Project File / 01
Product + Web DesignResearch meets
community.
University of San Francisco Policy Lab
A collaborative website redesign focused on making the lab's research, projects, and opportunities to get involved easier to understand.
01 / Policy Brief
A clearer way into
the Policy Lab.
The Policy Lab connects academic research with public engagement and community partnerships in San Francisco. Its website needed to speak to students, faculty, community partners, local government, and public visitors.
These audiences had different needs, but the website still needed to feel like one connected experience. The design challenge was to make it easy to understand what the lab does, explore its work, and take the next step toward participating.
Who the Site Speaks To
- Students
- Faculty
- Community partners
- Local government
- Public visitors
Understand the lab
Make the purpose of the Policy Lab clear to people outside the university.
Explore the work
Help visitors scan research projects and understand the people involved.
Get involved
Give prospective collaborators a clear route toward participation.
02 / Stakeholder Insight
The website is a
first point of contact.
After interviewing Professor Konrad Posch, I learned that the website should prioritize collaboration. External partners needed to quickly understand how they could engage with the lab.
This made Work With Us a primary pathway in my design thinking. The page needed to explain participation and make the next step visible.
“We are not the University in San Francisco. We are the University of San Francisco.”
03 / Process
From one interview
to two live pages.
The interview set the priorities. Content planning decided what belonged on each page, and the CMS decided what was possible.
Feedback from the team and the lab shaped each round before the pages went live on myUSF.
Process / January–May 2026
- 01Listen
Stakeholder interview with Professor Posch.
- 02Plan
Sitemap and content planning for both pages.
- 03Structure
Hierarchy and layouts for Work With Us and Projects.
- 04Build
Pages built inside the myUSF CMS.
- 05Refine
Feedback rounds with the team and the lab.
04 / Work With Us
From interest
to participation.
I approached Work With Us as an intake experience. Visitors needed to understand how they could participate and where to begin.
I focused on clarifying collaboration pathways, making entry points more visible, and reducing reliance on institutional language. The page guides interested visitors toward a participation form.
Design Intent / Participation Path
- 01Understand
What does collaboration with the lab involve?
- 02Find a Fit
How could I participate?
- 03Take a Step
Where do I express interest?
Work With Us / Page Structure, Top to Bottom
- 01An open invitationTake a Step
One question and one clear button: submit a request to work with the lab.
- 02Three ways inFind a Fit
Students & Emerging Scholars, Community & Non Profit Organizations, and Government Agencies & Policymakers, each with its own button.
- 03A shared missionUnderstand
Why community-rooted policy matters to the lab.
- 04“Not sure where to start?”Take a Step
No finished project idea needed. Visitors can email the lab to begin.
- 05Why partner, then ask againUnderstand
Capacity building, actionable insights, and Jesuit values, followed by the request button a second time.
- 06FAQUnderstand
Common questions answered before anyone has to ask.
05 / Projects
Make research
easier to browse.
Research projects needed to feel credible and readable. I structured the Projects page around modular entries and a clear hierarchy so visitors could scan the work before reading more.
Supporting information about faculty, students, and community partners adds context to each project and makes the people behind the research more visible.
Give each project a clear starting point.
Use a repeatable structure for browsing.
Show the people of San Francisco and partnerships involved.
Projects / Anatomy of an Entry
Four parts, every time.
- 1Photo
The people and places behind the research.
- 2Title
What the project is, in plain words.
- 3One sentence
Faculty, students, and partners, named up front.
- 4One action
View project, and nothing else competing for attention.
06 / Team Identity
Connected to the
city it serves.
The website was part of a broader team identity system built around place, data, and community.
The final identity combined a San Francisco skyline, a data line, and a skewed circular form. Together, those elements connected the lab's research to its public-facing purpose. My focus within that larger project remained the structure and design of Work With Us and Projects.
07 / What I Took with Me
The clarity starts
before the layout.
I learned that clarity comes from aligning stakeholders, audiences, content, and goals. Working with feedback and CMS constraints pushed me past visuals and toward structure and intention.
The redesign brought those decisions into a more cohesive presentation. My next step would be to test whether visitors can find a relevant project and identify how to participate without help.
Live Pages / myUSF
See the pages live.
Both pages are published on the university’s site.