The client
The Business School - World class teaching and research at the heart of Imperial College London, one of the UK’s and world’s leading universities
The work
User interface design • Web design • Guidelines
The brief
To redesign the Imperial College Business School area within the Imperial College London’s Blackboard e-learning system to bring the area in line with the new Imperial College Business School brand. The Blackboard system, is an online proprietary virtual learning environment which is used by all the divisions of Imperial College London for e-learning. Instructors can easily add such tools as discussion boards, mail systems and live chat, along with content, including documents and web pages. New features also include wikis, blogs, RSS and 3D virtual learning spaces.
The solution
The first stage was to present recommendations for usability of the existing e-learning system. These recommendations covered raising the general standard of usability for the student, and ensuring the efficient management of the site by the Business School team. Firedog then applied the recommendations by redesigning the e-learning area, updating colours and design assets to increase both the aesthetic value and usability. We removed unnecessary icons and information and simplified the layout to increase usability and navigation.
The results
We built the front-end of the system area using HTML/CSS and provided the source files as a build kit to the Imperial College’s in-house development team. In addition, a style guide was provided which included icons, tables and graphic assets so the team can easily roll out additional pages when new courses are added. These establish design styles to ensure consistency, plus general best practice guidelines to ensure the management of the area as it develops.
