🔍
1. Discover — Landing Page Confusion
The journey began with a critical discovery that would reshape our entire approach
To start implementation, I began with an audit of the website's original landing page. Something felt off about the user experience, but we needed data to understand exactly what was happening. To evaluate content clarity and organization, I conducted a card sort with 15 participants using Optimal Workshop.
📉
Completion Crisis
47%
Only 47% of users completed the card sort, indicating significant friction in how users interpreted the category groupings. This was our first red flag.
🕒
Cognitive Overload
3m 39s
Median completion time was far too long for a simple sort, pointing to cognitive overload and confusion about content relationships.
💡
The Insight
The card sort insights led to an early restructure of the landing page and formed our central hypothesis:
clearer navigation labels would dramatically improve usability.
But we needed to test this assumption.
Business Resource Toolkit
Business Resource Toolkit
The Business Resource Toolkit Project was developed in collaboration with the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie (WPBGE) to support small businesses (1-20 employees) in the Grand Erie Region of Southern Ontario.
The Business Resource Toolkit Project was developed in collaboration with the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie (WPBGE) to support small businesses (1-20 employees) in the Grand Erie Region of Southern Ontario.
Hint: Click on computer screen to open the project :)
Hint: Click on computer screen to open the project :)
Timeline
My role
Tools used
January-July 2025
Figma, OptimalWorkshop (OptimalSort), Excel, FigJam, WordPress
Team Size
4 members
Project Lead, Design Lead, Head of Communications, UX Researcher
Timeline
My role
Tools used
Project Lead, Design Lead, Head of Communications, UX Researcher
January-July 2025
Figma, OptimalWorkshop (OptimalSort), Excel, FigJam, WordPress
Team Size
4 members
Launched
Service is currently live on the workforceplanningboard.org website.
Future Considerations
Since the organization was already using WordPress, I designed the site to align with their existing setup and made it easy to update and maintain
Timeline
This project began in January as part of in-class assignments and was completed in July during my internship with the WPBGE.
How Might We...?
How might we design an accessible and user-friendly Business Resource Toolkit that empowers small businesses in Grand Erie to improve recruitment, HR management, and employee development while minimizing costs and effort?
How might we design an accessible and user-friendly Business Resource Toolkit that empowers small businesses in Grand Erie to improve recruitment, HR management, and employee development while minimizing costs and effort?
Project Scope 🎯
Small businesses in the Grand Erie region face significant operational challenges. This project aims to provide practical, easy-to-access HR solutions to help overcome these barriers.
Small businesses in the Grand Erie region face significant operational challenges. This project aims to provide practical, easy-to-access HR solutions to help overcome these barriers.
👥
Labour Shortages
Limited access to talent, especially in rural areas, creating recruitment difficulties.
⚙️
Limited HR Capacity
Lack of dedicated HR personnel leading to inefficient HR operations.
💰
Financial Constraints
Time and budget restrictions limiting investment in HR technology and training.
Environmental Scan 🔍
📈 Economic Trends
Small businesses face rising costs and labour shortages, making it difficult to compete with larger firms.
🤝 Social Trends
Employee expectations shifting towards workplace culture, DEI, and work-life balance
Rise of remote and hybrid work poses adaptation challenges
📋 Regulatory Trends
Employment law changes require compliance without dedicated HR staff
Limited awareness of available government support programs
💻 Technological Trends
Increasing adoption of AI-driven recruitment and digital HR processes
Digital literacy and infrastructure gaps remain significant barriers
Research & User Needs 🔬
🎯 Primary User Challenges
👥 Recruitment & Staff Development
– Finding and retaining skilled employees
⏰ Time & Resource Constraints
– Managing HR without dedicated personnel
💻 Technology Limitations
– Limited experience with HR software and digital tools
📊 Research Methods
🌳
Evaluated toolkit findability on existing website
Tree Testing
🔍
Contextual Inquiries
Gathered direct insights on HR approaches and needs
🃏
Organized HR content for intuitive navigation
Card Sorting
Environmental Scan 🔍
📈 Economic Trends
Small businesses face rising costs and labour shortages, making it difficult to compete with larger firms.
