Updating the Career Zone website

Updating the Career Zone website30 days, 225 hours, 13,500 minutes, 810,000 seconds, one mission.

Today, Im going to be presenting the work I have done over the course of my internship. My goal, was to streamline and refine the Career Zone website, and I believe that has been achieved. 1

Updated navigation

On the left is the older navigation pane. This has been cut down from 9 initial sections to only 5, each of which possesses a clear identity.2

The Home PageCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

The homepage was the most important page to update, the first interaction a student has with our service.

The older page features no clear navigation for students, employers or staff. As a persons eye travels from left to right, the prime web real estate goes to our twitter feed.

On the new page, I have added three feature boxes with clear navigation for all the groups mentioned. I have also added a Career Zone button, to help people locate it easier. Non-essential boxes (twitter, contact) has been pushed right.

The banners have been updated with a new logo and information tab, standardised to create a clear and consistent branding.

The tab element has also been updated.3

The Tabs Career ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

I have reduced tabs with text from 5 to 3, deleting information which repeats itself or belongs elsewhere. Otherwise the content and links to other material remains unchanged.

Added simple graphics which correspond to the information in the tab, carrying our brand colours. This is clearer, cleaner and adheres to the standard career framework of deciding, planning and competing. 4

Career ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Your career starts here

From the front page, students will be directed here. The information talks about the physical side of the service (i.e. visiting for appointments).

Its informative and brief, with a highlighted box telling the students to look at the left hand navigation pane, to find information on how to visit, among other things.

The pictures help brighten the page introduction of side banners also makes text easier to read on smartphones, as it aligns perfectly to a screen.

Added an FAQ section, to help reduce the amount of repeat questions we receive at Career Zone additional signpost to help students.

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The FAQCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

The FAQ section in a bit more question 10 most frequent enquires at Career Zone. Ive kept the questions broad and topic based (e.g. Exeter Award, appointments) and included directions to relevant pages.6

My Career ZoneCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Designed as the online counterpart to the previous page talks exclusively about My Career Zone, with a brief intro at the top.

In place of the huge amount of text, I have created four voiced videos, to make the material more dynamic and engaging, covering major topics (i.e. searching for jobs).

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Career ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Here is an example of a video. On the page, I have also created subtitles for each video for any users hard of hearing.8

ResourcesCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

With the resources page, I linked each piece of content directly, rather than having to go through MY Career Zone and find it individually.

In many cases, students and staff can save three clicks to access content like podcasts.

It is currently under review to weed out older/less relevant resources.

Added side banner to spruce up the page.

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Career timelimeCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Unchanged, just moved.

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Visit us today!Career ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Condensed both contact pages down to one, and moved irrelevant content elsewhere clear and easy to read.

Tab system to attain contact info for both campuses. Once CZ videos are completed, we wanted to pop them within each tab in the white space.

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FeedbackCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Old page was incredibly long and tedious, and wasnt actually accessible from the navigation pane.

This has been cut down and refined, with the you said, we did section now much snappier, while still showing that we respond to their comments.

Will hopefully boost exposure of the feedback and the reward.12

About usCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About usOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Oli kindly sent over our mission statement and key values, which Ive pasted here. Its short and snappy, and gets straight to the point (unlike other career websites like Cambridge).

The side banner summarises the buzz words we want people to take away from the page, in a quick and easy to read manner.

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Our teamCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About UsOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

The who we are section is plagued with poor-res, strangely shaped images, and excessive text.

In the new section, everyones names and roles are now clear, and their bios are short and to-the-point.

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In September, I hope to upgrade this page to look a bit like this we have a camera at Career Zone which I can use to take high quality photos of all the staff when they are in.15

AwardsCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About UsOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

Most awards on this section are old and not relevant anymore (some even from 2012 or older).

On the new page, Ive added a graphic at the top to brighten the page and discarded most of the old ones have six, two rows of three, looks much cleaner.

When we win new awards, we can just replaced the old ones.16

Career Zone A to ZCareer ZoneYour career starts hereMy Career ZoneResourcesCareer timelineVisit us today!Feedback Win 100!About UsOur teamOur awardsCareer Zone A to Z

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Appointment cards