Overview
During my internship with CrUX (Creative User Experience and Accessibility Team) at Duke, I redesigned elements of the DukeMobile App and the "My Learning" page of the Pathways website to make them more cohesive and accessible for all students. The focus was on improving retention, student engagement, and overall usability through design.
I also introduced new features to streamline navigation and improve the user experience while conducting iterative QA testing, leading design critiques, and collaborating closely with developers. The goal was to transform these platforms into tools that empower students, making it easier for them to access the resources they need when they need them.
In addition to redesigning key areas, I monitored all Duke websites to ensure they adhered to WCAG standards. This included using the WAVE tool and performing manual checks for accessibility compliance.
Work on Pathways – "My Learning" Page:
For the Pathways platform, I redesigned the "My Learning" page, which serves as a user’s profile area, listing current, upcoming, and past classes they've interacted with.
My primary goal was to align the page with the department’s broader vision while ensuring consistency with other newly redesigned pages. A major part of this redesign involved rethinking the page’s organization to improve clarity for both new and returning users.
To address this, I introduced redesigned module cards that highlighted the status of each class (e.g., enrolled, waitlisted, canceled). This change required reorganizing the structure of the "My Learning" page, prioritizing a clean and logical layout that made it immediately clear what actions or information were available to the user. I relied heavily on previously collected user data to inform these design decisions, ensuring that changes were grounded in evidence rather than assumptions.
Work on DukeMobile:
For the DukeMobile App, I conducted a comprehensive design critique, supported by user research, to guide the app's future development. I evaluated the app across various metrics, including usability, visual design, and user engagement, and identified opportunities for improvement.
Using these findings, I conceptualized new screens that adhered to the app’s recent redesign while incorporating features that addressed key student needs. My proposed designs aimed to streamline navigation and create a more cohesive experience for users.
Design System
As part of both projects, I worked on creating cohesive design systems to ensure consistency across all new components I created and to provided both the DukeMobile team and Pathways team with a scalable foundation for future development.
This was a significant task, as it often required reverse-engineering and redesigning older components that lacked documentation, ensuring they aligned with the updated visual and functional standards. I collaborated closely with both teams to establish individual design systems that was both practical and easy to maintain, including finalizing color palette, typography, spacing, and component behaviors for both projects.
By standardizing these elements, I helped streamline the development process, making it easier for the team to build and expand the app while maintaining a unified user experience.
Next Steps & Learnings
Reflecting on my experience with CrUX, I really enjoyed the challenge of managing multiple projects at once—balancing the redesign of both a website and an iOS app pushed me to think critically about cross-platform usability and how different constraints shape design decisions.
One of the biggest takeaways for me was the importance of integrating accessibility from the start rather than treating it as an add-on. Working closely with different stakeholders, each with their own priorities, taught me how to align expectations and advocate for user-centered solutions.
Going forward, I want to continue designing with accessibility as a core principle and refining my ability to communicate design decisions effectively across teams.
Thank you for reading my case study!
Make sure to check out my other projects too!
