Utah Tax Commission
Current Website
Project Overview: We identified the website's outdated and cluttered design, prompting us to prioritize improving its visual appeal and aesthetics. The placement of the search bar drew our attention because it restricted accessibility and efficiency. We simplified the navigation menu and created a well-structured site map through user testing and card-sorting exercises. We achieved a unified and visually appealing design by working together on mood boards and style guidelines. We refined the website's usability and made design decisions that improved the user experience through iterative testing and feedback.
Current Website: https://incometax.utah.gov/
Team Members: Niral Patel, Ayanna Poole, Chester Aleman, and Luis Solis
Timeline: 4 weeks
My Roles and Responsibilities: I took on a leadership position for this project, carefully guiding our team toward an established schedule and making sure that each process was fully completed for the best possible outcomes. I incorporated Trello as a tool to keep track of our weekly goals in order to maintain clarity and progress. In addition, we adopted my general low-fidelity approach to guide our redesign's formatting. Additionally, in my role as the project's leader, I actively listened to and incorporated everyone's observations and suggestions, promoting a strong team dynamic.
Tools Used: Figma, Figjam, Trello, Canva, Adobe Color, Slack, Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Google Slides
User Research
Proto Persona
Ben Sanchez
Demographics
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Age: 35
Occupation: Small Business Owner
Hobbies: Hiking, traveling, and spending time with family
Pain Points
The tax website is too overcrowded with information
Too many options when filing taxes
Overwhelmed but doesn’t want to hire an accountant
Potential Solutions
Offers help to file taxes for all of the user’s needs
Easy-to-read instructions A way to check the status of tax returns
Goals and Needs
Financial stability
Organization
Needs to find all tax forms
Reduce business expenses
User Scenario
Ben, the owner of a small, privately owned corporation in Utah, is seeking information on filing taxes for his business. As the sole proprietor, he understands the importance of fulfilling his tax obligations and wants to initiate the necessary paperwork promptly.
Heauristic Evaluation
For thorough feedback, our team chose a heuristic evaluation. We assessed the website using the criteria below. I suggested evaluating the Home Page collectively to create a baseline, evaluating the other three pages individually, and then coming back together to discuss our findings. My suggestions were made to optimize and streamline the evaluation process.
Navigation: Based on our group's assessment, we agreed that, while the navigation appeared effective and visually appealing, there is room for development. Specifically, implementing drop-down menus instead of showing all of the different categories on the landing page will dramatically enhance the user experience and simplify navigation.
Content: The website featured a significant amount of lengthy written content, which was noted. This may cause a problem for visitors who like brief and quickly accessible information. We thought it would be beneficial to investigate methods of presenting shorter, more digestible content that helps users access the needed information more quickly.
Design and Aesthetics: Following an extensive review, it was discovered that the general design of the website was outdated and crowded, missing a visually attractive aesthetic. In addition to the logo, the lack of pictures was also evident.
Efficiency and Functionality: One feature that drew our attention was the positioning of the search bar, which was hidden away in a corner, resulting in limited accessibility and efficiency. The website has actually updated this feature recently.
Accessibity Analysis
“
I’m currently not a fan of the color setup here – the way they blend doesn’t really make important elements pop. ”
“Another thing that’s bothering me is how the links operate. They don’t open in new tabs; rather, they lead to another page within the same tab. This means I have to keep going back and forth. It’s a bit of a usability drawback for me”
Using the current website, we ran five user tests. We presented our users with the situation of being small business owners who had to finish their annual taxes. Only one of every five users finished the scenario; the others required assistance navigating the excessive content and subcategories. I emphasized the importance of creating a script for my team to ensure that we were all on the same page when conducting our interviews and gathering accurate information.
Definition and Synthesis
Card Sort and Site Map
We chose to use card sorting, which provided valuable insight into how people naturally arrange the information. In order to get into their preferences, thinking habits, and perspectives, we wanted users to take an active part. The card sorting greatly simplified our navigation menu. We allowed individuals to have a real say in how things were set up, which made a difference. This assisted us in redesigning and improving the navigation system. Our team decided that developing a site map would be useful after seeing the different categories that were presented on the home page. After the card sorting exercise, we wanted to create a clear hierarchy to organize the data. We were successful in creating a well-structured and simple-to-use site map that significantly improved the navigation experience by carefully organizing and prioritizing the information.
Moodboard
We kicked off our website redesign by having each team member create their own mood board during an individual brainstorming session. This allowed us to explore and express our unique ideas for the project. I personally found inspiration in the image on the left, which helped me choose my color scheme. I used Adobe Colors to extract the true colors from the image, which became the basis for my color inspiration. After completing our individual mood boards, we came together and decided that the colors to the far left would best represent the website and incorporate colors from the other Utah government web pages to create consistency.
