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Alan Abramek

A product leaderProduct LeaderDefines product vision, aligns teams and stakeholders, and turns business goals into products that create measurable user and business value. / product builderProduct BuilderTurns ideas into real, usable products by combining strategy, UX, technology, experimentation, and execution from concept to launch. using AI-native thinking to turn complex customer problems into clear, scalable digital products.

00:00:00

Warsaw

UMLub

Client

Medical University of Lublin

Scope

Research, IA, prototype, RFP, rollout

Year

2023

Role

Lead UXer & Product Manager

In short

A university website from 2012 that its own students avoided. I led the redesign end to end: research, information architecture, prototyping, accessibility, a 70-page RFP.

Two roles, one project. Pick a hat to see what it covered.

  • UX research: interviews, survey analysis, site analytics, accessibility audit
  • Paper and digital wireframes, lo-fi and hi-fi prototypes
  • Information architecture and tree testing
  • Usability studies, iteration and responsive design
  • Accessibility to WCAG 2.1
  • Graphic design
  • Co-wrote the 70-page RFP with the University's lawyers
  • Selected and coordinated the software development partner
  • Checked every proposed technology against University systems
  • Helped install the product on University servers and connect it to the databases
  • Stakeholder management across departments
  • Owned the partnership between vendor and University through to launch

By the numbers

0The year the old site was built
0Students surveyed before I joined
0User groups defined from research
0Faster time on task with the new IA
0Pages of RFP, written with the University's lawyers
0Zoom at which the prototype stays readable

The problem

By the time I joined, the site was a decade old, busy, and organised like the University's org chart. Traffic was high, mostly on phones, and mostly frustrated. International students couldn't find campus life, requirements or locations; the Polish and English versions disagreed; and staff had quietly moved their news to Facebook.

Six symptoms, six fixes.
Tap a symptom to see what we did about it

Who we designed for

The research sorted everyone who touched the site into seven audiences with very different questions and one shared front door. Pick one.

Came for

Got stuck on

The process

Six phases, from a folder of old survey results to a site running on the University's own servers. Step through them.

Competitive audit

I split the competitors into two groups, direct and indirect, then analyzed each on first impressions, interaction and functionality, visual design, and content.

Key take-aways
  • Competitors organise information in a more streamlined, user-friendly way.
  • Competitors have more responsive websites.
  • Competitors hold a higher standard of visual appeal in their web design.
Key pain points
  • Lacking search engine
  • Cluttered design, especially on mobile devices
  • Navigation based on the structure of the University
Competitive audit matrix
The audit, scored across the four dimensions
Prioritization of issues

Prioritization followed the most requested features from students, employees, alumni, candidates and business partners, weighed against the pain points the research had surfaced.

  • Responsive design
  • Intuitive navigation
  • Improving the search engine
  • Clean, uncluttered design
  • Accessibility
Wireframes
Wireframes
Information architecture
Key assumptions
  • Most users do not know the University's internal structure, so they cannot navigate a site organised around departments.
  • Different user groups look for different information, and sometimes the same information by different routes.

IA tree test, findability. The goal was simple: is the proposed architecture more intuitive than the current one?

IA tree test
Time on task dropped roughly fourfold. Users were still so used to navigating by structure that many took the old route through the new architecture anyway.
Tree test results
Prototype, explore and test
Low fidelity prototype
Low fidelity
High fidelity prototype
High fidelity
Scalability and accessibility

The prototype was responsive from the start, moving cleanly between mobile and desktop, and tested for readability at magnification up to 200%. The site was built to meet WCAG 2.1, with extra controls that let users enlarge the text and change the contrast.

The RFP

Writing the Request for Proposal for the website and its CMS took extensive collaboration and research and ran to 70 pages, covering functional requirements and desired features including search, information architecture and responsive design. The hard part was balance: specifying our requirements precisely while leaving vendors room to propose their own implementation approach.

Accessible by design

WCAG 2.1 was the floor, not the ceiling. The prototype stayed readable at 200% zoom and handed people their own controls for text size and contrast. Try them on this sample.

Candidates › International candidates
Admission requirements
To apply for the English-language programme in Medicine you will need a secondary school certificate with biology and chemistry, proof of English proficiency, and a passport valid for the length of your studies. Applications open in March.
How to apply →Tuition and scholarships →

The team

A redesign like this is mostly people. These are the ones who made it possible.

  • Alan AbramekLead UXer and Product ManagerResearch, IA, prototype, RFP, vendor and rollout.
  • Michał SzymanekWebsite administrator, project partnerTen years running the old site: knew every request, pain point and CMS quirk.
  • Wacław UrbańskiDepartment managerOversaw the project and guided how University systems fit the new design.
  • Monika LisHead of the University's legal teamKept every document, including the RFP, on the right side of the rules.
  • Aleksander ByczyńskiRFP and procurementShaped the vendor selection and prepared the legal paperwork with Monika.
  • Janusz Kokot, Jarosław KołodziejczykInfrastructureInstalling the site on the University's servers.

Takeaways

Three things I still carry from this project. Open them.

As a team lead, the behaviour and attitude you show is the behaviour and attitude you get back. It is the cheapest and most reliable motivation there is.

Some users and stakeholders vent at whoever is in front of them, and it is rarely the right target. Stay professional, stay empathetic, and listen: often the person simply wants to be heard, and there is a real problem underneath the tone.

People propose what they have seen work elsewhere. Take the need seriously and the proposed solution lightly. This project has its own users and its own goals.

Toolkit

Research and testing
User interviewsSurvey analysisSite analyticsAccessibility auditCompetitive auditTree testingUsability studiesOptimal WorkshopMiroZoom
Design
Information architectureWireframingPrototypingInteraction designResponsive designAccessible designGraphic designMotion graphicsFigmaSketchAdobe XDPhotoshopIllustratorInDesignAfter EffectsAffinity suiteCanvaDaVinci Resolve
Delivery
Product managementRFP writingVendor coordinationStakeholder managementTeam leadershipHTMLCSSSQLLinuxApacheWordPress

Have a vision?

Let’s bring it to life.

Contact me

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Location

WarsawPoland

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