Portfolio

Design Signatures:
Building and Evolving a 500+ Page Design Thinking Website

Overview

Before

After

Role

UX Designer & UX Researcher (Junior → Sole Owner)

Timeline

May 2022 – December 2025 (3.5 years)

Team

Summer 2022: Soraya Barar + Me; Autumn 2022-2025: Solo

Challenge

Transform 20+ years of design education research into an accessible platform, then evolve it based on user feedback

Open Website

The Challenge

Technical
Challenge

Mission

How might we transform decades of dense design education research into an engaging, accessible digital experience?

Conveying the critical importance of design awareness in engineering education

Key Outcomes

✓ Progressed from junior designer to sole platform owner managing 500+ pages across multiple programs
✓ Led comprehensive redesign to address 3 years of accumulated user feedback
✓ Designed and tested 22 teaching resources adopted by T20 engineering programs
✓ Created scalable information architecture supporting complex CMS collections in Webflow

Lessons Learned

What I learned about design at scale:

IA requires constant iteration — What works for 50 pages breaks at 500
User feedback accumulates — Patterns emerge over time that aren't visible immediately
Systems thinking matters — Designing for maintainability and knowledge transfer from day one

My growth as a designer

Rising from Junior Designer to Platform Owner taught me strategic thinking, self-management, and the confidence to make decisions that impact hundreds of users across institutions.

Act 1: Launching a Multi-Program Platform

Information Architecture at Scale

In May 2022, I joined the project during low-fidelity prototyping. I owned the complete IA, evolving it through 3 iterations to support 500+ pages. This required balancing multiple program areas while maintaining clear navigation.

The IA in Figures 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 spanned four months and two rounds of user testing. We steadily included more and more curriculum content until the final launch in September 2022 (Figure 1.4).

First iteration
(figure 1.1)

Second iteration
(figure 1.2)

Third iteration
(figure 1.3)

September 2022 Final Information Architecture
(figure 1.4)

DS Info Architecture _ Webflow, September

Advocating for Different User Needs

Our two user groups had separate needs:

Educators: Quick access to curriculum materials
Learners: Beginner-level guidance on design awareness concepts

Coming from a student background, I championed the learner perspective in design decisions.

User Testing Insight

Through 2 rounds of testing (surveys + task observations), I identified a critical finding: users preferred organizing by "topics" rather than "weeks."

"From the student's perspective, [using weeks] would get confusing because topics are more important." — Testing participant

This insight first emerged during task observations, when I noticed participants hesitating when asked about how they might use the website. They thought that “weeks” meant the material must be used in chronological order and may take a significant time commitment. When we changed our wording to “topics”, participants seemed more comfortable thinking about using the website. It lowered the threshold.

"From the student's perspective, [using the word "weeks"] would get confusing because topics are more important and weeks are a suggestion for how to fit it into a schedule."

Implementing on Webflow

Next, we had to transform our high-fidelity Figma prototypes into a live, maintainable website using an unfamiliar platform: Webflow. Webflow's CMS allowed us to create dynamic collections that could scale, which was vital for our website’s multiple interconnected programs.

Soraya and I used project management boards to divide tasks by program area and complexity, holding daily check-ins to troubleshoot Webflow challenges and share solutions as we discovered them.

Finally, knowing the platform would need long-term maintenance, I proactively created comprehensive documentation covering the site hierarchy and CMS structure at the time of launch.

Website Launch (and post-launch reality)

We officially launched the Design Signatures website in mid-September 2022. The platform went live with all four program areas accessible:

Dear Design's 10-topic curriculum with 198 interactive postcards
Design Signatures App documentation and download
Research and resources library
About and team information

Launch was just the beginning of ongoing maintenance and iteration. Within the first month, I was already:

Fixing small responsive design bugs users reported
Updating content from Dr. Atman's research
Adding new teaching activities requested by educators who attended workshops

Soraya transitioned off the project in October 2022, and I became the sole owner of the platform—beginning a 3-year journey of managing, expanding, and eventually transforming the entire site.

Act II: Sole Ownership with Growth and New Features

Beginning in October 2022, I became the sole designer, managing all maintenance, uploads, and new development. I conducted backend optimization, cleaning up CMS, removing redundant classes, and standardizing our design system and components for better performance.

In Summer 2023, I launched the Teaching Resources section on the website (check out my Teaching Resources case study for a deep dive!)

View case study

Act III: Large-scale Redesign

The Problem Pattern: Things Feel Buried

Over 3 years of iterative user testing, consistent feedback emerged: "The website is so helpful, but things are buried and hard to find without specific links."

For example, "capture methods" were one of the most important resources on the website. As Figure 2 shows, in order to get to a capture method, a user would need to go through 5 clicks.

I had to balance user needs with stakeholder vision. The original design represented years of Dr. Atman's research: changes needed to feel right to her work, not just test well with users. I continuously gathered data (user testing sessions in 2023, conference feedback in 2024, educator surveys) and presented findings in our regular check-ins. By mid-2025, when Dr. Atman began hearing similar feedback from peer professors, we aligned on priorities: it was time for a comprehensive redesign.

What I learned: Sometimes the best advocacy for users is patient, persistent data collection. Building stakeholder buy-in takes time, especially when they're deeply connected to the work.

Getting to a capture method
(figure 2)

The Solution: Complete IA Overhaul

From October–December 2025, I led a comprehensive redesign of the information architecture. We completely restructured the hierarchy of the website, bringing forward or pushing back content based on what was most effective for educators.

The information architecture impact:

Streamlined hierarchy to surface content faster
Reduced clicks-to-content from homepage
Eliminated redundancy in navigation

Check out the dramatic change:

From a complicated and incongruous set of website branches...

... to a simplified structure with clear categories.

Revamped Visual Design System

We also decided to change our visual design system (brand, colors, and components) to get a unified visual language.

The visual design impact:

New accessible color palette (contrast-checked)
Cohesive component library across 500+ pages
Responsive design system in Webflow CMS

I took initiative of visual rebranding, creating logos and banner images that spoke to the mission. Our previous visual branding was more abstract and less consistent. Our new branding focused on our mission, especially the core concept of the "Ideal Project Envelope" from Dr. Atman's research.