Introduction

In close collaboration with First Movement® Inc.'s Design Studio Team, we undertook a complete redesign of Cisco's Network Academy website. The original site experienced a significant decline in traffic and user logins across its various networking programs, with marketing and analytics teams reporting a 42% drop in both new and returning users over the past few years. Our main audience included students, working professionals, educators, and potential partner investors aligned with the Academy's goals.

Role

UI Designer

As a UI Designer, I collaborated with a UX designer to revamp the Cisco Network Academy® website. We aimed to enhance the user interface by refining navigation flows and adding new features and category sections. The redesign included a new navigation architecture, updated iconography, and refreshed color styles and patterns. Our strategic goal was to align with the broader needs of our sales and business partners.

Business Objectives

Our objective was to enhance visibility and accessibility of educational resources for potential students, collaborators, and business partners. We aimed to modernize navigational and architectural flows to ensure a seamless, mobile-responsive experience across the website. By conducting user research and implementing design strategies, we sought to improve engagement and accessibility, making it easier for users to connect with key resources and the Academy's offerings.

Challenges

Navigating the challenges posed by supporting multiple legacy systems, each with limited functionalities on both the front and backend, proved to be a significant obstacle. Coordinating with an overseas development team, I organized meetings to facilitate collaboration. Designing within the constraints of an outdated legacy design system required creating new patterns and components while maintaining consistency with the existing system's aesthetics and user experience.

Duration

Spanning over four full springs.

Team

I worked as the UI Designer, alongside one Creative Director, over two Product Owners, Business Stakeholders, one UX Designer, and two Research Team Members.