Usability Testing

Usability testing shows universities and colleges how to improve their websites. Running usability tests reveals the user interface changes that will enhance student recruitment.

Does your website have a good user interface? Our experts help universities and colleges discover insights by conducting online usability studies.

Upfront and ongoing usability testing is the basis for our user centred design approach. We write and execute tests on low-fidelity prototypes, live websites, and everything in-between. With this insight, our evidence-based decisions exceed the expectations of our clients.

Case Studies

Redefining how prospective students choose their courses with UCAS

UCAS are the hub for University applicants in the UK and handle most touch points throughout the application process. They wanted to improve this journey for their users - the prospective students.

September 22, 2022

Case Studies

Giles Whattam (uea.ac.uk) on successfully redesigning a university flagship website

4 Giles Interview 2 0 16 9 150354585 1663844981

Giles Whattam (Associate Director of Marketing Strategy at the University of East Anglia) talks us through the process of a flagship website process and identifies his top tips for success.

December 1, 2021

Insight

Why a creative retainer works better than ad-hoc feature requests

A member of the SMILE team planning out work using post-it notes

Evolve is our take on the traditional retainer. Evolve subscriptions redefine ongoing working relationships with SMILE, all at a no-brainer price-point.

July 14, 2021

Case Studies

Introducing: The all-new University of Gloucestershire website

The humanities building at the University of Gloucestershire

The all-new University of Gloucestershire website has launched. This project includes so many things that we've wanted to see in flagship websites. This high-profile development took over a year to realise and saw SMILE work with stakeholders from across the university at all levels.

February 16, 2021
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Case Studies

Working with UEA on their flagship website

We re-designed the University of East Anglia (UEA) website. This was our biggest design project to date including UI/UX design, and the creation of a design system.

February 9, 2021
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Case Studies

How we helped Falmouth University restructure their homepage and navigation

We embarked upon a project of research and recommendation, to focus on homepage and global navigation suggestions.

January 28, 2021

Case Studies

A new morleycollege.ac.uk

A image showing the Morley College website

We've been working with Morley College and Hunterlodge Advertising to launch a brand new morleycollege.ac.uk! We're excited to show you all this new project that we've been working on.

November 26, 2020
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Must read

The difference between the needs of the user and stakeholder opinions and how feedback can affect a project

When it comes to redesigning a flagship website, a prospectus, or virtually anything that requires design input, there is a 99% chance that the client will have an opinion and thoughts to feedback (rightly so, they are paying for it).…

November 5, 2020

Opinion

Why is prototyping so important in designing new web properties for HE?

We recently wrote about our chosen design system - UXPin. One of the reasons we chose UXPin is its prototyping power. In this article, we'll take a look at how prototyping has evolved and the value it now brings to our educational clients.

August 12, 2020

Case Studies

The University of Sunderland flagship website redesign

Uni of sunderland mockup on a macbook pro

Dive into the details of how we won gold at HEIST for “Best Website” in 2018.

July 12, 2019