Legal Site Redesign

For the design phase, we split the workload by sections. I was responsible primarily for the resources and search sections. 

Resources Page

The most difficult part about building the resources section was figuring out how to display the breadth of content options without overwhelming the user. For the ‘resources’ master page, I focused on only the legal categories that were available. I turned the links into large boxes with icons so they were easier to click and distinguish apart. I also converted a couple extraneous pages (which were additional websites that were absorbed by the organization) into resource sections so that they were easily visible.

The individual resource pages were the trickiest to organize. Each page had at least five types of information: documents, articles, trainings, associated staff, and external links. I initially tried to display all of this information at the same time using sections; however, that overcrowded the page. I then attempted to minimize the items on the page by giving each section its own subpage, but that approach buried content. I finally settled on using a tab system. This system would allow users to see all of the available categories of content, while allowing them to focus on one category at a time without leaving the page. 

Unlike the other tabs, the documents section was not based on an existing page or section on the website. I proposed this section to house tools that could help attorneys complete their work faster, such as templates and checklists. Since the materials in this section could vary, I decided to replace the standard filters with selectable tags, which would allow for more flexibility in filtering as more document types were added.

Search Page

The biggest issue with the search process was visibility. Multiple users had difficulty noticing the search bar during the search-based tasks (which may have been partially due to the lack of coloring). Users also struggled to differentiate the search results, often missing the categorization tags. While users would click on the filter bar, they didn’t understand the categories, suggesting the titles are not as clear as they should be.

It was clear that the search page needed a clear filtering system and visible tagging.  I added filters for the type of resource - i.e articles, trainings, etc - as well as the legal category that resource was part of, such as Elder or Consumer Law. I also included a sort feature which could organize results by search term relevance, date of posting, and topic – categories that reflected how our attorneys typically searched for information.

Streamlined Log-In

I was not primarily responsible for the new log-in flow, but the approach to the design was a collaborative decision. We decided to design for a new log-in system, where users have individual accounts with unique permissions. Attorneys could specify their field of practice and provide their bar information for verification, making it easy for the system to verify their identity and tailor their experience.