About Client
Pratt Institute is a top-ranked college with opportunities in art, design, architecture, liberal arts and sciences, and information studies. Pratt offers nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Since its founding in 1887, Pratt has prioritized diversity and inclusion, welcoming students from all walks of life while developing and sustaining pathways to more equitable workplaces and careers.
Project Overview
The Pratt Institute website recently underwent a major redesign. However, stakeholders are concerned that the information prospective students need before applying to a program is not easily discoverable on the website at the moment.
We conduct an eye tracking test to understand how prospective grad students find the information they need to apply to a graduate program on the pratt.edu mobile website.
6 Weeks | Fall 2022
Pratt Institute
UX Research / Eye Tracking
Eesha Parasnis | Priyanka Gangwal | Vanshika Shah
Analyzed the following metrics: number of sessions, page views, sequence of pages visited
Time Frame: 1 January 2022 - 5 October 2022
Analyzed real-time recordings, website page clicks, mouse movements, and scrolling patterns.
Time Frame: Last 30 days
We used Google Optimize to create our A/B Testing variations. It allows running some experiments that are aimed to help increase visitor conversion rates and overall visitor satisfaction.
The time frame is short to provide quantity and quality data for the website.
Hotjar could not track the Map and Zip Code Calendar, making it difficult to understand how users use and interact with them.
The eye tracking test was conducted using the Tobii Pro program, to observe the position of the eye to understand where the participant is looking and help understand visual attention.
We used Zoom to record participants Retrospective Think Aloud (RTA) in which participants watch a video replay of their gaze and explain the thoughts and feelings they had at the time.
We used Excel to synthesize and analyze the gaze plots, heat maps and video recordings findings. We also calculated the System Usability Scale of the mobile website.
We used Figma to create prototypes and present our clients with our findings along with highlight reels, user journeys and recommendations to make it easy for them to understand.
Browse through the programs Pratt offers and find a program you are interested in. Find the duration of the course and the required courses for the program.
You’re now interested in applying to the program. Find the required application materials and the application deadline.
Apply to the program of your choice from the previous tasks. Stop once you get to the application portal.
You have heard about Pratt Institute and want to learn more about whether it is a reputable institution or not. Navigate to the information you would look at to assess Pratt Institute at a first glance.
All participants clicked on the hamburger menu instead of using the homepage/footer to look for information relating to all the 3 tasks.
Participants expressed they like the layout, the size of the buttons and the feedback provided by the interactive elements.
Organize content in collapsible sections.
This will give users a high-level overview of the content of the page, as well as control over which topics they expand to learn more about.
Our heat maps showed that users tend to focus more on the headings on the ‘Application Requirements’ page, and have to scroll a lot.
E.g. getting to the application requirements or the application portal.
Highlight program duration, core courses, and deadlines along with a link to requirements on the program page.
Clearly specify which courses are core and which are electives
In case a program has no electives, make that clear as well.
"Give them the information that they need upfront. I think you guys made a lot of really great recommendations there. I also think it's really interesting."
The final stage of our project was presenting our findings and recommendations to Pratt Institute. In the end, we received positive feedback from the client and they expressed interest in implementing the recommendations for their website.
Learnings
It is necessary to understand the user's goals to know which information is the most important. Identifying what causes confusion and realizing when to weed it out allows for ultimate ease and functionality.
Biggest Takeaway
It was rewarding to conduct eye tracking tests and analyze data for a the mobile website that so many users will benefit from. These recommendations are just the beginning. I would like to still improve upon the UX flow on further user testing.
Next Step
The next step, if I were to continue working on the project, would be to to explore other areas of the website by conducting more eye tracking tests along with retrospective think aloud sessions.
