Kelley School of Business Website
A Case Study in User-Centered Design Methods

BACKGROUND
The Indiana University Kelley School of Business is an innovative, top-ranked school that offers a real-world approach to education and inspires top-level success. The Kelley School of Business provides a transforming experience based on a powerful combination of experiential learning, core skills and collaboration.

The Kelley School of Business was in the midst of a major effort to rebrand itself as one of the top business schools in the country. As part of this initiative, it needed to redesign its Web site to translate the new image. The school wanted the new site to not only be visually attractive and functional, but also to offer simple and successful user experiences.

SITUATION
The previous Kelley School of Business Web site was a loosely connected series of Web sites. Over the years, the site had grown periodically without any organization or plan. Each department/program was “doing its own thing.” There was no unified global presence when moving through the various sections and no way for users to know that they were still at the Kelley School of Business Web site as they navigated. There was an inconsistent sense of place and an inconsistent, or even non-existent, brand throughout the site. All of this made it extremely difficult for the visitor to use the Kelley Web site effectively. The Kelley School of Business realized its Web site was in need of an upgrade.

OBJECTIVES
The main objective was to re-organize and rebuild the Kelley Web site into a more useful resource for faculty, students and visitors. The Kelley School of Business identified four major goals:

1) Effectively translate the new Kelley brand to the Web.
2) Develop an effective architecture and navigation.
3) Use the internet for relationship-building. Attract prospective MBA students and visitors by improving the Kelley School of Business image online.
4) Convey a consistent Web presence that builds the school’s identity and brand.

To meet these goals, we worked to establish visual design standards, functionality requirements and usability metrics. Other keys to success were also identified: must be intuitive, must draw people in, must give visitors an “exploration experience,” must give visitors the confidence that they are always on the Kelley Web site no matter which section they are visiting.

PROCESS
Proper planning and organization from the beginning of this project was the most important part of creating an effective Web site for the Kelley School of Business. Finelight worked extensively with the client to establish the scope, budget, timeline, production schedule, basic structure, visual style, technical needs, content, target audience and primary message to be conveyed. The new Kelley Web site was designed and developed in five phases—research, concept, design, production and deployment.

CONCLUSION
The redesign of the Kelley School of Business Web site was completed in a relatively short time frame and on a relatively massive scope. Because of the project’s scale and importance, the client was interested in a design process that would reduce risks in delivering on the project goals. With that in mind, Finelight was able to apply critical usability methods and research techniques throughout the project. The redesign accomplished:

• An information architecture with improved categorization and labeling that achieved shorter, simpler tasks and greater cross-site consistency
• A greater consistency across departments and school regions
• A standardized approach to navigation and global brand elements
• A new brand image for the school that is professional and visually interesting
• An improved design based on Web behavior trends and usability feedback
• Greater accessibility
• A new site structure that makes it easier to implement future design improvements and apply those improvements consistently across the whole site
• A Kelley Web site positioned for future evolution
• Developers that are prepared for next generation access by individual users
• The means to make rapid conversions for updates