No question, hands down, I prefer the streamlined HR top banner. This is the way to go if we want to reduce the (currently overwhelming, to me) prominence of HR branding on this site.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Great idea, Laurie, on rewording the Next button. Although I especially like "Show me another one/Show me all of them," real estate is tight in that spot. I also like your other idea: 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. Wing, just let us know what you think will work...we can fine-tune wording when we know how you would like to resolve these issues in design. Once we know the size of the box, we can edit the blurbs for News, Jargon, Fun to fit.
Oh, and just a note on Wing's work: luminous, beautifully organized, elegant. BRAVO!
My favorite of the three options; the HR banner is clean and simple; there' s no need for the "Areas of Service" dropdown. It's just another black hole users could get lost in. Like the color switching for the rollovers and the less boxy presentation of the pictures.
Re: Contact Us. 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?
Usability question- is there a standard sized window that we should target our design to fit in?
For the Community bubble- the contrast for the highlighted topic area seems too low.
Great job on integrating the best ideas from the first design review!
Houston, we have a liftoff...this is definitely my favorite. It's less cluttered and accessible than the other options. Beautiful work, Wing! I wonder if we need to repeat Your Benefits near the icon for the multimedia presentation -- it feels redundant and I think adds clutter.
My favorite of the three. I prefer the top HR banner reduced, and I agree with what has been already noted above, the drop down menu of areas of service is too much, and not needed to someone who is a brand new hire.
I love the look of this, and keep wanting to use the links to see where they go, I cant wait for that!
This one also gets my vote. I like the cleaner look of the banner. Being relatively new to this process, I'm not sure how much of this is relatively final where text is concerned and how the content was constructed. I'll talk further with Ken about that when we meet this morning.
6 Comments
Laurie C Bryce
No question, hands down, I prefer the streamlined HR top banner. This is the way to go if we want to reduce the (currently overwhelming, to me) prominence of HR branding on this site.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
Great work!!!!
Laurie
Robert Thurston-Lighty
Great idea, Laurie, on rewording the Next button. Although I especially like "Show me another one/Show me all of them," real estate is tight in that spot. I also like your other idea: 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. Wing, just let us know what you think will work...we can fine-tune wording when we know how you would like to resolve these issues in design. Once we know the size of the box, we can edit the blurbs for News, Jargon, Fun to fit.
Oh, and just a note on Wing's work: luminous, beautifully organized, elegant. BRAVO!
Kath
Kenneth Paul
My favorite of the three options; the HR banner is clean and simple; there' s no need for the "Areas of Service" dropdown. It's just another black hole users could get lost in. Like the color switching for the rollovers and the less boxy presentation of the pictures.
Re: Contact Us. 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?
Usability question- is there a standard sized window that we should target our design to fit in?
For the Community bubble- the contrast for the highlighted topic area seems too low.
Great job on integrating the best ideas from the first design review!
Janet Walzer
Houston, we have a liftoff...this is definitely my favorite. It's less cluttered and accessible than the other options. Beautiful work, Wing! I wonder if we need to repeat Your Benefits near the icon for the multimedia presentation -- it feels redundant and I think adds clutter.
Charles T Munger
My favorite of the three. I prefer the top HR banner reduced, and I agree with what has been already noted above, the drop down menu of areas of service is too much, and not needed to someone who is a brand new hire.
I love the look of this, and keep wanting to use the links to see where they go, I cant wait for that!
Jean Samuelson
This one also gets my vote. I like the cleaner look of the banner. Being relatively new to this process, I'm not sure how much of this is relatively final where text is concerned and how the content was constructed. I'll talk further with Ken about that when we meet this morning.