UI
UX
Visual design
Creating tailored digital journeys for teachers, parents, and student travelers
UI
UX
Visual design
Creating tailored digital journeys for teachers, parents, and student travelers
Redesigned EF Tours' public website experience by building audience-specific hub pages and a research-backed Parent Hub to serve the site's majority visitors—parents and student travelers—who were previously underserved by a teacher-first content structure.
PROBLEM
Despite over half of EF Tours' site visitors being parents and student travelers, the entire website was architected around prospective Group Leaders (teachers), leaving parents to navigate a sparse page and an outdated static PDF to make a high-stakes enrollment decision. This content mismatch caused parents to arrive at recruitment meetings under-informed, uncertain, and more likely to disengage.
Solution
I led the design of audience-specific hub pages that act as curated "tables of contents," routing each visitor type to the information most relevant to them. This structure was informed by a 9-day diary study with 20 parents that surfaced exactly what questions needed answering and when. This phased approach was the right solution because it addressed the immediate gap without requiring full personalization infrastructure, while laying the architectural groundwork for a truly personalized homepage in the future.
impact
96% engagement rate
375+ new users within two months of launch
Role
Senior Designer, Visual Design
Team
Copywriter, UX Designer, UX Researcher, Marketing Strategy, Creative Director
My Focus
Design strategy
Sitemap
Wireframes
Scalable pattern library
Tools
Figma, Miro, Storyblok
Redesigned EF Tours' public website experience by building audience-specific hub pages and a research-backed Parent Hub to serve the site's majority visitors—parents and student travelers—who were previously underserved by a teacher-first content structure.
PROBLEM
Despite over half of EF Tours' site visitors being parents and student travelers, the entire website was architected around prospective Group Leaders (teachers), leaving parents to navigate a sparse page and an outdated static PDF to make a high-stakes enrollment decision. This content mismatch caused parents to arrive at recruitment meetings under-informed, uncertain, and more likely to disengage.
Solution
I led the design of audience-specific hub pages that act as curated "tables of contents," routing each visitor type to the information most relevant to them. This structure was informed by a 9-day diary study with 20 parents that surfaced exactly what questions needed answering and when. This phased approach was the right solution because it addressed the immediate gap without requiring full personalization infrastructure, while laying the architectural groundwork for a truly personalized homepage in the future.
impact
96% engagement rate
375+ new users within two months of launch
Role
Senior Designer, Visual Design
Team
Copywriter, UX Designer, UX Researcher, Marketing Strategy, Creative Director
My Focus
Design strategy
Sitemap
Wireframes
Scalable pattern library
Tools
Figma, Miro, Storyblok
Redesigned EF Tours' public website experience by building audience-specific hub pages and a research-backed Parent Hub to serve the site's majority visitors—parents and student travelers—who were previously underserved by a teacher-first content structure.
PROBLEM
Despite over half of EF Tours' site visitors being parents and student travelers, the entire website was architected around prospective Group Leaders (teachers), leaving parents to navigate a sparse page and an outdated static PDF to make a high-stakes enrollment decision. This content mismatch caused parents to arrive at recruitment meetings under-informed, uncertain, and more likely to disengage.
Solution
I led the design of audience-specific hub pages that act as curated "tables of contents," routing each visitor type to the information most relevant to them. This structure was informed by a 9-day diary study with 20 parents that surfaced exactly what questions needed answering and when. This phased approach was the right solution because it addressed the immediate gap without requiring full personalization infrastructure, while laying the architectural groundwork for a truly personalized homepage in the future.
impact
96% engagement rate
375+ new users within two months of launch
Role
Senior Designer, Visual Design
Team
Copywriter, UX Designer, UX Researcher, Marketing Strategy, Creative Director
My Focus
Design strategy
Sitemap
Wireframes
Scalable pattern library
Tools
Figma, Miro, Storyblok
Define
Why is re-thinking the user journey eftours.com, without doing a complete site overhaul, a unique challenge?
I conducted user interviews to help me better understand what was holding people back from connecting with others in their city, what would make a someone want use a product that helps them connect with others, and identify any other needs that a user might have when meeting new people.
