Menlo College

Overview

Menlo’s site was confusing, slow, and buried its most important actions. I led the redesign from IA to UI—improving navigation, performance, and mobile usability to support real enrollment lift.

What wasn’t working

• No unified design system
• Key flows like Apply, Visit, and Give were buried
• Poor mobile performance + long load times
• Users got lost in menus with unclear hierarchy
• No SEO strategy

What I did

• Rebuilt content architecture and IA from scratch
• Designed responsive UI system in Figma
• Created modular components for dev handoff
• Migrated backend to WordPress for speed + maintainability
• Embedded SEO into structure and markup
• Clarified nav with direct paths to enrollment actions

Results

• Bounce rate dropped 40%
• Enrollment inquiries up YoY
• Lighthouse scores >90 across all devices
• Admissions called UX a “major improvement”

What I owned

• Strategy
• UX flows
• UI system
• Client communication
• Dev handoff

Outcomes

• Better UX = more applications. Clean design delivered clarity that moved users.