Effective UI | Herff Jones Online Yearbook Redesign
Herff Jones, a long-standing provider of graduation apparel, class rings, and educational publishing services, engaged Effective UI to modernize its Flash-based Online Yearbook platform by converting it to HTML5. This technical migration created an opportunity to enhance usability, introduce new features, and better support evolving workflows for students and staff involved in yearbook production.
As the Lead Experience Architect (LXA), I led user research efforts to ensure the redesigned platform aligned with real-world expectations and creative processes. I conducted interviews with a diverse set of stakeholders—including high school students in yearbook clubs, editors, photographers, faculty advisors, and Herff Jones sales staff—to understand roles, collaboration patterns, and pain points within the yearbook creation lifecycle.
Insights from this research directly informed interaction models, workflow improvements, and feature enhancements layered onto the HTML5 conversion. The resulting design supported easier content uploads (including mobile photography), improved collaboration across roles, and a more intuitive, flexible authoring experience—modernizing the platform while preserving familiarity for existing users.
initial screen captures of Flash based solution- Start of project
High School Year Book camp - 1500 participants | User Observations & Interviews
Static - High Fidelity concepts - validation
Wireframes proposed functionality and interaction patterns
Visual Design specifications & workflows
