I contributed to the redesign of Johns Hopkins’ public-facing research computing website—simplifying the IA, improving UX, restructuring dense technical content, and making academic information intuitive for students, faculty, and researchers. The redesigned site delivered major results, including +2,775% traffic growth, +180% engagement, and a substantial increase in organic search visibility.
Role:
Web Design
Industry:
Higher Education
Duration:
2 years
Challenges
Confusing structure: Users struggled to find documentation, system updates, training, and support.
Poor UX: Outdated layouts and cluttered components hid important information.
Low discoverability: Weak SEO and unclear content organization made core resources difficult to find.
High stakes: The audience included PhD students, researchers, HPC users, and faculty—errors and friction had real impact.
My Approach
01 — Discovery
Interviewed PhD students, faculty, and research staff to understand goals, workflows, and system expectations.
Audited existing content to identify what was outdated vs. mission-critical.
Mapped institutional requirements, technical constraints, and user frustration points.
02 — Information Architecture & Strategy
Reorganized the entire site around actual user needs and task flows.
Consolidated scattered documentation, system information, and training into clear categories.
Built a scalable content structure that reduced redundancy and improved findability.
03 — UX & Visual System
Designed a clean, professional interface aligned with Johns Hopkins branding.
Modernized layouts to showcase HPC systems, research capabilities, and support resources.
Translated academic/technical jargon into clear, accessible language.
Created reusable UI templates to support long-term maintainability.
04 — Development & Implementation
Built the site in WordPress/Elementor using modular, reusable design patterns.
Designed responsive pages optimized for researchers on the go.
Integrated system status alerts for updates, downtime, and maintenance.
Implemented mobile-first layouts for optimal usability.
05 — Search Visibility & Optimization
Designed pages with SEO best practices, clear metadata, keyword-aligned structure, and scannable content.
Converted outdated content into search-friendly formats.
Ensured consistent URL patterns to maintain authority and improve ranking.
Results
Traffic
+2,775% active users
+2,744% new users
78,000 total users
Engagement
+180% increase in engagement time
Users stayed longer, explored more, and read deeper
Search Visibility
+3,539% organic search traffic
+7,708% direct traffic from bookmarking & returning users
85% of all traffic is now organic
Top-Performing Content
Python Virtual Environments: 55,000 views
User Guide: 23,000 views
Homepage: 13,000 views
Tutorials: 13,000 views
Future Plans
Built for long-term success
Scalable WordPress templates for easy documentation updates
Organized content foundations supporting continued growth
Analytics setup to drive future improvements
Mobile-first design to meet increasing on-the-go usage
Conclusion
Through thoughtful IA, content strategy, UX improvements, and a scalable CMS foundation, we transformed a complex, difficult-to-navigate research computing website into a clear, intuitive platform that serves tens of thousands of academic users.
Better structure → better visibility → better engagement → better support for the entire research community.
