Summary

Project Goals

Redesign and rebuild a compelling digital experience that authentically represents the World Endeavors brand and showcases its products.

World Endeavors offers study abroad, internships, and customized group programs in over 42 countries, emphasizing meaningful connections between participants and their host communities.

Their website was outdated, built on a deprecated framework, and in need of modernization. The Internships page, crucial for conversions, lacked engaging content. The redesign focused on enhancing the user experience to drive engagement and growth.

In addition to the digital overhaul, I also supported World Endeavors with a complete redesign of their core marketing, exhibition, and internal materials, contributing to an end-to-end brand modernization.

My contributions

I was the only product designer on this project and was responsible for project planning, UX/UI designs and prototyping and then building the site within a wordpress environment.

BACK TO CASE STUDIES
CLIENT

World Endeavors

INDUSTRY

Travel & Education

PROJECT SCOPE
• Strategy & roadmapping
• Prototyping
• Website development
• Graphic design
• Branding
PROJECT LENGTH

4 Months

MY ROLE

Product Designer

Key Challenges

The challenges were a lack of images and quality content for 438 internships, requiring creative solutions to launch the site on time.

PRODUCT PAGES LACKED DEPTH

I improved content and conversion by changing product sections from toggle modules to dedicated landing pages, boosting SEO and offering deeper content. However, this led to two issues: a lack of product images and insufficient content for some products.

NO PRODUCT IMAGERY

With 438 internships and no original photos, I used AI (MidJourney) and art direction to create specific images. After adding captions, reviewing, resizing, renaming, and uploading, the site became more visually appealing despite the extra effort.

LOW OR NO CONTENT FOR THE NEW PRODUT PAGES

Internships had brief content, unsuitable for selling a $2k+ product. I proposed a 3-stage product card solution, allowing the site to launch with minimal content while the marketing team gradually updated popular internships, enabling incremental updates without delay.

DATED DESIGN

The original World Endeavors website was outdated and misaligned with its target demographic. It failed to engage the tech-savvy, global-minded audience, and didn’t reflect the brand’s values or offer a modern user experience.

Design System

By establishing foundational brand elements such as color, typography, imagery, iconography, gridlines, I ensured that the core elements were consistent and communicated seamlessly from print marketing to the digital experience.

Prototyping

Low-fidelity wireframes outlined core functionality and hierarchy for key page templates. An agile, iterative approach ensured flexibility throughout development.

Modernizing the website and experience

Across from you, you’ll see the key challenges addressed in the homepage redesign (left side) and the updated design (right side). Drag the slider left and right to view.  The original site lacked above-the-fold content, clear hierarchy, and direction, resulting in a weak and non engaging narrative.

Solution

A modern website with features and functionality designed to help users easily find the internship that best suits their needs.

Features

Various features added to the World Endeavors website to support increases in leads and conversions on major product and landing pages.

3 STAGE PROGRAM CARD DESIGN

A dynamic program card design that progressively reveals more detailed information about each program which allowed content staff to gradually build out their program info.

PROGRAM FINDER

An intuitive tool that allows users to search and filter programs based on their interests, destination, and other preferences, streamlining the selection process.

DEDICATED PRODUCT PAGES

Replacing simple toggle modules with comprehensive landing pages for each program, providing in-depth information and improving SEO.

MODERN WORDPRESS FRAMEWORK

Utilizes a contemporary WordPress framework that supports easy drag-and-drop page building and editing, allowing for efficient content management and updates.

WISHLIST FUNCTION

Reducing choice paralysis by enabling visitors to save and compare their favorite programs, facilitating easy access and decision-making for future applications.

Impact

World Endeavors saw their site visits, time on site, bounce rates, leads and conversion all improve by 250% within 3 months with continued organic growth since.

STRONGER USER ENGAGAMENT

The redesigned website enhanced user experience with more visually appealing layouts and content, leading to increased interaction and longer session durations.

HIGHER CONVERSION RATES

By optimizing product pages and improving content, the site saw a notable increase in leads and conversion metrics, directly impacting business growth.

STRONGER SEO PERFORMANCE

The transition from toggle modules to dedicated landing pages enhanced on-page SEO, driving more organic traffic to the site.

SIMPLIFIED AND UNIFIED APPLICATION PROCESS

Application lead volume increased as did conversion as a result of the redesigned and simplified application process.

250% ORGANIC GROWTH

Post-launch, the website redesign drove organic growth, boosting user engagement and lead conversions. The enhanced experience attracted more traffic and increased interactions, especially on the Internships page.

REDUCED CONTENT MANAGEMENT STRESS

Given the internal staffing issues and lack of a content team, I introduced a tiered product card system that allowed entry of basic products with simple cards through to full dedicated product pages.

Branding & Marketing materials

Ensuring that the modernization of World Endeavors’ branding extended beyond the website to include printed and promotional materials.