Exploratorium Website Overhaul

The Exploratorium is redesigning their website. Their objective is to improve educator’s experience locating content relevant to their teaching objectives. Our goal is to simplify the effort to search and consume relevant material across a variety of sources. As an educator visiting the Exploratorium website, they:
• Look for materials, activities, and ideas to improve their teaching and lesson plans
• Browse the Explore section for activities
• Rely heavily on search to source content
• Often revisit resources they have used before

Design Recommendations:
New information architecture and navigation
• Primary topical and secondary sub-navigation allows users to tailor the experience based on personal needs
• Rename Explore to Learn will provide clarity
• Add breadcrumbs to orient the user
Content hierarchy and context
• Create iconography to provide visual context and reinforce the new navigational structure
• Hover features clarify what content the user is consuming
• Related content recommendations will increase users time on site
Advanced search tools and filters
• Tools needed to search and filter by content type, grade level, subject and sub-topic
• Advanced search functionality reduces the users effort creating a more convenient and accurate experience