Redesigning The US Department of Labor

Overview: The US Department of Labor's website is a website that is full of valuable information regarding labor laws and resources.

Problem: With the vast amount of information contained in this website, a poor organization and poor navigation can make it very difficult for the user to find what they need. A new more visible navigation bar and a different organization make this site easier to navigate.

My Role: UI Designer

Tools: Adobe XD

User Interface Analysis

At first sight, the paged look outdated, information and even the navigation are hard to find. There is no consistency among pages, and the overall organization seems rather chaotic.

Heuristic Analysis

Heuristic Analysis
Overall the website seems very outdated, the organization is not very good and it’s not easy to navigate. There is no navigation bar or visible search bar, and the menu is odd.

Although colors are consistent throughout the site, they do not pass the accessibility test.

Other than that, there is good use of hierarchy with text and other content. In addition, the font is legible.

The composition can be improved for easier reading

Color Accessibility Analysis

After obtaining the color pallet used on the site I tested them for accessibility. As it turned out they failed the test. There was not enough contrast between font and background colors, so they needed to change

Who are our users?

As with any government website, the Department of labor is meant to serve the general public. Any person looking for a job, information about labor rights, or ways to file a complaint on the basis of discrimination or safety can use the site.

The website can be use by people like Jack, who’s is new to the workforce and wants to know more about his rights in the workplace.

IU Analysis Annotations

The lack of a visible navigation bar or search bar makes it difficult and very confusing to find what the user is looking for.
The lack of contrast between font color and background caps the accessibility of the website
Although the footer is well organized into categories, the navigation that is part of it it’s just a repetition of the main menu
The organization of the site can be improved

I card sorted the links on the website in order to reorganized it

New site recommendations

Reorganized categories
Add a navigation bar to every page
Eliminate redundancy
Organized subcategories

Paper Prototype

Changes to wired frames

Added a fixed navigation bar and a visible search bar
Reorganized navigation menus
Organized featured items

User Testing

I conducted 6 user testing with the initial wireframes

Common Findings:

Users felt like there was some more space needed between boxes of text
The DOL Jobs page need a direct way to search and browse jobs within the department
Users wanted an increase in gutter space
Change the spacing within each paragraph
Hierarchy works well
The Navigation menu helps users find other pages

Style Guide

I decided to use the colors from the D.O.L logo, but I darken font colors in order to improve accessibility. I Mades sure to also establish a clear hierarchy of the typography.

Final Thoughts

Government websites are loaded with important laws and information, nevertheless this information can be organized, grouped, divided, and categorize in ways that can help the user digest it in little chunks of information at a time. Consistency throughout the website and a fixed navigation bar facilitate the user with better ways of finding the information they need. Increasing the contrast in color can make the page more accessible for all users.