Resume

Reimagining PolyU's Student Portal

Reimagining PolyU's Student Portal

Transforming a fragmented academic system into a unified and intuitive student experience through information architecture redesign.

24K+

Students

4 Months

Project Duration

Design Lead

Role

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Second
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After
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After

The Challenge

Students weren't struggling to complete tasks. They were struggling to find where tasks lived.

73%

Could not locate frequently used services within 30 seconds.

68%

Tracked graduation progress manually.

61%

Relied on classmates to navigate the portal.

Identified Problem

Identified Problem

Complex Navigation: Existing menus are overly nested, making feature access time-consuming.

Insufficient Progress Visualization: Lack of intuitive progress display.

Poor Mobile Experience: Design performs poorly on mobile.

Design Strategy

Dashboard-first architecture with task-based navigation.

Design Solution

Personalized Dashboard

Frequently used actions surfaced immediately.

Graduation Tracker

Visual progress monitoring for degree completion.

Responsive Design

Optimized across desktop and mobile.

Hot Links Visualization

One-click access to critical student services.

Reduce decision-making friction

Reduce decision-making friction

Introduced emoji-based categorization that provides immediate visual recognition of incentive types. Transformed the selection process into a more scannable, low-friction experience and shortened the time required to find the most relevant option.

Creating Order in a Complex Student Ecosystem

Creating Order in a Complex Student Ecosystem

Redesigned the information architecture around students' mental models, grouping related services into a unified, scalable navigation framework. By improving hierarchy, discoverability, and spatial consistency, the new experience enables students to access critical academic tools with greater confidence and efficiency.

Replacing the bulky legacy navigation with a collapsible sidebar, allocates more space to primary content while maintaining quick access to essential tools.

Redesigned the information architecture around students' mental models, grouping related services into a unified, scalable navigation framework. By improving hierarchy, discoverability, and spatial consistency, the new experience enables students to access critical academic tools with greater confidence and efficiency.

First
Second
Before
After
Key Improvements

Key Improvements

Unified Navigation — Simplified fragmented menus into a clear, scalable structure.

Clearer Hierarchy — Prioritized important information through improved content organization.

Better Discoverability — Used iconography and consistent patterns to reduce navigation effort.

Optimized Layout — Increased content space with a collapsible sidebar.

Modern Experience — Turned a static portal into a task-focused student workspace.

Validation & Impact

Conduct usability testing with students to evaluate task completion rates, navigation efficiency, and satisfaction.


20%

Higher satisfaction score

35%

Reduced task completion time