NASA Institutional Review Board’s (IRB) Website 🚀
Role: Web Design Intern
Timeline: June - Aug 2021
Software + Tools: Figma, SharePoint
TLDR: I redesigned the IRB website into something more modern and interactive with updated information for all researchers and participants using the site. I used Figma to construct and prototype the interactions of the new site and was provided page content from members of the IRB team. As of July 2024, the IRB website has been decommissioned and is now apart of NASA’s main website.
Institutional Review Board 🛰️
The NASA Institutional Review Board (IRB) is an agency-wide IRB operating within the Common Rule that is charged with oversight of research involving human subjects to ensure ethical, safe, and equitable treatment of human subjects.
The Users 🧪
The IRB website is primarily for researchers and participants seeking information about how to conduct and submit research. Because of this, the site content and verbiage can be more technical.
A lot of NASA IRB content, meetings, and processes are exclusive, so the users of this site need to be familiar with where the information is and how to complete whatever task they are here for. A lot of researchers tend to be middle-aged and older, so when it comes to technology, the more simple, the better. But, just because the user base may be older, doesn’t mean less interactivity or intriguing graphics. While designing, I made sure to keep in mind visual appeal as much as content.
Out with the old, in with the new 🤖
Much of the site's design and information was outdated and no longer applied to current NASA IRB guidelines. Aesthetically and functionally, it could be improved to become something people enjoy using. Here, you can see some of the pages of the old website.
With so much content needed for the new site, it was essential to format it in a way that didn’t seem overwhelming. With more focus on images and layouts that break up the text, the team wanted the new site to feel more fun and fresh.
Behind the Design 🧑🚀
Keeping the elements that worked
Although the NASA IRB team wanted a whole new website that was more colorful and interactive, there were some aspects of the previous design that we decided to keep. For example, the starry black background remained as other elements on the page were moved and redesigned.
Making the site fun and interactive
On some pages, such as the submission page, there are dynamic planet buttons that allow the page structure to remain the same but switch as the content is adjusted. This aspect not only follows the space theme that comes with NASA and its sites but is a fun way for researchers and participants to get all the information they need.
NASA organizational requirements
While designing, I kept in mind NASA’s requirements for any of their pages; the top bar had to be navigation for the actual NASA website, and a footer had to be included with details of the site’s creation and implementation.