🤝 Social Trends
Employee expectations shifting towards workplace culture, DEI, and work-life balance
Rise of remote and hybrid work poses adaptation challenges
💻 Technological Trends
Increasing adoption of AI-driven recruitment and digital HR processes
Digital literacy and infrastructure gaps remain significant barriers
📋 Regulatory Trends
Employment law changes require compliance without dedicated HR staff
Limited awareness of available government support programs
Research & User Needs 🔬
🎯 Primary User Challenges
👥 Recruitment & Staff Development
– Finding and retaining skilled employees
⏰ Time & Resource Constraints
– Managing HR without dedicated personnel
💻 Technology Limitations
– Limited experience with HR software and digital tools
📊 Research Methods
🌳
Tree Testing
Evaluated toolkit findability on existing website
🔍
Contextual Inquiries
Gathered direct insights on HR approaches and needs
🃏
Card Sorting
Organized HR content for intuitive navigation
Design Process
The Double Diamond design framework guided the process by first Discovering and Defining the problem through research and analysis, then Developing and Delivering a solution through ideation, prototyping, and testing.
Competitive Analysis
We conducted a early competitive analysis of different HR Resources to compare to the WPBGE after meeting with our clients:
Key Findings
User Experience Gaps
Most existing HR platforms lack intuitive navigation and mobile-first design approaches, creating barriers for users accessing resources on-the-go.
Content Organization
Information architecture varies significantly across platforms, with many failing to provide clear categorization and search functionality for HR resources.
Accessibility Standards
Limited compliance with WCAG guidelines and poor support for assistive technologies across competitor platforms.
Generative Research
We conducted "think aloud" contextual inquiries with small business owners (n=5) around the Grand Erie Region, specifically targeting organizations with fewer than 20 employees. Each session lasted between 15-25 minutes, providing focused insights into their daily HR challenges and operational pain points.
🎯
We connected with local establishments in the Grand Erie Region including Middlekoop, Lookout Lounge, Urban Parisian, and Slaman's Flowers.
🔍
Our compact sessions were designed to respect the busy schedules of small business owners while capturing their authentic HR experiences.
💡
Business owners demonstrated their current approaches to employee management, hiring processes, and workplace policy implementation.
Our research revealed several consistent patterns across these small businesses:
Daily Operations
Most owners spend 80% of their time on
core business activities, leaving HR tasks
to be handled reactively rather
than proactively.
Technology Barriers
78% of participants expressed frustration with complex digital HR tools, preferring simple, straightforward solutions.
Information Access
All participants relied heavily on Google searches for HR information, often feeling overwhelmed by the volume of results.
Resource Management
90% maintained minimal or no formal HR documentation, citing time constraints as the primary barrier.
"I spend most of my day in the kitchen. When HR issues come up, I handle them on the fly. There's no time to learn complicated systems or read through pages of documentation."
— Owner, Urban Parisian
Following these sessions, we conducted a hybrid card sort to evaluate how business owners naturally organize and interpret HR-related information. This exercise revealed that:
📊
85% of participants struggled with current category labels, finding them too technical or unclear
🎯
Users consistently grouped practical resources together (templates, guides, checklists) separate from theoretical content
💡
All participants expressed a desire for a "quick start" or "essentials" section for common HR tasks
These insights directly informed our approach to simplifying the HR toolkit, focusing on practical, accessible solutions that integrate seamlessly with the daily operations of small businesses.
Understanding Our Users
Through conversations with 5 small business owners, a clear pattern emerged: HR tasks were overwhelming their daily operations.
"I do not have time as a business owner to sit and go through HR processes and run a business! There's not enough hours in the day."
— Owner, Midlekoop Sheet Metals
Initial Explorations
Our first wireframes focused on simplifying complex HR processes into digestible steps.
Low-Fidelity Testing Results
Our initial testing revealed varying success rates across three critical tasks:
1
Mental Health Resources: 90% overall success rate, but only 40% found it directly without backtracking
2
Financial Support Information: 40% success rate, indicating significant navigation issues
3
Specialized Training (HVAC): 60% success rate, showing room for improvement
Design Evolution
Based on user feedback, we refined our approach to create more intuitive navigation patterns.
