Case study: TU Delft Research and Theses Repository

Figma file

open_in_new Open full Figma file open_in_new visit the production version (work in progress)

Summary

🎯 Objective

The TU Delft research and theses repository needed to be replaced both on the back-end and front-end, due to outdated software, and styles. There were many complaints about its limited functionality.

🥵 Problems

• The website should look professional to give credit to the scientific content.
• The website should serve both users who want to download and get out, as well as users who need to search specifically.

📚 Insights

• Many users know exactly what they want, hit download, and leave the website
• Students often want to search for content made in their faculty

💡 Explorations

I experimented with what information and features should be prioritized: files, metadata or actions.

See concepts in the figma file below:

💊 Final Solution

The final design looks professional and straight to the point. The entry pages have the main file and a big download button shown on top to allow users to quickly see if it's the paper they're looking for, and download it. It allows users to browse through different collections and communities.

open_in_new Open full Figma file open_in_new visit the production version (work in progress)

💥 Impact

The designs I made can be used for years to come by the team, and have features that can't be implemented yet, but will in the future.

While the production version is still a work in progress, and launched after my contract ended, I have heard lots of positive feedback

What I learned

• Working in a professional multidisciplinary team.
• Making design systems
• Many figma skills, and preparing Figma design files for developers