AlumniAces:

Alumni Leaders

AlumniAces would not exist without users. Thus, Alumni Leaders was the most important component of this platform. This page would serve as a directory for all users to browse through and network with fellow corporate leaders.

Timeline (Alumni Leaders): 3 weeks

Goal

Design an interface for users to browse, sort, and filter Alumni Leaders on the platform. Users should be able to see which Alumni Leaders are available to chat about alumni programming and contact them directly.

Inspiration

This initial idea for this page was based on traditional business cards. Business cards are straightforward: they include a name and contact information. On Alumni Leaders, the intent is largely the same, but the digital sphere allows for interactive elements (e.g. external links).

Alumni Leaders Wireframe

I took my business card idea and ran with it. Alumni Leaders would consist of a grid of digital business cards.

Thus, my initial wireframe included basic information for each user: name, company, contact information (LinkedIn, phone, email), as well as controls to view a user’s profile and follow them.

Filters and Sort Wireframe

In addition to the user cards, I knew it would be important to consider how users would be able to browse the Alumni Leaders directory.

I wanted users to have the options to filter for their contacts or for Alumni Leaders at a particular company. This also included the option to filter for others who were available to chat about alumni programming.

User Research

After carefully reviewing user sessions via FullStory's Session Replay tool, I discovered that Alumni Leaders was the most frequently visited page. This insight motivated me to prioritize the optimization of this interface to ensure users could easily browse, sort, and filter Alumni Leaders, in addition to connecting with them directly.

Through iterative design and continuous adjustments, I successfully created an interface that met the needs of users and provided a seamless and intuitive experience, ultimately contributing to the overall success of AlumniAces.

Iterations of Alumni Leaders

I started with my “digital business card” idea (perhaps a bit too literally) and iterated from there. Once I decided to rely more on links, the cards became simpler and less cluttered because less text was necessary. Following the refinements to the basic structure of the user cards, the rest of this page fell into place.

Original design based on wireframe

Removal of company logo and addition of “Follow” control

Updated card design featuring embedded social links

Redefined site header and width

Smaller user cards, increasing quantity shown above the fold

Addition of user’s own card (shown first) and “Message” control

Current Design Solution

Users can browse all Alumni Leaders; sort them by newest, oldest, name, or company name; search for users at a particular company; follow users; and filter for who they’re following or who is following them.

Through peer-to-peer messaging, users also have the ability to message one another directly to chat about alumni programming.

Next Steps

The ability to send users direct messages on AlumniAces was added after the initial design for the Alumni Leaders cards was completed. Today, the social links are more prominent than the “Message” icon. The design of these cards could be re-thought to encourage users to directly message each other on AlumniAces rather than using the external social links.

Currently, there is no indication of how many Alumni Leaders a user is following or is followed by. This would be interesting for users to know, and it could encourage them to engage more with fellow Alumni Leaders. It could also be worth considering exposing how many followers each user has to everyone so users know who the notable individuals are in the corporate alumni management world.

The grid structure of this page is limiting. Since all cards must be the same height, each must be long enough to accommodate the amount of content present in the fully-populated state. Consequently, cards that are not fully-populated have extra whitespace. In a scenario in which this page were to be completely redesigned, it would be worth considering other options that are not so reliant on this strict layout.

Reflection

Looking back on my work for this interface, I feel a sense of pride whenever I see how successful Alumni Leaders has become. Through user research, I was able to identify the importance of this page and prioritize its optimization, resulting in an interface that met the needs of users and contributed positively to the overall success of the platform.

Today, this page is one of the most visited on AlumniAces. This serves as a valuable resource for both sales and current EnterpriseAlumni customers. In both cases, users will learn who they can contact regarding questions about alumni programming.

Seeing so many Alumni Leaders from prominent companies on the platform is a testament to the impact of my design work, and it reinforces the value of user research in creating successful products.