Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed is the premier news publication dedicated to higher education, offering timely news, in-depth analysis, insightful opinions, job listings, career advice, events, and more. Publishing multiple times daily, it attracts millions of readers each month. While at nclud, I led the website redesign, collaborating closely with a team of designers and researchers to implement a research-driven approach to the new site's user experience, along with also refreshing the organization's brand identity.

Services
Research & Strategy
Content Strategy
Information Architecture
UX Design
Interaction Design
Design System

Research, Strategy & UX

We developed the site’s new strategy through a comprehensive research phase.

Leveraging Inside Higher Ed’s millions of users, we conducted user surveys to gather extensive quantitative audience feedback, complemented by qualitative interviews with users and stakeholders.

Workshops with the content team helped shape the content strategy and informed a card sorting exercise to optimize site navigation and organization.

We used all of these insights to refine user flows and develop wireframes to create informative page layouts, map out the modular block system and develop a more intuitive member signup process.

Brand Refresh

We refreshed Inside Higher Ed’s brand identity to update its look while reinforcing the professionalism, trust, and inclusivity that reflect the organization’s editorial culture and commitment to higher education.

The logo was kept simple to evoke the feel of an editorial app. Building on the brand’s equity and legacy, we evolved the color palette from existing hues to enhance flexibility and improve content organization.

Typography played a key role in the brand refresh. We selected fonts from Klim Type Foundry that honor the brand’s legacy and professionalism, while ensuring a clean, legible reading experience across devices.

The result is a brand that sets the standard for modern editorial apps in higher education all while continuing to build on the organization’s storied history.

Design System
& Page Layouts

Flexibility was paramount in the site’s design and page layouts.

We developed a robust modular block system that enables the site to adapt seamlessly to evolving content needs. This system provides the writing and editing team with numerous options to showcase content and tell stories, while also speeding up the publishing process.

Drew Garvey

Direction & Design

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