From a Cluttered Homepage into an Efficient Workforce Tool for Over 3,000 University Employees

A homepage redesign that cut confusion, delivered ahead of schedule, and gave thousands of employees faster access to critical HR resources.

Homepage rebuilt to put employee needs front and center
Navigation redesigned so critical HR resources are just a click away
Delivered ahead of schedule and under budget, maximizing ROI

The Office of Human Resources (OHR) serves as the backbone of the University of Minnesota’s workforce, supporting thousands of faculty, staff, and administrators across multiple campuses. But their homepage, the first stop for employees needing payroll, benefits, or HR policy info, wasn’t doing its job.

Instead of a gateway to services, it had become a cluttered bulletin board of news modules and updates.

Users searching for core HR functions were misdirected, or forced to dig through irrelevant content. OHR knew this was more than an inconvenience, it was a systemic barrier to efficiency.

From Gateway to Roadblock

The homepage offered useful information but lacked a streamlined design for quick access to HR resources.

Content-heavy design made news updates the focus, over user needs
An outdated UX failed today’s accessibility and usability standards
Confusing navigation sent employees to the wrong places
Weak hierarchy buried key services in clutter

Comprehensive UX audit
Information architecture redesign
Wireframes and visual design aligned to UMN brand
Agile, sprint-based execution
QA and accessibility compliance

OHR didn’t want a cosmetic redesign. They wanted a strategic partner who could diagnose root usability issues and deliver a homepage that worked for thousands of employees every day.

O8 stood out for three reasons:

Deep University of Minnesota Partnership: Over 10 years of collaboration across multiple UMN departments, including extensive work with the Office of Information Technology on custom Drupal projects, gave us unparalleled insight into the university's complex ecosystem.
Agile Methodology: Giving stakeholders visibility and control without slowing momentum—an approach refined through years of successful UMN project delivery.
Proven Track Record at UMN: A decade of delivering ahead of schedule and under budget while keeping quality high, with multiple departments trusting us as their go-to UX partner.

The decision was clear: O8 wasn't just another vendor. We were already embedded partners who understood UMN's unique challenges and could deliver measurable improvements in employee experience across the entire university system.

We began with a UX audit that mapped real user behavior and identified the friction points:

Misdirected Clicks
Buried Resources
Overwhelming Content Load

With those insights, we restructured the homepage around clarity and service-first design.

Our agile sprints allowed us to test, iterate, and refine in real time, while close collaboration with OHR’s marketing director ensured every stakeholder's priority was addressed.

The transformation was immediate:

From News-Heavy to Service-First: Employees no longer wade through irrelevant content, they land on what they need.
From Confusion to Clarity: Logical pathways replace cluttered modules, reducing wasted time.
From Outdated to Modern: A clean, accessible design aligned with brand standards and usability best practices.
From Stopgap to Scalable: The new homepage architecture sets OHR up for years of digital growth.

And perhaps most importantly: the project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, proof that strategic UX thinking and agile execution can deliver faster, better outcomes at lower cost.

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