National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation wants to establish user needs and create a mobile prototype that enables users to apply for research grants/funding that would expedite academic and research institutions to conduct research effectively. The website has seen a significant increase in mobile traffic, though it is not optimized for mobile usage. Users state that the website is difficult to interact with, and challenging to find basic information. The site has poor visuals, leading to accessibility concerns, confusion, and frustrations.
‍
Users should be able to efficiently research and apply for grants, without having to navigate through multiple websites and this process should be improved to generally be more visually organized.
‍
Users need a clear and efficient search process for grant applications. They need to stay organized through grant deadlines, eligibility requirements, and submission of documents without being redirected to multiple websites. Users also need to feel confident when submitting their hard work through an online platform.

Design an aesthetically pleasing mobile and desktop website with faceted navigation for grant search and seamless document upload flow through a user profile (with saved information and documentation) that provides upload feedback.

Through our Comparative Analysis we researched other organizations that issue grants to scientific institutions, such as Grants.gov and GrantForward. We specifically looked at the tasks of researching, finding, and applying for grants of interest. The biggest takeaway from this research, was that all of these organizations had a login feature for users, where they can build and access a user profile before applying for a grant. This is something that the National Science Foundation (NSF) currently does not have. This does not allow users to track grant and funding applications.

The goals of our user interviews was to gain an understanding of the needs, goals, and aspirations that drive the decision-making and behaviors of individuals who regularly submit proposals and apply for grants or funding.

We organized our findings from user interviews by building an affinity map. This helped us discover key takeaways from our users and identify patterns in their answers. We identified 4 behaviors and needs that all of our users experience. This guides our priorities in developing a redesign of the mobile site.

Through our user interviews we learned that users would not submit a proposal or application for a grant through their mobile device because it is a very involved process. The application and submission process needs to be done on a desktop website.

We conducted a Hybrid Card Sort, where users can categorize items in specific categories or create their own category if they feel it does not fit in to any of the categories provided. 13 individuals participated, and 8 of those participants have experience applying for grants or funding. We focused on the results from those 8 individuals. We provided 5 categories for users to sort the cards into; Funding Type, Find Grant Funding, Profile, Education Level and Research Areas. Each category had the predicted items sorted at the highest rates. There were 3 additional categories created by one user; Applicants, Grant Guidelines and Process. These results help guide how we setup how users filter and search for grants and what features would be available in the user profile.

The current task flow that must be taken by users on the current National Science Foundation (NSF)website is confusing and leads the user to a dead end within their website. Users are able to filter and sort their searches through a variety of ways; by education level, field of research, award type and due dates. Users are able to view the important details about the grant such as due dates, funding overview and program contacts. However, this is where the process ends on the NSF website. At this point users must save the Grant ID number, navigate to a different website to login and search for the specific grant and start the proposal and application process.

Through sketching we knew that we wanted to focus on making the process of searching for a grant or funding clear and efficient. We made the "Find Funding" page our top priority on the homepage, and the menu. Adding icons help add a visual aid for what area of research the user is searching for. We gave the most important details about the grant prominent hierarchy within the list, and simplified the filters.

We also built in a user profile, where the user can login to see their saved grants, grants in progress and grant history. Users will also be able to save important documents needed to apply for grants to their profile.

After reviewing our sketches as a team and collectively agreeing on how each page and feature should function we built our low-fidelity prototype to use for usability testing. We also built the desktop platform based on our mobile site and how certain features would translate from mobile to desktop.

For the Usability Testing we also made sure that our users were individuals who have spent time submitting proposals and applying for grants or funding. We set the scenario for our users through the development of our persona. Our users are driven by their curiosity and are detail-oriented. They carry a deep level of passion in their work and goals are to contribute to the scientific community through groundbreaking research. They use the NSF website to search and apply for research grants regularly.

The biggest takeaway from our research was that users would not apply for a grant or funding through a mobile platform because of how intensive the process is. Because of this we would add a module within the mobile user flow, to inform users that the application process must be completed on desktop. We would then continue to design the desktop platform in consistency with our mobile prototype, in which users would actually start grant proposal application process and be able to submit their applications within their profile on the National Science Foundation website.