Design Process

Research

Limitations

Our research began with limitations, due to company policy we were unable to conduct user testing with the targeted audience. Due to privacy limitations we were unable to gain access to current website analytics as well as SEO data. However, we were able to gain access to Viasat's existing user personas and it helped us identify who would really benefit from Viasat's service, to help inform our design decisions.

Problem Identification

We gathered user information through other means such as online forums and customer reviews to identify the customer's perspective on Viasat as a company. Our solution to a lack of usability testing was to conduct a heuristic analysis. Each team member put themself into the shoes of typical users and critiqued the website from the perspective of potential customers of satellite internet. To bolster our findings we also extensively interviewed the Viasat team to identify common pain points from their interaction with customers.

Problem 1: A lack of focus on what makes Viasat unique
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Problem 2: Wordiness inhibits effective skimming and a clear mental model

Affinity Mapping

The team individually conducted a heuristic analysis of the Viasat website, before converging together to present our insights on Miro. I personally created the UX flow shown below to highlight the complexity of navigating through Viasat's website, and some of my personal insights in the heuristic analysis include:
1. Unintuitive buttons making navigation difficult
2. Absence of a hierarchal division for text made it time-consuming for users to reach useful information
3. Lack of focus on what differentiates the company from its competitors

Viasat's original UX Flow mapped out showcasing how complicated it was for users to navigate. There were too many options for users to click through which resulted in confusion.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

Key Takeaway: Limiting the amount of information on the landing page not only enables the user to more likely retain information, but allows the business to create highlighted sections on important information that is more readily noticeable.

Synthesis

With our research complete, my team and I understood the priorities of the user and how we could design for their needs. Our synthesis culminated in a final problem statement and solution.

“How might we redesign the Viasat Home Satellite page for better brand and content understanding”

Limiting the content to the strengths of satellite internet will engage webpage users and make Viasat's information more retainable.

After lots of deliberation over the research results our student team diverged into two design teams with the intent on highlighting Viasat's brand through two contrasting design approaches.

One team would retain a more conservative approach in line with Viasat’s core design themes, affording my team the ability to be more progressive and undertake some design risks to push the boundary of what Viasat’s internet page could look like. Under this approach, my team chose to focus on simplifying user flow, readability, and addressing the target audience's needs by radically changing the visualization of Viasat's website.

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Design

To begin designing we first modeled our designs with a visual style guide that followed Viasat's original brand design. Reflecting the elegance and modernistic approach Viasat seeks to offer its consumers.

Iterate

After multiple rounds of iteration, our final design focused on a linear UX flow that would be implemented with a 1 page scrolling design. Upon loading into the website users would be prompted with a 6 question survey to immediately gauge user needs and match them with a suitable internet plan, before users gained access to the rest of the website.

Reducing Wordiness

To eliminate the problem of wordiness,  a drop down menu was implemented to allow users to prioritize the information they wanted to read.

Location-based

Simplifies the user flow by providing personalized plans depending on the geographical location, which allows users to easily know the pricing on satellite internet plans for their location.

Key Takeaway

Working with Viasat has allowed me the experience of understanding the amount of research necessary to establish the needs of a company. This project helped strengthen my understanding of empathy, and the role it has when designing for a persona that one has never encountered. Under the guidance of Director Neil I learned how to navigate through the constraints design projects would not normally encounter.