USSC: Local think tank, global stage
A re-imagination of this think-tank’s publishing platform, focusing on a tight navigation, sharp search and best-practice editorial principles to ensure the USSC delivers upon its promise of being the undisputed leader of Australian and Indo-Pacific insight into the US.
Overview
The United States Studies Centre, based at the University of Sydney, is a resource for academics & researchers, policy makers, business, media and students, providing insight and analysis on the dynamics shaping America, and what this means for Australia.The Centre has two key streams of content and focus - academic programs for undergraduate and postgraduate students, run in collaboration with University of Sydney courses, and their policy development (think tank) programs. Both attract a different audience, looking for different types of content. With Mike Green, the Centre’s new CEO coming on board, and bringing a new energy to evolve the USSC’s mission, it was the opportune moment to overhaul the current website to ensure it was delivering to all audiences.
SCOPE
Brand RefreshArt DirectionUser ResearchUser ExperienceUser TestingUI DesignTechnology ConsultingFullstack Engineering
Challenge
The existing USSC brand was generally well liked by the existing team, but as it was mostly utilised on physical touchpoints - event collateral, printed books and reports, uni student merchandise - it did not truly sing to its fullest potential when applied in the digital space.
In addition, the previous website felt lacklustre when evaluated with its competitors, and did not do a great job of highlighting most recent research reports and commentary the Centre had released. We needed to showcase their significant, high-quality output, and engage the broad target audience.
The previous site also did not allow for flexibility and was costly to update with new functionality. The user experience across many sections of the site wasn’t modern or interactive, meaning the opportunity for engagement was lost. When looking at the international competitors, there was some work to be done in order to build the credibility of the Centre, and place it rightfully amongst global think tanks.
Objectives
- Evolve the USSC brand and create a digital brand system
- Deliver a platform with flexibility at its core, to enable the next phase of the USSC
- Be the shining example for all think-tank websites globally, through showcasing of expertise (through research & people) and a strong brand presence
- Serve as a recruitment tool for the USSC’s academic programs
Increase dwell time through content with no ‘dead ends’
We wanted to create a seamless user journey for both the student cohort, and those engaging with the USSC as a think tank. We also wanted to create a clear navigational structure which allows people to discover the huge body of research that the USSC outputs. The USSC has a well respected team of influential Experts, a driving force of credibility for the Centre, so we wanted to better highlight them on the new platform and make them easy for media to find when looking for comment on particular Australia-US issues.
Evolving the brand digitally
As so much reading is done on the site, with some reports up to 10,000 words, we recognised that success would rest on establishing stronger design principles to create a better editorial experience. Building on the fundamentals of great editorial design, our new system elevates USSC's presence and credibility in the industry - adding a serif font for increased long-form reading legibility, and re-thinking how screen real estate could be used. To ensure the USSC brand was as strong online as it is on campus, we introduced more vibrant colours to the palette, to complement the brand as it lives across many real-life touchpoints.
The new design system is highly flexible, allowing for a rich variety of typographic and editorial designs; creating an elegant and intuitive user-experience whilst also giving the internal team the ability to create bespoke page layouts, controlled through the intuitive Sanity CMS.
Understanding user groups
After 1-1 research interviews with media, students, government policy makers and academics and researchers, we found out that there was a job to be done in simplifying the way the research topics were discovered on the site, to better align with user needs rather than internal classifications.
Our strategy was to keep the most topical and searched for research areas easily accessible in the navigation, encouraging exploration of the huge body of research the USSC outputs. Another learning from our qualitative interviews was that the previous homepage was dominated by a hero tile which allowed little other content to be shown on the first glance, so we also decided to highlight the most recent and popular content on the homepage, grouped by category.
We developed three key CX pillars to guide our UX:
- Credibility - every article, every resource, has been informed by an expert in the field
- Access - to in depth, focussed commentary on the AU / US alliance you won’t find elsewhere
- Perspectives - a range of both research and opinions on the Alliance to keep you informed
A powerful search and an extensive filtering system helps the user find very nuanced information, to cater to the different audience groups, looking for very different information types. Visitors to the site are able to search via topic, the category, the expert who wrote the content, or the USSC program the content sits within. We also created a comprehensive tagging system, which crosslinks articles and research papers with relevant experts and upcoming events hosted by the USSC, surfacing relevant and contextual content and drawing attention to the breadth of the Centre’s content. For lengthy research papers and reports, we created a sticky navigation showing the article’s table of contents, which guides users through the executive summary and beyond, or quick access back to the top of the page. This is automatically generated in the CMS, based upon the headings from the report, making it very low effort for USSC’s content editors.
From the student cohort, we heard first hand that the previous site did not faithfully represent what life studying at the USSC was really like. Students were incredibly passionate about this ‘tight-knit family’ and wanted the site to show some varied, behind the scenes imagery to encourage other students to enrol - and so this formed an important part of the content strategy and the subsequent photo shoot on campus. The student cohort have a different mindset to the think tank audience, and this section of the platform reflects this, as the tone of the design becomes more playful and leans on the bolder tones from the colour palette.
Content Focus
After 1-1 research interviews with media, students, government policy makers and academics and researchers, we found out that there was a job to be done in simplifying the way the research topics were discovered on the site, to better align with user needs rather than internal classifications.
Our strategy was to keep the most topical and searched for research areas easily accessible in the navigation, encouraging exploration of the huge body of research the USSC outputs. Another learning from our qualitative interviews was that the previous homepage was dominated by a hero tile which allowed little other content to be shown on the first glance, so we also decided to highlight the most recent and popular content on the homepage, grouped by category.
Experts Lead the Way
The USSC has a well-respected team of influential experts who cover a wide range of specialisations across policy, strategy and relations.Throughout our interviews, it was echoed by many users of the site that the experts are a driving factor in the USSC’s credibility, and a point of differentiation from their competitors.
For students searching for course advisors, for journalists on deadline trying to quickly find an expert for comment, and for policy makers attending an upcoming USSC-hosted roundtable, we had to make experts easy to find, easy to surface their related work and research pieces, and easy to contact. We also added feature tiles of each expert where their content appears to build familiarity.
Content Migration
To maintain SEO value, as well as the robust archive of research content the USSC has produced over the years, we orchestrated a migration plan that left nothing to chance. We mapped all of the content types across the old CMS system, and ensured they were accommodated for on the new platform. We then re-mapped all existing categories to the new topics we had worked with the USSC on, to ensure entire back catalogue was mapped to our new topic architecture and no articles were lost. Finally, we ensured that the URL structure was updated to match the new UX hierarchy. Prior to launch, we successfully migrated 9,000 varied pieces of content, from longform reports, podcasts, videos and events from their custom CMS into a more standardised, headless CMS that will be easier for the USSC team to manage moving forward.
“As a research organisation, we are in the business of finding solutions to complex challenges. We needed a website that would allow us to reach our full potential through presenting our work in innovative and compelling ways. Nightjar delivered even more than we hoped and we are truly thrilled to launch this new phase in the USSC’s history.”
