
Analysing the ISF Live allowed the team to uncover areas for improvement and opportunities for innovation. The team were able to understand key user experience blockers, identify potential pain points and explore ways to enhance the site's functionality and design.
Establishing familiarity was a key step in designing a user-centered solution for ISF members to effectively problem-solve and achieve their objectives. By finding and analysing key design features, the team and I were able to effectively determine the most suitable elements to incorporate, ensuring that the solution was both intuitive and aligned with the needs of ISF members. This approach allowed us to create a more streamlined and efficient site that enhanced their ability to solve problems and meet objectives.
While the platform was generally responsive, buttons and links were sometimes too small to tap easily, and some layouts did not adjust properly to different screen sizes.
There is no visual heirachy between sections. It' is very difficult to distinguish between primary and secondary actions.
Poorly designed loading indicators leave me uncertain whether actions have being processed.
Mid Manager / Risk practitioner
Users valued clear navigation, modern design and fast performance. Websites with intuitive menus, attractive aesthetics and quick load times saw higher user satisfaction and engagement.
Live chats, discussion forums and real-time updates strengthen user engagement, while strong security measures and good customer support gained user trust.
Well-organised content with good
search functionalities and the ability to personalise content were key factors in retaining user interest.
Discussions with end users highlighted a big frustration in the ISF Live's design interface. With no clear structure and a difficulty searching for things like reports and 1 pagers users felt increasingly confused and frustrated. We quickly learnt that, (if the ISF was to be improved), advanced search options, customisation capabilities and clear communication of security features had to be implemented
After gathering data from our surveys and usability tests the team and I decided to plan a 1 day workshop to gather thoughts and plan out a compelling strategy. We ran a series of 10 min brain storming discussions to collect thoughts before card sorting took place. We sorted our ideas and notes out into specific fields, such as; actions, features, notifications and tasks. We also decided to organise these post it notes into 'must have', 'it's Ok to have' and 'not important fields.
One of the key hooks for the ISF IS the networking opportunity it gives Security professionals. For this reason we knew that we had to give end users the ability to openly reach out to each other and share relevant material. We also had to find a way for individuals to look each other up based on different key words, as well as group categories.
I focused on streamlining the experience for users by optimising key actions like message posting, sending, and receiving notifications. This included refining the workflow for posting messages, ensuring that users could easily compose and share content. Additionally, I implemented a more intuitive notification system, allowing users to efficiently send and receive updates, keeping them informed and connected in real-time. These improvements have made the platform more user-friendly and responsive to user needs.
As part of the redesign, I also introduced customisable buttons to give users greater control over their experience. These buttons allow users to tailor actions to their preferences, such as adjusting notification settings, managing message visibility and personalising their dashboard layout. This added flexibility enhances the overall usability of the platform, empowering users to interact with ISF Live in a way that best suits their individual needs and workflows.
The redesign of ISF Live has been met with positive feedback, highlighting significant improvements in usability, visual design and functionality. Based on the insights gathered, we embarked on redesigning a new product experience tailored to address real-world end-user challenges. Using these insights were able to:
Integrated valuable technical insights to ensure the feasibility and robustness of our designs.
Ensured users could easily navigate and achieve their goals on the platform.
Restructured the content and product architecture to be more intuitive and user-friendly, in turn enhancing the ease of access and discovery for all users.
Observed a significant 28% increase in users expressing interest in signing up for our Membership tools, reflecting the enhanced value and appeal of the new features we implemented.
Increased membership sign ups by 25%, reflecting the improved appeal and usability of the platform that attracted a greater number of new users committed to joining the community.
We experienced a notable 23% increase in user feedback on the ISF Live web forum, indicating higher engagement and user involvement with the platform.
Decreased drop off by 32% indicating that users found the new design more engaging and user-friendly, leading to longer sessions and higher retention.