Description

This group project focused on the full redesign of the BELCO Alliance website, a platform representing a strategic partnership between five European universities. Our goal was to create a modern, user-friendly site that clearly communicates the alliance’s mission, international modules, and collaboration opportunities for both students and academic partners. As the Project Manager, I was responsible for overseeing the entire design process, maintaining communication with stakeholders, and ensuring that the deliverables met both user and client needs. In addition to managing the team, I personally designed and animated the homepage prototype, selected the updated color palette, and brought the new layout to life through interactive elements.
Goals and Objectives
This project allowed me to strengthen my design and leadership skills by working closely with a real client—Dr. Maurice Cuypers—and managing both the team and stakeholder expectations. My main goals were to improve my front-end development knowledge, gain more experience with user research and real-world project planning, and produce a fully thought-out prototype that could transition into development.
Target Audience
The primary audience of the website includes international students looking for short-term academic modules, university partners involved in educational collaboration, and institutions interested in joining the BELCO Alliance. The redesign needed to serve both informative and functional purposes, balancing accessibility with a modern and academic tone.

Features

The redesigned website includes:A fully animated and interactive homepage prototype, updated color palette and modern design layout, improved content hierarchy to showcase BELCO’s mission and academic offerings, clear call-to-actions for both students and universities, a future-ready structure for possible dashboard integration and application tracking.

Process and Methodology

We began the project with thorough user and stakeholder research. I conducted the client interview with Dr. Cuypers, where we gathered detailed insights about the organization’s structure, goals, and the desired outcome of the redesign. I led the team in planning and executing the first version of the homepage prototype in Figma, applying both feedback from the stakeholder and inspiration gathered from other academic websites.As a team, we used Trello for task management, Git for version control, and Notion for documentation. Weekly check-ins and peer reviews kept our progress on track and helped us stay aligned with our deliverables.

Challenges and Solutions

One of the main challenges was turning vague design requirements into a functional, visually appealing homepage. While we had the freedom to redesign, aligning our vision with the client’s evolving expectations—like the idea of separating the BELCO Education platform—required flexibility and clear communication. Another personal challenge was managing time effectively while building detailed illustrations and prototypes. Through better task planning and scope management, I was able to stay on track and ensure that the most important features were prioritized.

Next steps for imrpovement

Moving forward, I plan to continue refining the prototype by integrating more student feedback and making it ready for development. I also aim to improve my JavaScript skills to better contribute to the front-end coding phase of the project. Overall, this project has been a valuable step in my journey toward becoming a front-end developer, helping me grow in both technical and professional areas.