Key Improvements
Simplified navigation with clear visual hierarchy
Reduced cognitive load through progressive disclosure
Mobile-first responsive design approach
User Testing Results
Task Completion Rate
85%
Time to Complete
-40%
Design Process
Competitive Analysis
The Double Diamond design framework guided the process by first Discovering and Defining the problem through research and analysis, then Developing and Delivering a solution through ideation, prototyping, and testing.
We conducted a early competitive analysis of different HR Resources to compare to the WPBGE after meeting with our clients:
Discover
Research
Define
Insights
Ideate
Brainstorm
Prototype
Test
Diverge
Diverge
Converge
Converge
Understand user needs
Define initial ideas
Develop & test ideas
Deliver & implement
Generative Research
We conducted "think aloud" contextual inquiries with small business owners (n=5) around the Grand Erie Region, specifically targeting organizations with fewer than 20 employees. Each session lasted between 15-25 minutes, providing focused insights into their daily HR challenges and operational pain points.
🎯
We connected with local establishments in the Grand Erie Region including Middlekoop, Lookout Lounge, Urban Parisian, and Slaman's Flowers.
🔍
Our compact sessions were designed to respect the busy schedules of small business owners while capturing their authentic HR experiences.
💡
Business owners demonstrated their current approaches to employee management, hiring processes, and workplace policy implementation.
Our research revealed several consistent patterns across these small businesses:
Technology Barriers
73% of participants expressed frustration with complex digital HR tools, preferring simple, straightforward solutions.
Resource Management
90% maintained minimal or no formal HR documentation, citing time constraints as the primary barrier.
Daily Operations
Most owners spend 80% of their time on core business activities, leaving HR tasks to be handled reactively rather than proactively.
Information Access
All participants relied heavily on Google searches for HR information, often feeling overwhelmed by the volume of results.
"I spend most of my day in the kitchen. When HR issues come up, I handle them on the fly. There's no time to learn complicated systems or read through pages of documentation."
— Owner, Urban Parisian
Following these sessions, we conducted a hybrid card sort to evaluate how business owners naturally organize and interpret HR-related information. This exercise revealed that:
📊
85% of participants struggled with current category labels, finding them too technical or unclear
🎯
Users consistently grouped practical resources together (templates, guides, checklists) separate from theoretical content
💡
All participants expressed a desire for a "quick start" or "essentials" section for common HR tasks
These insights directly informed our approach to simplifying the toolkit, focusing on practical, accessible solutions that integrate seamlessly with the daily operations of small businesses.
Our Journey
Understanding Our Users
Through conversations with 5 small business owners, a clear pattern emerged: HR tasks were overwhelming their daily operations.
"I do not have time as a business owner to sit and go through HR processes and run a business! There's not enough hours in the day."
— Owner, Midlekoop Sheet Metals
Initial Explorations
Our first wireframes focused on simplifying complex HR processes into digestible steps.
Low-Fidelity Testing Results
Our initial testing revealed varying success rates across three critical tasks:
1
Mental Health Resources: 90% overall success rate, but only 40% found it directly without backtracking
2
Financial Support Information: 40% success rate, indicating significant navigation issues
3
Specialized Training (HVAC): 60% success rate, showing room for improvement
Mid-Fidelity Prototype Demo
Watch our prototype in action to see how we've implemented the key improvements.
Key Features Demonstrated
• Streamlined navigation paths for mental health resources
• Streamlined navigation paths for mental health resources
• Enhanced financial support information accessibility
• Enhanced financial support information accessibility
• Improved specialized training program discovery
Refining Our Approach
We focused our mid-fidelity prototype on improving these three critical task flows.
Mid-Fidelity Testing Results
1
Mental Health Resources: Achieved 100% success rate, though directness remained a challenge at 42%
2
Financial Support Information: Improved to 57% success rate, indicating better but still suboptimal findability
3
Specialized Training (HVAC): Significant improvement to 85% success rate, with 42% directness
Further Implementation: May 4th-July 21st
Upon continuing the implementation, we decided to do away with much of the labels and
categories. In this stage, we had also finalized a new name for this service:
Business Resource Toolkit. We decided to do away with the 'HR Digital Toolkit" name
because of confusion encountered from our users.
