ApplyTexas redesign for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
In collaboration with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, I led a team of researchers in a four month-long research initiative, studying applicants to four- and two-year colleges and universities. We sought to examine their attitudes and expectations for college applications in the state of Texas, and to evaluate their experience with ApplyTexas, the Texas common application.
This research ultimately aimed to transform user insights into actionable recommendations for a more equitable, applicant-oriented college admissions experience in Texas.
Our team employed a mixed-method, qualitative approach to this research. We used Vidlet's proprietary mobile diary platform and Zoom to conduct empathy research and to facilitate exploratory walkthroughs of ApplyTexas and competitive application portals in over 100 hours of user interviews.
RESEARCH METHODS
Mobile Video Empathy Research
We first used Vidlet’s mobile diary platform to conduct empathy research. The aim of this research was to uncover applicant attitudes and perceptions of higher education and college applications. In gaining a comprehensive understanding of applicants’ experiences, we can better understand their needs and expectations in regards to ApplyTexas. Key areas of interest of this research include applicants’:
Support system
School environment
Financial awareness
Awareness of the college application process
Familiarity with ApplyTexas
Awareness of competitive application portals
In-Depth Interviews & Site Walkthroughs
We used Zoom to conduct “deep dive” interviews with participants to observe live as they walked through an entire ApplyTexas application. We sought to learn from their interactions with the site, and to learn from the actions that participants might not think to mention in a formal interview. Our primary interests included:
Information architecture
Language and content
Branding and design
UX/UI
Troubleshooting and problem solving
We later employed this same research method to conduct concept testing interviews, where we observed participants as they interacted with our preliminary Figma prototype.
Competitive Analysis
To better understand the landscape of college admissions across the United States, our team undertook an analysis of competitive application portals.
These portals included the Common Application, the University of California application, the State University of New York (SUNY) application, the Common Black Application, and the QuestBridge application.
Each portal was analyzed from a content and UX/UI perspective, and selected participants completed a live walkthrough of each portal in a moderated Zoom session.
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
User Journeys & Personas
We created user journeys and personas to crystalize our understanding of the target audience and to serve as a north star as we developed concepts – always keeping the applicant at the center of our research and design recommendations.
These journeys and personas centered around the following key factors:
Support
Motivation
Knowledge
In addition to the persona slides in our summary deck (pictured on the right), we created videos for each persona from mobile and Zoom user interviews, illustrating these predominant behaviors, needs, and pain points. You can see an example of one of these persona videos below:
Early Concepts & Prototype Testing
Following our first phase of user research, we began to brainstorm potential solutions. I visualized these solutions with early concept sketches. These sketches formed the first building block of the concepts. Refined versions of a remapped application structure focused on: a new order of questions, visible navigation, contextual support, and visual UI/UX.
We then built and revised a clickable Figma prototype that encoded our recommendations and ideas into a revamped application flow. It focused on a single flow – a US citizen, incoming freshman, at a 4-year college – but the responses and recommendations are applicable to the next tasks of flushing out specific technical/development solutions, a new graphic design, and content writing for any user flow (e.g. community college students, transfer students, etc.).
We tested this prototype with participants in an iterative research cycle to continuously refine and revise our key recommendations for ApplyTexas. You can watch some of our concept testing in the highlight video below:
Recommendations Reporting
By listening to all of our amazing participants over these four months, we identified key areas for the next phase of ApplyTexas. As a result of our research initiative, we proposed recommendations across the following five key areas for ApplyTexas to create a more equitable and user-friendly application experience:
Language and Guidance
Application Building & Wayfinding
In-Application Support and Resources
UI and Design
Marketing and Branding
Conclusion
To communicate all recommendations to stakeholders and to a full-stack build vendor employed by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, we delivered a 60-page written report, a full summary deck, our prototype PDF and accompanying annotated interaction map, and over 30 minutes of edited summary videos. Additionally, I presented our team’s findings and recommendations to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and key stakeholders at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a 3 hour interactive workshop.
ApplyTexas is currently being rebuilt based on our recommendations and will be rolled out in 2024.