8. Follow the user journey: check the main tasks for each of your audiences
Identify the top tasks that you want your users to accomplish and follow the path that they have to take to get there. See if and when they have to leave the global site. See if they are bounced from one office to another in search of a form or procedure. Keep your eyes open. Because university sites are so often large, with each department or office owning its own page and information, it’s common to find duplicate, contradictory, missing, or incomplete information. Follow the journey, starting at different entry points, and see what you learn. If you’re already using personas, test them out. Better yet, do some quick user testing. (Testing doesn’t have to be expensive. And, by testing with just 5 users, you can uncover 85% of the issues).
"Whether working for a large corporation like Nestle, a higher education institution like the University of Strathclyde or a big charity such as the Environmental Defence Fund, I increasingly find myself turning to pattern libraries as the solution to the particular problems faced by these bigger websites. But what is a pattern library, why do you need one and how do you go about creating them?"
