The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability
Harvard University
UX/UI Designer for Educational Resource Platforms
2023
Project Overview
The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University unites scholars and global leaders to address the climate crisis through interdisciplinary research. To enhance its digital presence, the Institute completely redesigned its website, featuring sections like the Faculty Hub, Student Hub, Climate Change Projects, and campus involvement resources. The goal was to create a dynamic, user-friendly platform that effectively communicates its mission and fosters engagement among students, faculty, and partners.
My Role
I collaborated as one of three designers under the direction of a Creative Art Director. My focus was on shaping the information architecture and sitemap, and I contributed to the UI direction—we explored various visual styles as a team, and the design guide I developed became the foundation for the final implementation. I contributed to the layout and interaction design of key sections, including faculty profiles, research program pages, event navigation flows, and student opportunity hubs. I also helped define reusable content patterns, supported responsive behavior through QA collaboration with developers, and ensured design consistency throughout the platform.
The Challenge
The primary challenge was designing a platform that could maintain Harvard's visual standards while giving the Salata Institute a distinct, forward-looking identity. The site needed to serve a broad range of users — from researchers and students to policymakers and the general public — while managing a large volume of interdisciplinary content. Additional challenges included creating a universal filtering system for faculty and research, ensuring intuitive navigation across complex information, and building a modular foundation that could support rapid content expansion over time.
Design Process
Design System Implementation
We established a modular, component-based design system in Figma that harmonized with Harvard’s brand while introducing a unique visual signature for Salata through red overlays, symbolic page elements, and subtle micro-interactions. The system supported flexible layouts for research listings, climate initiatives, faculty profiles, and student organizations.
UX Structuring and Specialized Pages
Special attention was given to high-impact areas like the Faculty Hub and Student Hub, where we developed custom layouts to support profile browsing, program discovery, and access to funding, courses, and events. A universal filter component was introduced to simplify resource discovery across different content types.
Collaboration and QA
Throughout the project, I collaborated closely with the development team to ensure pixel-perfect translation of designs and preserve the modular approach. Regular QA reviews focused on responsive behavior, animation integrity, and maintaining a seamless user experience across devices.
Outcomes
The new Salata Institute website successfully launched as a central hub for climate research, events, and collaboration at Harvard. It provided an intuitive, scalable, and visually cohesive platform that will grow alongside the Institute's mission. Internal feedback highlighted the clarity of the information architecture, ease of navigation, and flexibility for future expansion. The design was praised for balancing academic seriousness with an engaging, contemporary feel that invites broader community participation.
Key Takeaways
This project strengthened my ability to design modular, future-ready academic platforms that combine brand integrity with creative differentiation. It reinforced the importance of flexible UX architecture for growing institutions and deepened my skills in building scalable systems that support mission-driven digital ecosystems.