Define
Why is re-thinking the user journey eftours.com, without doing a complete site overhaul, a unique challenge?
I conducted user interviews to help me better understand what was holding people back from connecting with others in their city, what would make a someone want use a product that helps them connect with others, and identify any other needs that a user might have when meeting new people.
Define
Why is re-thinking the user journey eftours.com, without doing a complete site overhaul, a unique challenge?
I conducted user interviews to help me better understand what was holding people back from connecting with others in their city, what would make a someone want use a product that helps them connect with others, and identify any other needs that a user might have when meeting new people.
1. A site designed for teachers—used mostly by parents
The public website emphasized the teacher journey, but 80% of traffic came from parents and travelers, creating a mismatch in expectations and content.
1. A site designed for teachers—used mostly by parents
The public website emphasized the teacher journey, but 80% of traffic came from parents and travelers, creating a mismatch in expectations and content.
2. A fragmented, outdated parent experience
Parents relied on:
A static Parent Guide PDF
A sparse “How it Works for Parents” page
Enrollment meetings that pressured fast decisions
This left parents feeling uncertain, rushed, and under-informed.
2. A fragmented, outdated parent experience
Parents relied on:
A static Parent Guide PDF
A sparse “How it Works for Parents” page
Enrollment meetings that pressured fast decisions
This left parents feeling uncertain, rushed, and under-informed.
3. No personalized experience (yet)
The long-term vision is a fully personalized homepage for both of our primary audiences. Short-term, we needed a solution that helped users self-identify and find what they needed quickly.
3. No personalized experience (yet)
The long-term vision is a fully personalized homepage for both of our primary audiences. Short-term, we needed a solution that helped users self-identify and find what they needed quickly.
Research
Parent decision making study
Over 9 days, 20 parents captured real-time video diary entries documenting their thoughts and emotions throughout the tour enrollment decision process.
Our marketing manager and UX researcher collaborated to conduct a diary study with parents from awareness to enrollment. There were two primary goals for this study: Identify key factors driving parent’s decision making when enrolling a child on tour and understand how families evaluate trips.
Research
Parent decision making study
Over 9 days, 20 parents captured real-time video diary entries documenting their thoughts and emotions throughout the tour enrollment decision process.
Our marketing manager and UX researcher collaborated to conduct a diary study with parents from awareness to enrollment. There were two primary goals for this study: Identify key factors driving parent’s decision making when enrolling a child on tour and understand how families evaluate trips.
Key takeaways
Key takeaways
1.
Early information gaps caused parents to disengage
2.
Over-reliance on recruitment meetings risked enrollment losses
3.
Price sensitivity is universal, but value can outweigh cost
4.
Student excitement heavily influences parent decisions
1.
Early information gaps caused parents to disengage
2.
Over-reliance on recruitment meetings risked enrollment losses
3.
Price sensitivity is universal, but value can outweigh cost
4.
Student excitement heavily influences parent decisions
Strategy
Giving parents the right information at the right time to make a confident decision for their travelers
Using insights from the research and a full-site content audit, we built a parent-focused ecosystem around the key questions parents consistently ask:
What is EF & how does educational travel work?
Is my child safe and supported?
How much does this cost & what’s included?
What happens after we enroll?
Strategy
Using insights to inform teachers interested in travel before they even have a conversation with sales
Before diving into a conversation with a sales representative, prospective teachers needed to know:
Where can I travel with EF?
What is educational travel and why should I go with EF?
What’s in it for me?
Strategy
Giving parents the right information at the right time to make a confident decision for their travelers
Using insights from the research and a full-site content audit, we built a parent-focused ecosystem around the key questions parents consistently ask:
What is EF & how does educational travel work?
Is my child safe and supported?
How much does this cost & what’s included?
What happens after we enroll?
Strategy
Using insights to inform teachers interested in travel before they even have a conversation with sales
Before diving into a conversation with a sales representative, prospective teachers needed to know:
Where can I travel with EF?
What is educational travel and why should I go with EF?
