Early Bird

Digital-transformation update: Student voices drive user experience

Roadrunners help inform, shape, design and deliver a student-centered user experience.

By Kayla Manning and Cory Phare

May 25, 2021

From the beginning of her time at the helm at Metropolitan State University of Denver, President Janine Davidson, Ph.D., has said her top three priorities are “students, students, students.”

That focused priority has endured throughout the digital-transformation process. From the onset, student perspective was a critical factor to ensure that the website-relaunch design was optimized for our top user group: students.

Whether prospective, current or alumni (former students, who in many cases return to further their education), student user experience with all elements of the website has informed layout, usability and content from Day One. And though they are not the only user group considered in the redesign, they and their families/advocates have informed how students navigate the web, what they find most useful and how we can improve the sites.

Throughout the process, a few themes emerged:

• Show; don’t tell: MSU Denver has a rich, diverse student body, each member with their own story. Students told us they wanted to see themselves and hear their own voices. As a result, visuals on the homepage center on our campus and our Roadrunners, including a main video and student-testimonial section.
• Access for all: To more fully align with our mission, we needed to consistently prioritize navigability and access across the entire web infrastructure – it’s the “A” in CADRE, after all. Accessible features are integrated across the web with support from the Technology Accessibility Initiative Committee.
• Clear, concise information: Know when there is too much information. This conversation resulted in a refreshed navigation feature, streamlined clicks to program websites, anchor links and breadcrumbs to get to the right spot more easily (or retrace footsteps).

Thanks go out to the Student Affairs Student Advisory Board, student employees and other students from across the University who provided their input and engaged in the digital transformation.

In their own words:

“As speaker of the Senate, it is my responsibility to advocate for all students. I loved the way the new website is looking because I feel that it will capture a larger audience and it will be more accessible than the current format we have. There were a few things I would like to see changed or added and (the team) truly listened to all of our feedback, so I’m looking forward to seeing the final results.” – Alondra Bañuelos, speaker of the Senate, Master of Social Work spring 2021 graduate

“I am more than excited to see the website reach its full potential; the new designs and layout look incredible, and the new website will be so much more user-friendly and accessible! I cannot wait for everyone to see the change, and as an MSU Denver student going into my fourth year, I can say with certainty that many students and organizations on campus agree with me wholeheartedly!” – Brianna Winkler, Vocal Performance and Biology double major, estimated graduation in 2023