The Problem
WorkSafeBC is a leader in promoting and creating materials to support healthy and safe workplaces in British Columbia. But almost 20 years after launching its website in 1996, the organization realized it was time for a redesign to better meet evolving user needs and website best practices. WorkSafeBC expressed a desire for a more centralized strategy and content governance after its site had grown to more than 9,000 webpages and 18,000 online resources. Over almost 2 decades, WorkSafeBC.com had become disorganized and unwieldy.
As we see frequently in large organizations, WorkSafeBC’s strategic goals, values, and corporate branding became lost through the dozens of different writing styles, design elements, and terminology used on the website. This lack of a unified voice and content governance structure resulted in poor user experiences and a negative perception of the agency, prompting WorkSafeBC to seek a redesign.
The Solution
The new WorkSafeBC.com leverages a wealth of qualitative and quantitative research and user-centered design best practices to better meet audience needs. Information is accessible across all screen sizes and is communicated in a unified, consistent message across all divisions of the organization, better reflecting WorkSafeBC’s values and goals.
Facts & Figures
- 6 Usability studies
- 4 Information architecture studies (1 card sort, 3 rounds of tree testing)
- 5 Personas
- 75 Usability study session participants
- > 58% Task success rate of original website
- 82% Success rate of pre-launch prototype
People Are Talking
User and Employee Quotes
“Your refresh looks amazing!”
“Well done WorkSafeBC. The website looks great!”
“Thank you. We’re excited about the improved experience for the people we serve!”
The Toolkit
Together with our partners at WorkSafeBC, we worked through the user-centered design process and provided a variety of services to meet the final goal:
User Research
- Data analysis of website search logs and analytics, customer service logs, social media, click analytics, and a baseline study
- Internal and external surveys and interviews
- Contextual interviews with stakeholders and subject-matter experts
- Audience segmentation
- User personas and scenarios
Design
- Full-scale inventory of all of WorkSafeBC’s web content
- Iteratively designed, user-tested information architecture
- Low-fidelity UX concepts were user-tested and informed high-fidelity, interactive prototype
- Card-sorting and tree-testing activities to develop and validate user mental models
Visual Design
- Partnered with Wasserman & Partners to provide visual design direction and consulting
Content Strategy
- Content workflow and governance plans
- Content improvement roadmap
- Style guide development
Training
- Survey development and analysis
- Immersive workshops on Writing for the Web and plain language best practices
- User-centered web design and testing
Behind The Scenes
