UX DESIGN CASE STUDY
Revamping Michigan Bass Nation's website through UX research & design
Role: UX Designer | Duration: 4 months | Year: 2025
Overview
Michigan Bass Nation is a non-profit organization that connects adult & youth anglers to bass fishing tournaments and programs across Michigan. Our team of graduate students was tasked with redesigning the Michigan Bass Nation adult & youth websites to create a more modern, user-friendly, and informative experience for adult and youth anglers, coaches, parents, and potential new members.
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Our initial goals were to:
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Define the website’s core functions for each user group
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Identify user pain points related to site navigation, information discovery, and task completion
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Discover opportunities to improve content organization and create a more intuitive information architecture
Research & Discovery
​​CONTENT AUDIT
To better understand what content was included within the website and how it was organized, we conducted a full content audit of both the adult and youth websites.
Screenshot of original website design for Michigan Bass Nation
SURVEYS
After our initial stakeholder meeting, we wanted to better understand the website’s primary users, core goals, and pain points. We sent a follow-up survey to both the adult and youth program directors to gather insights on target audiences, top priorities, current challenges with site functionality and content management, essential features, and preferences regarding the separation of the adult and youth websites.
From these surveys, we learned the following goals and pain points:
Main goals:
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Signing up for tournaments
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Joining MBN
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Viewing the calendar
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Accessing forms
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Viewing tournament results
Pain points:
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Difficulty finding tournament and member information
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Trouble accessing forms and viewing PDF’s on the website
INTERVIEWS & CARD SORTING
After reviewing insights from the surveys and content audit, we conducted user interviews and card sorting exercises to better understand how users felt the information on the MBN Adult & Youth websites should be organized. This research helped us identify key user tasks and how users navigate the site to complete these tasks and helped to inform the development of a more user-centric information architecture.
Initial Solutions
REDESIGNED SITE MAP
After analyzing information from the card sorting activities and our expert reviews, we met as a team to reorganize the content and create a new site map. We decided to combine the adult & youth websites and create one main site.
DESIGN SYSTEM
We created a design system based on the Michigan Bass Nation logo colors & typography, and focusing on a minimal design that is easy to scan and navigate.
PROTOTYPE
When the site map was approved by stakeholders, we moved on to designing an initial prototype in Figma.
Testing & Design Iterations
After a prototype was created, we conducted a usability test with both the adult & youth program directors. We then created several design iterations based off of the results from these usability tests.
Reflections
This project helped me grow as a UX designer and reinforced the importance of making design decisions based on real user insights and usability testing. Collaborating with a team improved my ability to clearly communicate ideas, give and recieve feedback, and ensure our design choices aligned with both user needs and organizational goals. Overall, it boosted my confidence in creating thoughtful, user-centered design solutions.