I recently facilitated a series of workshops to redesign content that explains the postgraduate research (PGR) applying process. This process is complex, but these workshops gave us space to work through the content in detail and, crucially, draw on the subject matter expertise of our user researcher.

This blog is the introduction (and conclusion!) to a short series about a mini-project the Content Operations team completed in August and September 2024. Following some established stages of content design, we worked on a short project to provide clearer information on UK government loans for postgraduate study and postgraduate funding in general.

This blog is part of a series on a mini-project the Content Operations team completed in August and September 2024. In this instalment, we talk about channel mapping and drafting for our postgraduate loans content, taking our research and shaping it into workable content we could share and test.

I recently did some content improvement work with the Postgraduate Recruitment team that taught me a lot about the use of standout elements and how they influence user behaviour.

Following designing the new degree finder programme pages, we turned our attention to auditing the undergraduate study site. Our aim was to figure out what content should remain on the site given content changes we have made to undergraduate programme pages.

Testing what we develop with prospective students is fundamental to delivering a new website that is easy to use and meets their needs.  I’ve been responsible for making sure the team gets regular sight of students interacting with our work-in-progress through the course of the development leading up to our beta release.

On 30 April 2024, we hosted an event to showcase the insights we gained from releasing a beta of the new undergraduate programme pages. This post gives a summary of the event, with access to the event slides and recording.

On 25 March 2024, we hosted an update event on the progress our team has made in designing the new postgraduate research page template for the new degree finder. This post gives a summary of the event, with access to the event slides and recording.

As part of the future degree finder project, we recently ran a series of collaboration workshops with colleagues from across the University. These workshops helped us identify any potential issues and refine our prototype for the future postgraduate taught programme page.

During our recent content designer recruitment, I made a few changes to improve our hiring process. One of these changes was introducing a feedback form for applicants. I reflect on what I learned from the responses and actions I want to take to improve things further.