Style Guide
We individually developed our style guidelines, and when we came together as a team, we incorporated features from each. This included color, icon variations, button styles, and typography. We created a unified style guide that reflected our shared goal by discussing and combining our thoughts. Our collaboration showcased our ability to blend all of our styles, by creating an aesthetically pleasing and unified design. I suggested to my group that we create cards for our Style Guide so that we have consistent spacing
For instance, we all agreed that the website's buttons must be visually appealing and user-friendly. For example, the buttons turn dark blue when you hover over them to make them more accessible for users. We also wanted to enhance the website by creating cards with images and descriptions that were functional and appealing. This makes it easier to determine whether you wish to learn more about a topic or browse through it. Each card features a button or text link that can be clicked to access a page with further details. We felt these design decisions resulted in a more user-friendly website, which was lacking previously.
Ideation
Prototyping
Low-Fidelity Prototyping
I really enjoy the process of creating low-fidelity wireframes. It's an excellent opportunity to enhance the overall design by applying the knowledge gained from research. Since there are no graphics and only titles, effectively utilizing the page space becomes crucial. To address this, I focused on incorporating images, ensuring a credible hero page, and thoughtfully placing cards. Moreover, I wanted to improve the layout by adding white space, which makes the content more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. As a group, we decided that my low-fidelity prototype would be the most suitable choice for our formatting.
Once we finished working on our low-fidelity prototypes, we transitioned into the high-fidelity prototyping stage. It was a seamless transition because we had already created a style guide and established our design components.
High-Fidelity Prototyping
Card Iteration
As we continued working, we made refinements to the cards on the page, aiming for a clean and minimalistic design that still effectively conveyed vital information to the users. Our main goal was to provide users with sufficient relevant details, reducing the necessity for them to extensively search the website to find what they needed.
To enhance the cards' visual appeal and meaning, I took the initiative to include relevant pictures. Additionally, we opted for a larger button size to improve accessibility and make interactions more user-friendly.
Navigation Iteration
Our main objective was to enhance user accessibility, leading us to move the TAP feature to the top corner. This change enables users to effortlessly access the login page for tax-related tasks and important document searches without searching on the main homepage. Additionally, we strategically placed the hamburger menu on the right side for easier navigation.
Prioritizing the search bar as a crucial part of the navigation was an improvement from the previous home page, streamlining user searches. I suggested implementing drop-down menus, and as a group, we unanimously agreed that this approach would significantly improve user navigation and access to essential information. These menus are thoughtfully designed based on insights obtained from our card sorting process, ensuring a user-friendly and logical presentation of our main titles.
Layout Iteration
We effectively moved from the iteration on the left to the one on the right. We had an extended discussion about whether it was a good idea to include a picture of the Utah landscape in the navigation. We eventually decided that it would complement the Utah.gov theme and bring more life to the page than the original design. Recognizing that the Tax Services section was the main focus of the website, we made a significant improvement by moving the cards to the top of the page for easier user access. I suggested adding arrows to our card carousel to make navigation clearer, indicating to users that they could explore various services within each category.
We stayed consistent with the theme we had been following throughout the process by working individually and coming back together. Each of us brought our strengths to the project, making things effective. We incorporated each other's ideas and provided feedback when necessary during our group discussions. This collaborative approach resulted in a seamless flow between our designs and created a cohesive and accessible website. We aimed to make it easy for users to navigate and find what they need.
User Testing and Outcomes
After completing the high-fidelity prototypes, we moved on to user testing. It was a valuable opportunity to gain insights from a different perspective and refine our development needs. We conducted five user interviews using a script that we all created, ensuring consistency in the feedback we received. We prepared follow-up questions to ensure thorough answers. We received feedback on the image connected to the navigation, which helped us improve the overall flow of the web page. Our user tests went exceptionally well, and users confidently navigated the website. Their feedback provided valuable insights, allowing us to make informed design decisions that enhanced the usability and effectiveness of the website.
Conclusion and Recent Updates
Conclusion
To steer the project in the correct direction, it is essential to continue to place a significant amount of emphasis on user input and ensure that it is compatible with the changing needs of users. To enhance the overall quality of the user experience, we must pay close attention to how things appear and apply significant effort to make them simpler to access and operate faster. The signs of a method that will continue to improve the website's overall efficacy are the possibility of additional user testing and the gathering of additional useful data pertaining to what works and what does not work.