Red Hat identified several challenges prompting the need for website redesign and information architecture overhaul. These included low user conversions, lack of personalization for major website personas, including registered developers and users, and lack of a straightforward and faster Learning Management System (LMS) experience.

Red Hat wanted to maintain a consistent visual language across the portal while achieving the following objectives:

• Restructure the information architecture of the website to favor conversion-based user journeys
• Showcase the value proposition of Red Hat's paid products and services while highlighting the brand's commitment to open source
• Create personalized learning journeys with dedicated environments, tutorials, and easily accessible resources
• Leverage user research and personas to enhance the developer learning experience and improve product buyer journeys
• Enhance the website's product buyer journeys to create a better Red Hat Developer Subscription Program

We established clear communication channels with the client, involving daily scrums and open discussions to ensure alignment, especially in navigating unfamiliar market territory. As a result, the design elements evolved in-sync with the client’s vision.

Axelerant’s approach for this was divided into four segments.

1. Top Design Jobs: We leveraged the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework to capture business and design requirements while balancing user needs and business goals.
2. User Research: We conducted user research using three critical methods.
   • User Journey Mapping: We used the research findings captured in earlier steps to chart a user’s journey on Red Hat’s developer portal.
   • Persona Empathy Mapping: We created formal personas and empathy maps for all the major personas identified during the process.
   • Stakeholder Interviews And Mapping: We understood the length and breadth of the stakeholders involved, as well as their objectives, challenges, and priorities.
3. Information Architecture And Navigation Redesign: We used more inclusive and meaningful structures, taxonomies, and content models. We created low-fidelity wireframes complete with elemental depth and proposed behavior and interactions.
4. UI Design: We used the low-fidelity mockups to create high-fidelity UI mockups per Red Hat's visual branding. These mockups, like all other brand digital assets, were mobile responsive. 
5. Usability Audit: We conducted a usability audit based on Nielsen’s Usability Heuristics on the existing portal to rule out any possible interaction issues and uncover usability flaws in existing web design. 

Collaboration with Red Hat was instrumental in this project. The client’s active involvement in research helped the team uncover invaluable insights.

By understanding their needs via user personas, we help revamp the Red Hat Developer Portal, introducing a new information architecture for seamless navigation and personalized learning experiences. We also helped them achieve:

• Higher Conversion Rate: We uncovered major personas, including their needs, expectations, and pain points. We also categorized the personas into primary (Technical Architect) and secondary (Linux Developers) based on the usage. This helped us nudge the users along a desired journey path, eventually increasing conversions.
• Brand New Learning Experience: The new information architecture helped redefine the users’ learning experience by allowing them to track and comprehend their learning journey on the website.
• Better User Journey Tracking: By implementing the new learning experience, Red Hat could track the users’ learning journey, including the different resources consumed across stages. 
• Higher User Engagement: The website became more experience-led with personalized touchpoints, which helped increase user engagement.
• Superior Subscription Programs: With detailed information about end users, Red Hat improved the design of its subscription programs and increased the odds of conversion.