🧩
3. Define — Structuring the Toolkit Content
Uncovering the mental models that would guide our information architecture
With navigation validated, we turned to the heart of the toolkit: organizing 13 diverse business services (Legal, HR, Accounting, and more) in a way that matched how small business owners actually think about their needs. I conducted a hybrid card sort with 5 participants to uncover these mental models.
📊
Card Sort Revelations
5
Universal Agreement
All participants naturally grouped content into exactly 5 categories , revealing a clear consensus on how business resources should be organized.
80%
Strong Consensus
Legal, HR & Insurance Resources were consistently grouped together, indicating these are seen as foundational business needs.
65%
Clear Pattern
Business Operations & Growth emerged as a distinct category, showing how owners think about scaling their businesses.
🎯
Direct Impact
These groupings became the foundation for the resource tabs and filtering system that users interact with today. Every category reflects how small business owners actually think about their needs.
🛠️
4. Develop — Design to WordPress Implementation
Translating research insights into a living, breathing digital experience
With our information architecture validated and user mental models understood, I moved into the development phase. Using Figma, I translated the restructured IA and wireframes into responsive, accessible layouts, then using the Divi plugin, implemented the toolkit directly in WordPress.
📄
Category-Specific Pages
Custom templates that adapt to different resource types while maintaining consistency across the user experience.
🔍
Filtering Interactions
Dynamic filtering based on the card sort categories, allowing users to quickly find relevant resources.
📎
Embedded Resources
Seamless integration of PDFs, external links, and downloadable content within the toolkit framework.
⚡
Mid-Develop Pivot
Halfway through development, a new requirement emerged: "Internationally Trained Workforce Resources". This tested our architecture's flexibility and our ability to adapt without breaking the user experience.
📄
Downloadable report PDF with policy insights
📝
Educational article explaining workforce integration
🔍
Custom searchable directory (transformed from Excel sheet)
🤝
5. Deliver — Stakeholder Collaboration
Navigating multiple stakeholder needs while maintaining user-centered design
I collaborated with three key organizations, each bringing different perspectives and requirements.
🌾
OMAFRA
🧪
2. Define — Validating Navigation Structure
Testing our hypothesis revealed dramatic improvements that exceeded all expectations
With our hypothesis, I designed two tree tests to validate whether our proposed navigation structure would actually solve the usability problems we'd identified. The results were more dramatic than we anticipated.
Tree Test Results Comparison
Navigation
Directness
Test
Success Rate
B
Proposed Structure
50% ✅
93% ✅
A
Original Structure
25%
89%
🎯
Breakthrough Result
The proposed structure doubled success rates. While the success rate was not
close to what I wanted it to be, it gave us good insights and foundation.
Strategic Decision: Elevating the Job Board
One of the most impactful changes was elevating the Job Board to a standalone tab in the global navigation. This decision was driven by compelling data:
100%
in tree testing
Perfect task success
📈
Top-performing page
in site analytics
🔍
site-wide
Strongest SEO performance
🔍
1. Discover — Landing Page Confusion
The journey began with a critical discovery that would reshape our entire approach
To start implementation, I began with an audit of the website’s original landing page. Something felt off about the user experience, but we needed data to understand exactly what was happening. To evaluate content clarity and organization, I conducted a card sort with 15 participants using Optimal Workshop.
📉
Completion Crisis
47%
Only 47% of users completed the card sort, indicating significant friction in how users interpreted the category groupings. This was our first red flag.
🕒
Cognitive Overload
3m 39s
Median completion time was far too long for a simple sort, pointing to cognitive overload and confusion about content relationships.
💡
The Insight
clearer navigation labels would dramatically improve usability.
But we needed to test this assumption.
The card sort insights led to an early restructure of the landing page and formed our central hypothesis:
🎯
Final Outcome — A Scalable, User-Informed Resource Hub
After months of iteration, testing, and stakeholder alignment, we launched a live, tested, and scalable toolkit. The final product supports local businesses with clear, intuitive navigation, high-impact resource discoverability, and a filterable, categorized toolkit aligned to user mental models.
🧭
Clear, Intuitive Navigation
Restructured information architecture based on user mental models, resulting in 100% task success rates in final testing.
🔍
High-Impact Resource Discoverability
Elevated job board to primary navigation and implemented category-based filtering for instant resource access.
