John Zhu

gradschool.duke.edu

In 2022, I led a major redesign for the Duke Graduate School's website. It was the second redesign I have overseen for the site, this one coming eight years after the previous facelift. Just as that first redesign significantly improved the site at that time, so, too, did the 2022 redesign result in some major improvements.

The site's revamp took about 9 months and involved migrating to a newer version of Drupal in addition to a new design. We worked with an external team of developers, who handled building the platform. The page building and content migration were handled primarily by me, with help with several interns. I also worked closely with internal stakeholders and the external team to debug various issues, develop custom features, and plan various steps in the redesign and site migration process.

The revamp resulted in several major improvements:

• A more contemporary look, with more white space, more readable typography, and bigger, bolder visuals, making the site a stronger storytelling tool
• Multiple new features to provide users with quicker paths to information across the site, such as quickstart guide pages for specific user groups, a centralized repository of school policies and forms, quick-link accordions on various high-level pages, and a "contacts for common topics" list
• Several custom-built features (which I developed myself), such as a searchable directory of graduate program directors and a revamped database of funding opportunities
• A more streamlined taxonomy, replacing multiple taxonomies on the old site
• Improved navigation and information architecture

The redesign process touched on all my web development skills, as I did significant hands-on work in user research, page design, UX writing, information architecture, accessibility, coding, and content migration, among other areas. I also managed the budget for the project. The site launched on schedule and under budget, and has received very positive reviews so far from stakeholders.