Mendeley

The Abstract

At this stage in my career I was working within a busy agency environment, delivering digital work for a range of high-profile clients across different sectors.

It was a formative period that exposed me to complex industries where clarity, credibility, and structure are essential to good design.

Mendeley, widely used across universities and institutions, needed a new introductory website to promote its software and encourage researchers to sign up and download the app.

The goal was to present a sophisticated research tool in a way that felt clear, credible, and accessible for a broad academic audience, from undergraduates and PhD students to professors and librarians.

Literature Review

Academic audiences value clarity over hype. I began by structuring the information architecture around the four pillars of the Mendeley platform:

Manage Research → Discover → Connect → Publish

Each section represented a stage of the research lifecycle. This helped users quickly understand how the platform could support their workflow, from collecting references and annotating papers to collaborating with peers and submitting publications.

The homepage introduced the reference manager through familiar academic roles including undergraduates, PhD students, post-docs, professors, and librarians. This grounded the product in real research workflows while highlighting the benefits of organisation, collaboration, and accessibility.

To make the product easier to understand, I designed a series of digital sketch-style illustrations. These used simple wireframe visuals with highlighted interface elements, creating a clean instructional feel that helped communicate features without overwhelming the page.

The guiding principle was simple. Present a powerful research platform in a way that feels intuitive, credible, and accessible.

Insights Applied

The final site introduced the Mendeley ecosystem through a clear, structured experience designed to guide researchers from discovery to adoption.

The homepage brought together the core value proposition and supporting ecosystem:

• A clear introduction to the reference manager tailored to different research roles
• Editorial sections explaining collaboration, discovery, and organisation features
• Community feedback showcased through a “What researchers say” carousel
• Download prompts for Android, Apple, Windows, and Linux
• Links to Mendeley Institutional Edition, Premium upgrades, and the Mendeley Advisor programme
• Partner institution and publisher logos reinforcing credibility

The Manage Research section explored the product’s core capabilities in more detail:

• Cite and Write bibliographies
• Read and annotate documents
• Organisation tools for storing and categorising research libraries
• Cloud access for synchronising references across devices
• Add-ons such as the Web Importer and Citation Plugin

The Publish section supported researchers looking to submit their work to partner journals. A simple step-by-step process guided users to sign in, choose a journal, complete submission details, and begin the publishing workflow.

Throughout the experience, layouts remained clean and clinical. Minimal icons, calm colour palettes, and responsive design supported research workflows across desktop and mobile devices.

Widely Cited

The project delivered a clear and accessible introduction to the Mendeley platform.

• A structured experience explaining complex research tools in simple terms
• Clear sign-up and download pathways for researchers
• Visual explanations that made features easier to understand
• A responsive platform supporting research workflows across devices

The site helped position Mendeley not just as a reference manager, but as a broader platform supporting collaboration and academic publishing.

Peer Approved

Academic researchers are not looking for flashy marketing. They want tools they can trust to support serious work. Designing for that mindset meant focusing on structure, hierarchy, and calm visual communication.

This project reinforced the importance of clarity when designing for specialist audiences. Translating complex platforms into experiences that feel intuitive, credible, and easy to adopt became a core part of how I design today.