🛠️
Filterable, Categorized Toolkit
Dynamic filtering system based on validated user mental models, organizing 13+ business services into 5 intuitive categories that match how small business owners think about their needs.
📊
Testing Impact Metrics
The Business Resource Toolkit testing had measurable improvements throughout its journey.
2x
Time on site
Time on site decreased from 8 mins, to about 4 mins.
100%
Job Board Access
Better findability for most-requested resource
5
Clear Categories
Universal agreement on resource organization
💡
Key Learnings
Critical insights that shaped our approach and can guide future projects
🏗️
Pre-Launch Validation
Validating information architecture before development reduces post-launch friction and costly redesigns.
Impact:
Avoided MONTHS of post-launch iterations
📈
Quant + Qual Insights
Combining quantitative data with qualitative insights leads to high-confidence design decisions.
Method:
Tree testing + card sorts + contextual inquiries
🎯
Data-Driven Prioritization
Combining user behavior data with SEO analytics and site performance metrics is essential for strategic prioritization decisions.
User Data:
Tree testing, card sorts, task analysis
Performance:
SEO rankings, page analytics, conversion
🚀
Scalable Foundation
The toolkit architecture supports future growth and adaptation
📄
Flexible Templates
Custom WordPress templates adapt to different resource types while maintaining consistency
🔧
Modular System
Component-based architecture allows easy addition of new resource categories
📊
Analytics Ready
Built-in tracking through WordPress plugins for continuous optimization and user behaviour insights
🎯
Project Success
✅
User-validated information architecture
✅
Measurable usability improvements
✅
Scalable, future-ready platform
Goal for Next Step
Focus on improving direct navigation success rates
Timeline
High-fidelity prototype expected by Mid-July 2025
© A. Capolongo 2025
designed with love (and lots of caffeine)
Refining Our Approach
We focused our mid-fidelity prototype on improving these three critical task flows.
Mid-Fidelity Testing Results
1
Mental Health Resources: Achieved 100% success rate, though directness remained a challenge at 42%
2
Financial Support Information: Improved to 57% success rate, indicating better but still suboptimal findability
3
Specialized Training (HVAC): Significant improvement to 85% success rate, with 42% directness
Key Insights
Navigation Improvements
Clearer pathways and improved information architecture led to better task completion rates across all three critical flows.
Content Organization
Better categorization and labeling helped users find relevant information more efficiently, though directness scores indicate room for further optimization.
Usability
The mid-fidelity prototype successfully addressed major usability issues while maintaining the core functionality users expect.
Further Implementation: May 4th-July 21st
Upon continuing the implementation, we decided to do away with much of the labels and categories. In this stage, we had also finalized a new name for this service: Business Resource Toolkit. We decided to do away with the 'HR Digital Toolkit" name because of confusion encountered from our users.
🧪
2. Define — Validating Navigation Structure
Testing our hypothesis revealed dramatic improvements that exceeded all expectations
With our hypothesis, I designed two tree tests to validate whether our proposed navigation structure would actually solve the usability problems we'd identified. The results were more dramatic than we anticipated.
Tree Test Results Comparison
Test
Navigation
Success Rate
A
Original Structure
25%
B
Proposed Structure
50% ✅
🎯
Breakthrough Result
The proposed structure doubled success rates. While the success rate was not close to what I wanted it to be, it gave us good insights and foundation.
Strategic Decision: Elevating the Job Board
One of the most impactful changes was elevating the Job Board to a standalone tab in the global navigation. This decision was driven by compelling data:
100%
in tree testing
Perfect task success
📈
Top-performing page
in site analytics
🔍
site-wide
Strongest SEO performance
🧩
3. Define — Structuring the Toolkit Content
Uncovering the mental models that would guide our information architecture
With navigation validated, we turned to the heart of the toolkit: organizing 13 diverse business services (Legal, HR, Accounting, and more) in a way that matched how small business owners actually think about their needs. I conducted a hybrid card sort with 5 participants to uncover these mental models.
📊
Card Sort Revelations
5
Universal Agreement
All participants naturally grouped content into exactly 5 categories, revealing a clear consensus on how business resources should be organized.
