Web design
Darfur woman network
As a UX designer, I joined the Darfur Women Network (DWN), a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women and facilitating sustainable development. Our core focus is on providing a range of family and social services, alongside women’s economic empowerment programs. These initiatives collectively aim to help families overcome poverty and enhance their quality of life. However, the original DWN website faced significant challenges in attracting sufficient funds and donations, critically impacting our mission. My role entailed a comprehensive redesign of the website, aiming to optimize user engagement and subsequently increase potential donations to support our cause.
Date
April 2023 -- Now
Role
UX designer
Team member
Define
Problem
DWN's current website could significantly benefit from improvements to enhance user experience and accessibility. Currently, the website's issues include a lack of clear mission statement, limited donation methods, an unengaging user interface, and insufficient target audience awareness. Addressing these issues would make the website more user-friendly and accessible, helping DWN to better serve its community. The leader of DWN found our team to help redesign the website.
Issues diagnosis
To gain insight into user experience and identify key issues with our current website, we conducted a survey encouraging user participation. Our analysis revealed that the three main areas users interacted with were the home page, information hierarchy, and projects sections. We also solicited feedback on their understanding of DWN's mission. This comprehensive feedback will guide our website improvement efforts, ensuring we address the most crucial areas for our users.
From the survey responses, it's clear that our website currently falls short in fostering user engagement. Moreover, many users reported difficulties in understanding DWN's mission, reflected in their low ratings. These findings underscore the need to improve the clarity of our mission and overall user engagement on our site.
Based on the data and feedback we've gathered, we've identified the following key questions to address:
1. Information Overload
The crowded setting of the homepage, which serves as the first point of contact for users, presents an overwhelming amount of information. This overload could potentially distract users from understanding the core mission of DWN.
2. Donate/Volunteer Visibility
As a non-profit organization, the donate and volunteer functions are crucial. However, the buttons for these actions are not currently prominent or easily discoverable by users.
3. Information Architecture
Our website's information architecture is overly simplistic and disorganized, making it difficult for users to find key information or understand the next steps in their user journey through the menu.
To establish clear objectives for our redesign, we have analyzed 20 survey responses using affinity mapping. This process allows us to categorize user feedback, pinpoint key areas needing improvement, and set precise goals for our upcoming website revamp.
Click to view our affinity diagram
Maybe why exactly darfur women need help, examples of projects that DWN did that directly helped darfur women
Better color scheme and more information about other volunteers for encouragement
I think it's really a question of where to place things. Having the text so big that the video and donate buttons are not there at a first glance is off-putting, and should be re-worked. Instead of a paragraph, things should be summarized in a Headline or a sentence that is impactful and resonant.
Some quotes from our survey
Goals
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Establish a clear mission that communicates values and goals.
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Having a clear concise website that is easy to navigate.
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Implement more emotional appeal to portray empathy.
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Clearly show a paper trail for donations.
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Emphasize the importance of involvement (volunteering and donations).
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Establish trustworthiness through media (Video/photo).
Analysis
Identified Users
Donors
Volunteers
Skeptics
First-time users
Personas
Current Donor
Terry Jackson, 26, Senior Consultant
“I’d like to donate to an organization that I can trust and be sure would use my donations to further their mission.”
Goals:
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Directly impact Darfur women through donations
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Recurring updates on project status and impact
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Seamless donation process
Frustrations:
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Lack of donation trajectory information
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No videos updates showing impact and progress
Interested in Donating
Jeanine Turner, 38, College Professor
"I love contributing to feminist activities, and I would like to know if I am making a difference in the world through my own power."
Goals:
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Figure out DWN's mission and ongoing activities
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How to donate either one time or periodically
Frustrations:
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Only one donation method available (PayPal)
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No transparency in showing where donation goes
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Difficulty feeling involved in the mission
Skeptic / First-time user
Alex Berkley, 35, Engineer
“I want to donate, but I’m just not too sure which organization to trust.”
Goals:
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Ensure DWN is making a positive impact on women in Darfur
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Find evidence of completed projects
Frustrations:
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Unclear sections on the projects page
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No data-driven evidence, only emotional appeals
Current Volunteer
Sarah Anderson, 20, Student
“I love giving back to the community and bringing light to where people are in need.”
Goals:
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Grow DWN’s social media follower count
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Increase awareness of DWN’s mission and contributions
Frustrations:
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Slow growth on social media platforms
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Insufficient engagement from online users
Journey Maps
Scenario:
Alex Berkley discovers the Darfur Women Network while researching organizations to volunteer with. He visits the website with the goal of learning more about DWN and finding information on how to become a volunteer.
Discover
- Simplify mission statement
- Increase emotional appeal
- Add video description on homepage
Research
- Make pages accessible
Increase accessibility of other pages
- Simplify information
- Enhance staff and volunteer profiles
- Improve project pages with consistent layouts and more visual content
Consideration
- Create a dedicated page for volunteers.
- Improve clarity on available volunteer positions.
- Allow volunteers to upload their resumes.
- Showcase volunteers and their contributions through pictures
Volunteer
- Volunteer form not easily accessible
- Limited payment options on volunteer page
- No option to select desired position in the volunteer section
Scenario:
Terry Jackson discovers the DWN website while searching for reputable organizations to donate to. She explores the website to gather information about DWN's mission and recent updates in order to make an informed decision about donating.
Discover
- Clearly state DWN's mission on the homepage
-Provide a dedicated page with comprehensive description of DWN's work done
Research
- search bar
-one page about news
-blog post
Evaluate
-Strong call to action including making changes
-transparent donation that donator can track.
Volunteer
-Recurring/ monthly payments
-Multiple payment methods
-Concise/ Straightforward donation page/ process
Competitive Analysis
After analyzing the websites of The Sentinel Project, To Write Love on Her Arms Project (TWLOHA), and OBAT Helpers, we've gained crucial insights into NPO-style web design. Our competitive analysis has solidified our objectives: we aim to create a more organized mission page for clearer communication of our purpose, along with a prominent and engaging donation button.