What’s in it for me?
Strategy
Giving parents the right information at the right time to make a confident decision for their travelers
Using insights from the research and a full-site content audit, we built a parent-focused ecosystem around the key questions parents consistently ask:
What is EF & how does educational travel work?
Is my child safe and supported?
How much does this cost & what’s included?
What happens after we enroll?
Strategy
Using insights to inform teachers interested in travel before they even have a conversation with sales
Before diving into a conversation with a sales representative, prospective teachers needed to know:
Where can I travel with EF?
What is educational travel and why should I go with EF?
What’s in it for me?
Ideation
Discovery & competitive analysis
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During the define and design stage of the project, our team took a deep dive into our current site and those of our competitors to better understand where EF content lives today.
Ideation
Discovery & competitive analysis
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During the define and design stage of the project, our team took a deep dive into our current site and those of our competitors to better understand where EF content lives today.
Website Audit
Conducted to gather all parent and Group Leader related content across our public website and find information gaps as well as overlapping content.
Sitemap creation
I created a current sitemap as well as an updated sitemap for the new structure of the site. Using the main pain points from the parent study and previous teacher studies as the main sections for each audience hub.
Competitive analysis
We explored both direct educational travel competitors as well as other leaders in the travel and education spaces.
Website Audit
Conducted to gather all parent and Group Leader related content across our public website and find information gaps as well as overlapping content.
Sitemap creation
I created a current sitemap as well as an updated sitemap for the new structure of the site. Using the main pain points from the parent study and previous teacher studies as the main sections for each audience hub.
Competitive analysis
We explored both direct educational travel competitors as well as other leaders in the travel and education spaces.
Ideation
Creating a pattern library for long term continuity
All designer within Education First work with a centralized component library for speed and consistency. Each product then customizes those components for their brand and audience.
EF Tours was going through a brand refresh as this project was underway, so in order to reduce the need for major visual redesigns in the future, I:
Established mobile first, modular patterns to scale across the entire public facing website and allow the web team to build faster
Created patterns using the centralized components that were clean, modular, and easy for future brand updates without disrupting the structure of the page
Ideation
Creating a pattern library for long term continuity
All designer within Education First work with a centralized component library for speed and consistency. Each product then customizes those components for their brand and audience.
EF Tours was going through a brand refresh as this project was underway, so in order to reduce the need for major visual redesigns in the future, I:
Established mobile first, modular patterns to scale across the entire public facing website and allow the web team to build faster
Created patterns using the centralized components that were clean, modular, and easy for future brand updates without disrupting the structure of the page
Ideaiton
Wireframing
Since I was working with a pretty complete central component library and creating a consistent pattern library from there, I decided to wirfame digitally with Figma, our team’s main design tool, to keep everything accessible to the team and moving quickly.
Ideaiton
Wireframing
Since I was working with a pretty complete central component library and creating a consistent pattern library from there, I decided to wirfame digitally with Figma, our team’s main design tool, to keep everything accessible to the team and moving quickly.
outcomes & Next steps
Turning a one-size-fits-all site into a launchpad for personalization
What comes next:
Launch redesigned homepage to complete the hub-routing experience
Update visuals in alignment with EF’s brand evolution
Continue monitoring engagement and iterating based on user interactions
outcomes & Next steps
Turning a one-size-fits-all site into a launchpad for personalization
What comes next:
Launch redesigned homepage to complete the hub-routing experience
Update visuals in alignment with EF’s brand evolution
Continue monitoring engagement and iterating based on user interactions
We have seen a 96% engagement rate across Parent Hub pages with 375k+ new users since launch
Parents now arrive at recruitment meetings more informed and confident in what traveling with EF entails
Group Leaders gain a reliable digital resource when answering tough questions
The new hub system establishes the foundation for personalization across the entire site
We have seen a 96% engagement rate across Parent Hub pages with 375k+ new users since launch
Parents now arrive at recruitment meetings more informed and confident in what traveling with EF entails
Group Leaders gain a reliable digital resource when answering tough questions
The new hub system establishes the foundation for personalization across the entire site