80%
Strong Consensus
Legal, HR & Insurance Resources were consistently grouped together, indicating these are seen as foundational business needs.
65%
Clear Pattern
Business Operations & Growth emerged as a distinct category, showing how owners think about scaling their businesses.
🎯
Direct Impact
These groupings became the foundation for the resource tabs and filtering system that users interact with today. Every category reflects how small business owners actually think about their needs.
🔧
4. Develop — Design to WordPress Implementation
Translating research insights into a living, breathing digital experience
With our information architecture validated and user mental models understood, I moved into the development phase. Using Figma, I translated the restructured IA and wireframes into responsive, accessible layouts, then implemented the toolkit using the Divi plugin directly in WordPress.
📄
Category-Specific Pages
Custom templates that adapt to different resource types while maintaining consistency across the user experience.
🔍
Filtering Interactions
Dynamic filtering based on the card sort categories, allowing users to quickly find relevant resources.
📎
Embedded Resources
Seamless integration of PDFs, external links, and downloadable content within the toolkit framework.
⚡
Mid-Develop Pivot
Halfway through development, a new toolkit category requirement emerged: "Internationally Trained Workforce Resources".
This tested our architecture's flexibility and our ability to adapt without breaking the user experience.
📄
Downloadable report PDF with policy insights
📝
Educational article explaining workforce integration
🔍
Custom searchable directory (transformed from Excel sheet)
🤝
5. Deliver — Stakeholder Collaboration
Navigating multiple stakeholder needs while maintaining user-centered design
The delivery phase required careful orchestration of multiple stakeholder voices while ensuring our user research remained the north star. I collaborated with three key organizations, each bringing different perspectives and requirements.
🏢
SCOR
🌍
Elgin-Middlesex
🌾
OMAFRA
🎯
Final Outcome — A Scalable, User-Informed Resource Hub
After months of iteration, testing, and stakeholder alignment, we launched a live, tested, and scalable toolkit. The final product supports local businesses with clear, intuitive navigation, high-impact resource discoverability, and a filterable, categorized toolkit aligned to user mental models.
🧭
Clear, Intuitive Navigation
Restructured information architecture based on user mental models, resulting in 100% task success rates in final testing.
🔍
High-Impact Resource Discoverability
Elevated job board to primary navigation and implemented category-based filtering for instant resource access.
🛠️
Filterable, Categorized Toolkit
Dynamic filtering system based on validated user mental models, organizing 13+ business services into 5 intuitive categories that match how small business owners think about their needs.
📊
Testing Impact Metrics
The Business Resource Toolkit testing had measurable improvements throughout its journey.
2x
Time on site
Time on site decreased from 8 mins, to about 4 mins.
100%
Job Board Access
Better findability for most-requested resource
5
Clear Categories
Universal agreement on resource organization
Key Takeaways
Streamlined navigation reduced user confusion
Clear categorization improved resource discovery
User testing validated design decisions
💡
Key Learnings
Critical insights that shaped our approach and can guide future projects
🏗️
Pre-Launch Validation
Validating information architecture before development reduces post-launch friction and costly redesigns.
Impact:
Avoided MONTHS of post-launch iterations
📈
Quant + Qual Insights
Combining quantitative data with qualitative insights leads to high-confidence design decisions.
Method:
Tree testing + card sorts + contextual inquiries
🎯
Data-Driven Prioritization
Combining user behavior data with SEO analytics and site performance metrics is essential for strategic prioritization decisions.
User Data:
Tree testing, card sorts, task analysis
Performance:
SEO rankings, page analytics, conversion
🚀
Scalable Foundation
The toolkit architecture supports future growth and adaptation
📄
Flexible Templates
Custom WordPress templates adapt to different resource types while maintaining consistency
🔧
Modular System
Component-based architecture allows easy addition of new resource categories
📊
Analytics Ready
Built-in tracking through WordPress plugins for continuous optimization and user behaviour insights
(click to copy)
© A. Capolongo 2025
designed with love (and lots of caffeine)
(click to copy)
© A. Capolongo 2025
designed with love (and lots of caffeine)
🎯
Project Success
✅
User-validated
information architecture
✅
Measurable usability
improvements
✅
Scalable, future-
ready platform