Option 1

Background Color Issues

• The background colors used to highlight buttons don't show up well on my machine (windows / LCD monitor). (I'm referring to the the main navigation buttons and to the buttons in the Community bubble.)
• On some level 2/3 pages, there is a change in background color part way through the content (a light tan block that extends to the left and right of the content column). I'm not very fond of the way it looks and don't think it adds anything; I'd vote to remove it and keep a white background all the way down.

HR Banner

• First, a single radio button is useless. Radio buttons are meant to be used in pairs or sets, to choose between options. So why is it there?
• Second, in the past, usability/accessibility people at MIT have indicated that it's not acceptable to put "Search" inside the text input box. "Search" should be text or graphics outside of, and before, the input box. We may want to wait for their review before acting on this, though.
  

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  Option 3 MIT Branding
• I'd still like to see stronger MIT branding, as part of the site name rather than placed down the page. I know it's a design challenge but the lower level pages especially (since they don't have the dome) don't look enough like THE official MIT site for new employees.
   Dome/Random Photos
• I don't like the random photos on the site homepage -- they conflict with the dome. I'd rather see the homepage show only the dome, and the lower-level pages use the random photos.

Contact HR

• The "Contact HR" link looks like it's floating around in the left nav -- do we even need that there? It's too prominent by far.
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• Not sure whether we plan to have a simple email to Staffing Services popup, or a popup page with additional choices. We need to clarify functionality as well as its location.
• Re: its prominence; consistent with Benefits approach to support, we want users to use the site first, then email, then phone. In any event, perhaps this should appear on 3rd level pages?

Selected Page Highlighting

• I'd like to see stronger visual "on state" for the selected main navigation item. In other words, if you're in the "Your MIT" section, the "Your MIT" button should be more strongly selected -- bolder, darker colors, something to make it stand out. Maybe as a tradeoff we could have less prominence or space for the header on the pages themselves -- the "Your MIT" banner looks enormous, too big, so it emphasizes the redundancy. I agree with Wing, the rollovers don't work well if you're already on that page, so they could be turned off by default on selected pages. In other words, if you're on a "Your MIT" page, the Your MIT rollover would be turned off -- you'd use the navigation that's right there on the left instead.

Community Bubble

• I'm not sure about the "Next" button under the Community bubble. Might be confusing to users -- does "Next" take you to the current blurb's web page (UROP, for example) or just load a new blurb? If it loads a new blurb, say so, and then include the link to View All, as discussed. Maybe the two links could curve around the bottom of the bubble, and say something catchy:
• Show Me Another One | Show Me All of Them
  Bubble Me | More Bubbles
  See More Fun | See More Jargon | See More News
  etc.
• Anything but "next."
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• Followup question: See more Fun / See more Jargon / See more News. I'm assuming the wording depends on which environment you are in--if you're in News, you get the "See more News" prompt. If you want to go to Fun while you're in News, you can just click on the menu at the top of the box. We will also need a "View all" element. You have offered an intriguing solution about text curving around the bottom of the bubble.
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• The contrast for the highlighted topic area seems too low.

Usability Question

• Usability question- is there a standard sized window that we should target our design to fit in?

Redundancy

• Do we need to repeat Your Benefits near the icon for the multimedia presentation? It feels redundant and I think adds clutter.

Rollover Navigation Functionality Question

• Based on the spacing between the main topic and the rollover text appearing below, I assume the intent is to allow the user to click on the main topic or the subtopic appearing in the rollover text.