Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• information architecture
• workshop facilitation
• co-creation
• IA prototype
• wireframing in Sketch and Figma
• prototyping in InVision and Figma
overview
clienT
The FTC works to protect consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices through law enforcement, advocacy, and education without unduly burdening legitimate business activity.
the challenge
The FTC’s website was outdated and overwhelming. It was arranged according to organizational structure, not user needs. A wealth of resources and information was hiding behind a confusing website experience that served none of its audiences well.
the solution
A better designed and organized website that enables audiences to find the content that meets their specific needs. Mega-menus introduce the visitor to the variety of work the FTC does and the breadth of resources they offer. A new legal library provides legal seekers advanced search and filter capabilities to find exactly the cases or other records they need. Meanwhile, removing those voluminous records from other parts of the site improves the experience for everyone.
the process
The work that was done during this engagement built upon a previous discovery project during which an extensive Digital Strategy Report with findings and recommendations was generated.
To start the website redesign, I worked with the content strategist to design a new information architecture that was based on user needs rather than organizational structure. Following the presentation of the revised sitemap, I designed an IA prototype in order to give the clients a better understanding of how the new sitemap would look and function on the site. This resulted in better feedback and less revisions of the sitemap throughout the rest of the project.
Because of the bureaucracy of the FTC and a large number of stakeholders, a tiered presentation process was established where designs were presented first to a core group of stakeholders, revised, then presented to a web advisory group of additional stakeholders and SME’s for further feedback and revision. This was useful in ensuring that organizational needs were considered and that the site was providing what users needed and expected.
Additionally, I facilitated several workshops with different groups of stakeholders within the FTC to ensure that their organizational goals and pain points and the needs of their users were fully understood.
In addition to the IA prototype, I wireframed 12 pages, many including alternate views, in 3 batches. Designs were presented first internally to the team to ensure feasibility and get feedback. I presented each batch of wireframes twice and completed 2 rounds of revision. Following approvals of the wireframed or designed pages, I annotated the designs to ensure that developers understood how the site should be built and function, both on the back end and in the UI.
the designs
Before
At left, the FTC Enforcement page (top) and Cases and Proceedings listing page (below) before the redesign. Of note:
Landing pages (such as the Enforcement page) have very little information, no description of child pages, no content and no links to other parts of the site.
Child pages of Enforcement and Policy (such as the Cases and Proceedings listing page) are almost exclusively listing pages of different legal documents and records.
After
The wireframe at right shows the redesigned Enforcement and Policy page:
The new landing page gives more information on the work the FTC does and the resources they offer with regards to Enforcement and Policy.
A top tasks block gives visitors quick access to the actions related to Enforcement or Policy that they might be looking to take, either on this site or related FTC sites.
The long lists of listing pages are replaced by links to pre-filtered pages in the Legal library.
With the legal records removed from this section, child pages now consist of more useful information and resource pages.
Previews of serial content and links to view more now appear on the page.
The latest additions to the Legal Library in Competition and in Consumer Protection are highlighted and linked on the page.
A clear call-to-action invites visitors to sign up for the FTC’s mailing list or to stay connected on social media.
The wireframe at left shows the new Legal Library page:
Advanced search, sort and filter options allow lawyers, law enforcement professionals and others to search and refine their search in multiple ways to make it easy to find exactly what they are looking for.
Quick links are provided to the latest additions in Competition and Consumer Protection and to frequent searches.
Check out the redesigned website.
but wait…there’s more
This engagement continued with a redesign for the FTC’s Consumer Advice website. A smaller group of stakeholders for this site enabled more collaboration with the client team. I am a strong advocate of collaboration and co-creation with clients. It results in:
a better understanding of organizational needs
consensus on content and content prioritization
consensus on initial design concepts
fewer revisions
a stronger relationship with the client
For this site, I led the redesign of the sitemap. I designed and conducted moderated, remote usability testing, including a card sort and tree tests, to validate and refine the sitemap. Client stakeholders were invited to participate fully, providing feedback on the test plan, providing scenarios, observing all sessions and providing notes and observations. We worked collaboratively to decide how the findings would impact the sitemap.
I designed an IA prototype to help the client understand how the sitemap was related to the actual navigation on the site. I ran a co-creation workshop with the team where we decided which pages would be wireframed and designed, decided what content belonged on specific pages and prioritized it, and sketched initial design ideas. I wireframes the site, worked with the visual designer and developers to ensure executed designs met expectations.
Make sure you know how to avoid scams by exploring the redesigned site.
