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American Psychological Association Case Study

Services: User Research, Web Strategy, Information Architecture, User Interface Design, Content Management

The American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. The association’s fundamental mission is to advance psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting health, education, and human welfare. In addition to being a membership organization for academics and practitioners, APA also publishes books and journals, and fills an important public service role educating the general public. These three distinct functions are all central to fulfilling the organization’s mission, and naturally are led by different teams within the organization.

Problem: APA’s Web presence was a series of non-cohesive Web properties that resulted from a decentralized Web model. Within each of APA’s departments, content contributors, designers, development resources, and contractors worked on Web projects without the existence of a Web champion to enforce consistent messaging. Accordingly, APA hired NavigationArts to develop a Web presence that would project a unified brand with a central focus on the user experience across their main site and 12 related URLs.

Solution: Prior to engaging NavigationArts, APA had hired noted information architecture expert Peter Morville to assess the issues on their Web site and offer a broad-stroke solution.  NavigationArts’ information architects have been able to leverage the initial analysis done by Mr. Morville, translating his high-level framework into a page-by-page, actionable solution.  Given the scale of the Web presence – a dozen URLs, 50+ unique page types, several thousand pages – executing a strategy that creates order and unity is no small task.

In this engagement, NavigationArts adopted an iterative approach.  Based on the project deadline, and the APA resources available to engage in the project, NavigationArts proved flexible in configuring their process to match the client’s needs.  The result was a highly collaborative approach that allowed the information architects, designers, and developers to work in parallel rather than in discrete phases to speed the project along.

At the start of the project, NavigationArts conducted over 30 stakeholder interviews to gather information that would form the basis of the Web strategy.  With so many individuals participating in the Web site redesign effort, NavigationArts established a stakeholder group as a representative body authorized to make decisions.  Using low-fidelity linked versions of the wireframes of key Web site pages, NavigationArts conducted one on one, remote user testing with members, consumers, educators, and employees to validate assumptions about how users engaged with site content.

The information architects developed a global navigation structure for each of APA’s Web sites to bring order and unity to the constellation of brands.  With each of APA’s extensions under the same framework, site visitors now have a point of reference for how to find information.  In addition to extensive wireframes and a sitemap, NavigationArts created a detailed content object model to ensure that the architecture is implemented properly in the SDL Tridion content management system (CMS).

Redesigning the user interface design presented another opportunity to connect disparate Web properties.  The visual designers employed the use of a dozen sub-brands to create visual ties between APA’s entities.  Sub-brands typically have their own unique qualities, but borrow heavily from the main company’s flagship design and brand. This cohesiveness is achieved by carrying over selected elements of the home page to sub-brand pages, creating an awareness of “oneness” and unity throughout the collection of the organization’s Web properties.  APA’s new Web site design is authoritative without being impersonal, content rich without being overwhelming.

The final phase of the project established a content governance model and supporting documentation.  NavigationArts created workflows that outline how content is entered into the CMS, published, and finally archived.  The team’s intimate knowledge of internal issues and hierarchies proved crucial in helping them to establish practical, sustainable workflows.

Project Results Included:

• Creation and implementation of a Web strategy that unites APA’s disparate Web properties and standardizes messaging and branding with user-centered design best practices
• Extensive Information gathering, including stakeholder interviews, user testing, and content structure analysis
• New site architecture that harnesses the commonalities across the organization, and most popular content, as basis for structure
• User interface design, including creative brief and several alternative creative approaches
• Introduction of a dozen sub-brands that convey something unique about the product or service, while still maintaining visual cues that resemble the main brand
• Content governance model to establish workflows that will determine policies around content entry, publishing, and archiving in the CMS to help APA maintain control over their Web site in the future