UofP | E.L.

Application Center Redesign

The Application Center, the prospective students' portal.

This project involved comprehensive research, testing, and iteration conducted in the University's in-house research lab. The redesign aimed to:

simplify the application process
encourage users to complete lengthy personal information forms
plan for user checkpoints and the ability to save and revisit the application

The UX team conducted extensive market research before ideation and design. We conducted live user research sessions on 14 participants, informing our product's weak spots and strengths, and iterated on the product until it was ready to ramp.

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX

In Greek mythology, the Phoenix symbolizes renewal and transformation—rising stronger with each new beginning. Like the Phoenix, many students are returning to school later in life to pursue second careers or complete long-held educational goals.

Often balancing jobs, families, and other responsibilities, they require interfaces that are easy to use, intuitive, and accessible, allowing them to return and pick up where they left off with ease.

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The redesign yielded positive outcomes, with 11 out of 12 test participants successfully completing the application process. Feedback indicated the experience was "unthreatening" and "not overwhelming," with one user stating, "If I knew it was this easy to apply, I would have done it years ago."

Overall takeaway from this redesign was the value of user research and testing. We uncovered subtle nuances of human behavior that simply do not get captured in traditional research environments.

One of the most challenging—and most rewarding—aspects of the project was making rapid adjustments to prototypes during user testing sessions, often updating designs moments before interaction. Observing these sessions in real time provided valuable insight into the varying levels at which users process visual and interactive elements.

Another significant challenge for the development team was enabling users to upload required documents. This was addressed by implementing user accounts that could store documents within the Application Center.

The mission of University of Phoenix is to provide access to higher education opportunities that enable students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations and provide leadership and service to their communities.

That's the Phoenix way.