University of Technology Sydney

  • PROJECT: Student application experience re-design
  • DELIVERABLE: Future-state redesign of the UTS student portal
  • PURPOSE: To demonstrate how proposed features and functionality could improve the student application experience and align stakeholders around a future-state vision
  • DESIGN APPROACH: UX research, interaction design, UI design and accessibility-informed design
  • TOOLS: Figma, Askable
System Usability Scale (SUS) Score
0 /100
AA Accessibility Criteria Score
0 %
Usability Testing Success Rate
%

Background

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a leading Australian public tech university in central Sydney, known for innovation, industry links, and practical learning, ranking as Australia’s top young university and in the global top 100. It offers diverse degrees in business, design, engineering, health, IT, and more, emphasising hands-on skills, research, and preparing graduates for real-world impact with a strong international focus. Its campus is centrally located in Sydney’s tech hub, featuring modern architecture and collaborative spaces, driving change across various sectors.

Problem

The legacy UTS Student Portal faced significant usability debt, failing to meet the expectations of a modern, tech-savvy student body. The fragmented interface created high friction for users and excessive operational overhead for the university.

  • Operational inefficiency: A lack of transparency in application tracking led students to lodge redundant applications, creating a massive administrative burden for faculty staff.
  • Recognition of prior learning (RPL): The RPL workflow was manual and opaque, resulting in a high volume of support inquiries.
  • Technical & design debt: The portal was non-responsive, failed WCAG accessibility standards, and lacked a scalable design system for future growth.
  • Brand misalignment: The UI did not align with the UTS Digital Style Guide, leading to a disjointed brand experience.

Solution

I developed a future-state concept for a student portal that made application progress, required actions, messages, and important university information easier to understand. The work focused on resolving known usability and accessibility issues while demonstrating a clearer, more flexible dashboard experience aligned with WCAG 2.1 AA.

Portal review

I reviewed the existing portal, stakeholder requirements, and known usability and accessibility issues. Students could not easily understand their application status, identify their next action or distinguish between different types of university communication.

Application journey mapping

I mapped the main application journeys and lifecycle states to understand what students needed at each stage. This helped define the statuses, actions and supporting information the portal needed to display.

Status and content model

I defined clearer roles for application updates, messages, enquiries, announcements and urgent alerts. The model considered the purpose, urgency and visibility of each type of information.

Dashboard structure

I organised the dashboard around the information students were most likely to need, including application progress, correspondence, important announcements and relevant services. This created a clearer hierarchy and reduced reliance on fragmented navigation.

Wireframes

I explored several low-fidelity layouts to test the hierarchy, placement of information and relationship between key portal functions. These wireframes provided a foundation for the detailed interface design.

Dashboard design

I designed a modular dashboard using reusable cards and interface patterns. The concept included application tracking, application history, a consolidated inbox, filtered messages, alerts, and responsive navigation.

Responsive and accessible design

I developed desktop and mobile layouts and refined the typography, hierarchy, interaction states, and content presentation to support WCAG 2.1 AA. I also conducted dedicated testing with users with accessibility needs, including people with mobility, visual and psychological accessibility requirements. Feedback from participants, the UX Team Manager, Business Analyst and accessibility subject matter expert informed subsequent design iterations and helped identify both user-facing and technical accessibility issues.

User and stakeholder validation

Using Askable, I tested the future-state concept with a broad range of prospective students, including high school students, early school leavers, adult learners and mature-age applicants. The testing assessed whether participants could understand application statuses, identify required actions, navigate the dashboard and locate important correspondence and support information.

I refined the concept in response to the findings and presented the resulting future-state vision to stakeholders. As the concept was not implemented in production, the proposed benefits were not measured through post-launch analytics.

Reflections

I would conduct additional rounds of task-based testing as the concept progressed from low- to high-fidelity design, allowing the more detailed interactions and lifecycle states to be validated progressively. I would also involve platform and development specialists earlier to confirm the feasibility of application-status logic, alerts, responsive components and WCAG 2.1 AA implementation. Before delivery, I would define analytics and success measures so the effectiveness of the portal could be evaluated after launch.