I was responsible for many of the UI elements in this project as well as equally collaborating with the team through the stages of discovery, define and development of the refreshed website. Team members:

• Sophia (UX / UI Designer)
• Daniel (UX / User testing)
• Helena (Copywriter)
• Megan (Copywriter)

The existing website is outdated relying on old trends and users found the website hard to navigate without much success in finding the information they need. The organisation is getting inundated with similar enquiries over and over.

Update the website visuals

Being an organisation that’s focused on assisting teen girls, the current website doesn’t connect with their demographic both on a style and usability perspective.

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Streamline the application and reaching out process

Reaching out is such a big step for those in need, we need to lower the hurdle for the girls who are struggling and wary of reaching out.

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Reduce the high influx of inquiries

The high volume of similar inquiries becomes overwhelming for the organisation. These messages aren’t responded to within an acceptable timeframe resulting in low conversions. This suggests that content needs to be structured more clearly.

Features

• Strong privacy features were important to allow users who may be in danger to hide the fact that they’re looking into services like this.
• Easy application - Step by step process for applying for the program.
• Inclusive flags and pronouns for representation to create a comfortable and welcoming environment.
• Organisation transparency - What the users will expect from the program then they apply as well as what donors can expect to see with their money.

The research techniques we adopted in this projects were:

• Desk research
• Competitor analysis
• Heuristic evaluation
• Surveys

We dug into the annual reports to get a deeper understanding of the company and their clients.

Some of the key findings suggest that:

• Girls are concerned about their privacy
• Girls want to know if and how the program will benefit them

From all the data collected we were able to produce an affinity map and empathy map.

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Belinda Blues is the persona we’ve derived from the insights taken from the research and interviews with the client.

• She’s 15 year old who is amidst a critical time in her life where she’s questioning her identity and sexuality having a rough time at home with an abusive father.
• She’s at risk of homelessness and needs a place to stay long term to be able to take care of her needs now as well as help recover from the trauma.
• She’s got low self esteem and she’s worried about reaching out for fear of consequence.

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I just want to find freedom and feel confident with my identity.

The journey map starts with the struggle and catalyst of an abusive parent resorting to Belinda seeking help. The new journey we expect is to have a smooth transitional experience of reaching out online and getting the assistance in person.

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Im so glad I’m no longer in that toxic environment.

Sketches

As a team we explored ideas using crazy 8’s to explore more ideas. This was a fun exercise that resulted in so many different results that helped shape our solution with the MVP matrix.

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MVP

Placing the features on a matrix, we voted on and agreed which ones were the most important that users would immediately benefit from. These range from creating a safe and welcoming environment for those who feel on the outs and educating young girls on their internet safety practises.

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Wireframes

The wireframe was build off many of these features that include the quick exit button, hide my search history guide and even step by step process of understanding if they need help.

Upon finding the site we expect users to want to reach out as their primary goal. We’ve subsequently added supporting pages to help inform their decision before making that leap.

• This project has taught me a lot about being empathetic towards users with situations I may not fully understand. I’ve been able to read up a lot on the different situations through the annual reports and really get to know the clients stories well. I’ve been able to design more features surround these stories and build out a more realistic persona.
• Projects won't always have a readily available group of participants due to many constraints and finding ways to adapt your research and testing will be essential to making progress.

• This project has taught me a lot about being empathetic towards users with situations I may not fully understand. I’ve been able to read up a lot on the different situations through the annual reports and really get to know the clients stories well. I’ve been able to design more features surround these stories and build out a more realistic persona from it.
• Projects won't always have a readily available group of participants due to many constraints and finding ways to adapt your research and testing will be essential to making progress.