Lauren Kane
gbh_logo.png

GBH Redesign

White GBH logo on purple patterned background

GBH Site Redesign

GBH migrated to the CPB-funded website platform Grove, developed to meet the needs of both NPR and PBS stations. The new GBH.org was (re)designed by GBH’s Product/Design team and customized by the Development team in collaboration with Brightspot. 600,000 pieces of content were migrated to GBH’s custom instance of Grove, including 383k images, 100k articles, 55k audio files, 40k galleries, 13k videos and 450 tags.

The new GBH website had to solve usability, wayfinding & discoverability, technical, and content production problems.

My areas of focus included creating a User Guide, establishing and implementing accessibility standards, and conducting post-launch user testing interviews.

GBH, Brightspot produced

Two screenshots of the GBH.org homepage. Old is on the left and new is on the right

Accessibility

Authored an accessibility checklist that has been implemented foundation-wide.

GOAL: Meet or surpass AA-level compliance requirements from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

RESULTS: Google PageSpeed score of 94 out of 100 on Accessibility.

Accessibility improvements on the new site: 

  • Keyboard navigation (sequence, consistent nav, no keyboard trap) 

  • Assistive technology (info and relationships available in text) 

  • Interactive elements (consistent identification, color contrast, focus)

  • Images (alt text)

  • Forms (keyboard functionality, headings and labels) 

  • Animation/video (keyboard control, play, pause, hide)

  • Audio (keyboard control)

  • Modals (keyboard control, hide)

One rugby player pushes another out of the way as she runs down the field. Screenshot of the same alt text
 

User Guide

Author of a comprehensive 210 page User Guide.

GOALS: Establish widespread use of purpose-driven modules while minimizing one-off solutions. Make the CMS more user-friendly.

RESULTS: Created a Grove User Guide for Producers to reference. It features common definitions, image/audio/video specs, accessibility guidelines, as well as specific User Role quick links.

Quotes from Producers on the new site: 

  • “Daily operations are largely easier than they used to be.”

  • “Grove has been an improvement… It’s much more intuitive and easy to use.”

Wireframes explaining the content on gbh.org
 

User Interviews

Led a series of user testing interviews with real GBH.org users.

GOALS: Improve overall site usability.

RESULTS: All user interview participants had an overall positive experience using the new site, across different content sections, including both editorial and utility. There was no indication of confusion across various functions.

User ratings of overall site experience: (on a scale of 1-5, 1 = least successful, 5 = most successful)

  • Content findability: 4.11

  • Information clarity: 4.39

  • Visual appeal: 3.89

  • Ease of use: 3.49

“I’ve always come away from the site having found my answer.” - User Suzanne