Product Strategy
A new era for NASA/JPL Education
The NASA/JPL Education website takes its next giant leap with an optimized user experience and a publishing system to meet growing demand.
Project Title: JPL Education Website, 2024 Redesign
Summary: Traffic to the JPL Education Website had been booming since the redesign I led in 2015. But nearly a decade later, the infrastructure was no longer keeping pace. After advocating for and helping secure funding, I directed a new redesign from concept to launch—leading a team of nearly 40 researchers, creatives, engineers, and content authors through user research, discovery, design, development, and testing. The new site launched in November 2024 with a modernized interface, a streamlined CMS, expanded content and sharing capabilities, and tools to grow visibility even further.
My Role: Product Strategy • Content Design • UX/Web Design • User Research • CMS Design • Product Management • Project Management • Technical and Creative Team Leadership
Tools: Figma, Airtable, GitHub, Slack, Miro, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Analytics, Google Forms, Wagtail CMS
The Opportunity:
Ready for an Evolution
A website redesign I led in 2015 had dramatically expanded JPL Education's audience and the organization's visibility. By 2023, the site's traffic had grown by more than 500% to 4 million annual visitors and was driving a third of the total traffic to JPL’s flagship website.
But the site was showing its age. It struggled to support our expanding content catalog and the increasing demand from audiences and stakeholders who relied on JPL Education’s resources.
With JPL and NASA launching updated flagship sites, it was time for JPL Education to take its next leap forward.
The Goals:
Putting Users First
The goals of the redesign were to:
Deliver a modernized user experience to better support audiences and stakeholders.
Align the interface with user needs and JPL’s new design system.
Improve site functionality and discoverability.
Streamline publishing workflows and support new contributors.
The Work:
Leading from Pitch to Launch
I started by engaging stakeholders, writing project briefs, developing pitch decks, and leading presentations to demonstrate the value of a redesign for both audiences and the organization.
At the same time, I laid the groundwork that would guide the effort and get the project rolling quickly once funding came through. This included leading user research and documenting requirements.
In 2023, we earned an initial round of funding for design and discovery with Torchbox, the UK-based company behind the Wagtail CMS used by JPL’s flagship website. The final funding arrived nearly a year later with a tight deadline: Develop and launch in just six months.
Here’s how I led a cross-functional team split between Torchbox and JPL through a full redesign and build:
Research: Partnered with human-centered designers and user researchers to gather audience insights, combining findings with market data and analytics to create a product strategy.
Documentation: Worked with product owners, content creators, and tech leads to define and prioritize deliverables:
Built a new site architecture and taxonomy.
Wrote detailed requirements and for the front-end and CMS.
Created a tracking sheet to manage requirement status and priority.
Design: Directed designers in creating layouts and interfaces aligned with user needs and JPL’s design system.
Development: Coordinated sprints with project managers, resolved blockers, and managed team communication via GitHub, Slack, and weekly tag-ups.
CMS: Guided the integration and customization of the Wagtail CMS, creating a streamlined experience for content authors across skill levels.
Migration: Advised developers on migrating hundreds of complex pages into the new site structure and CMS.
SEO: Worked with Torchbox SEO specialists to develop metadata rules based on their analysis and recommendations.
Testing: Led testing and QA, creating forms and workflows to collect feedback, managing GitHub tickets, and liaising between developers and product owners.
Training: Trained both new and veteran content authors to use the CMS for manual migration and publishing.
The Impact:
JPL Education Goes the Distance
In six months, I led a cross-functional team through 10 sprints, managing nearly 400 tickets and overseeing the migration of 600+ web pages. I helped implement a streamlined publishing system and delivered a next-level user experience. Here were the impacts:
Improved usability and access to core content with an intuitive interface and site structure aligned to audience and stakeholder needs.
Expanded digital publishing capabilities, cutting production time by over 50%, growing the content team from 2 to 12, and enabling new offerings.
Enabled broader reach by facilitating content-sharing and collaboration with the JPL flagship site.
Launched a discoverability strategy, including an SEO roadmap and CMS tools to support ongoing improvements.
Sustaining Impact
The redesign delivered clear gains in usability and engagement. Six months after launch, average engagement time was up 33%, and views per user had increased by 9%. The Education site continues to drive nearly 30% of traffic to JPL’s flagship site.
However, it’s worth noting that shortly after launch, the education content team (including myself) was laid off, and updates paused. Traffic has since declined, likely due to a combination of factors, including the absence of ongoing maintenance and new content. It’s a powerful reminder that great design can elevate a product, but sustaining impact requires continued care.
Credits
Project Leadership
Project Lead – Strategy, Execution & Delivery: Kim Orr
Project Lead – Oversight, Budget & Strategic Support: Ota Lutz
Technical Program Manager: Alicia Cermak
Project Managers – Design & Discovery (JPL): Lindsey Tran, Stacy Chen
Project Manager – Development & Integration: Lindsey Tran
Project Managers – Design & Discovery (Torchbox): James Ellis, Abigail Hampson
Project Manager – Development & Integration (Torchbox): Claudia D’Angelo
Product Manager – Design & Discovery (Torchbox): Andrew Wilding-Smith
Product Manager – Development & Integration (Torchbox): Michael Wilkinson
Project Advisor (JPL): Chris Hawley
User Research & Design
User Researchers (JPL): Emma Kalayjian, Krys Blackwood
User Researchers (Saginaw Valley State University): Bill Williamson
User Researchers (Torchbox): Jonny Peacock
UX/UI Design Lead (Torchbox): Ben Enright
UX/UI Designer (JPL): Michael Gorospe
Content & Editorial
Content Strategy Leads: Kim Orr, Ota Lutz
Content Strategy Consultants (JPL): Lyle Tavernier, Brandon Rodriguez, Ryan Smernoff
Content Strategy Consultant (Torchbox): Cassandra Cardiff
SEO Specialist: Jess Mackereth (Torchbox)
Development
Lead Developer: Thibaud Colas
Full-stack Developers (JPL): Stephanie Smith, James Ray
Back-end Developers (JPL): Scott Cranfill, Luis Espinoza
Back-end Developers (Torchbox): Ben Morse, Kevin Howbrook
Content Migration, Testing & Training
Content Migration, Testing & Training Lead: Kim Orr
Content Migration, Testing & Training Support: Ota Lutz
Testers: Lyle Tavernier, Brandon Rodriguez, Amelia Chapman, Jeff Nee
Content Editors: Lyle Tavernier, Brandon Rodriguez, Amelia Chapman, Jeff Nee, Arpine Margaryan, Andrea Olson, Devyn Payne, Jen Pino, Jenny Tieu, Jessica Parker
Advisors & Stakeholders
Education Section Manager: David Seidel
Creative Directors: David Rager (2023), Kareem Collie (2024)
JPL Web Manager: Randy Jackson
JPL Web Production Team: Anthony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
Communications & Education Directorate Leadership: Michael Greene, Georgina Goode