Website Redesign
South West Special Recreation Association (SWSRA)
Redesign of All Website Pages
Project Overview
THE OPPORTUNITY
South West Special Recreation Association (SWSRA), an Illinois Special Recreation Association was looking to revamp their website. They wanted to redesign their website to give it a modern look, ensure that the content was up-to-date, accurate, and provided website visitors with an excellent user experience.
THE HURDLE
The website redesign was motivated by new leadership that wanted to effectively communicate who the organization is and the services that they offer. Their existing website contained a lot of content and had inconsistent branding, color application, and font usage. The challenge was to refine the existing content and strategize on how to move forward with rebuilding the website from an almost clean slate.
THE SOLUTION
Working with the client on researching other Special Recreation Association websites for reference (pros and cons). Talking through the client’s needs and understanding what they wanted to accomplish with the redesign. Also, creating and adhering to a schedule of progress, communication, and timely feedback.
DETAILS
Project Length: 6 weeks
Team: 1 person
Role: Project Manager and UI/UX Designer
My Contributions:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
RESEARCH
COPYWRITING
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
COLLABORATION
UI/UX DESIGN
TRAINING
Discover & Learn
RESEARCH PERFORMED
Prior to the redesign being started, the following items and questions needed to be addressed:
Timeline: There were six weeks to complete the redesign, which included up to four rounds of revisions.
Questions (client answer snapshot below)
What is the goal of the website redesign?
Who is the target audience of your website?
What do current website visitors/customers complain about? What are they asking for? Also, as the owner of the website, what are you looking for?
When someone comes to your website, what do you want them to do first?
Website Audit: An audit of the website needed to be performed to understand its’ current state, including: where it was hosted, how it was built, what content existed, the number of pages and how they were organized and linked.
References: The client referred me to several other Special Recreation Association websites to help me get ideas on how to structure/build the redesign.
Strategize & Plan
PLANNING PERFORMED
Website Audit: The audit of the website was broken into two parts (snapshot below).
Part 1: Part one included documenting the title and URL of each page.
Part 2: Part two included reviewing the audit with the client and determining the status of each page.
References: The reference websites were reviewed and helpful in understanding the contents and structure/build of organizations in the same industry (snapshot below).
3. Sitemap Proposal: Based on the results of the audit and review of the references, a new sitemap was proposed (snapshot below).
4. Questions: More questions were asked to the client to understand the build requirements (answer snapshot below).
Content
Copy: Do you want the copy on the current website to carry over into the redesign or do you want to rewrite it?
Imagery: What images do you want on the redesign (headshots, programs, member district logos, etc...)?
Social Media: What social media pages do you want linked to on the redesign?
Platform and Domain
Are you open to hosting your website on a different platform other than Wix?
The current SWSRA domain is: www.swsra.com. Would you consider changing the domain to “.org”? The other SRAs use “.org”.
Concept & Design
WORK SESSION
After the sitemap was reviewed with the client, feedback was obtained and the next group of questions were answered, I worked with the client on content mapping for the homepage.
CONCEPT GENERATION
I utilized elements from the organization’s brand identity, the client’s answers and feedback on what they wanted in the website redesign, and my research.
SOUTH WEST SPECIAL RECREATION ASSOCIATION (SWSRA) — (ORIGINAL WEBSITE)
The following pages are three examples from the original website, which include the homepage, programs, and contact webpages.
CONCEPTS
I authored copy for the homepage and incorporated imagery. I also created a mockup for the website’s main navigation webpages to provide the client with the initial look and feel.
The mockups include the homepage, who we are, programs, registration, support us, and contact us webpages (examples below).
RECOMMENDATIONS
Platform and Domain
I recommended to the client that building the website using Squarespace would offer a more intuitive and user friendly experience for the internal team that would be updating and maintaining the website.
I also recommended that the domain be changed from “.com” to “.org” as the other Special Recreation Association websites were using “.org”.
Digital Publishing
I recommended that the client use ISSUU to publish their seasonal program brochures. ISSUU allows files to be converted into digital flipbooks, which allows website visitors a more interactive and better viewing experience to see the different program offerings.
The client and I reviewed which Squarespace and ISSUU plans would work best for them. Then, the client purchased the appropriate plans and the domain.
CONCEPT FEEDBACK
The website feedback included the change of imagery, the client providing updated copy, and the renaming and reorganization of the webpages.
Quality Assurance
After the four rounds of revisions were done, I completed quality assurance for the website.
Quality assurance included the following:
Design Testing: A review of the website on a desktop computer and mobile phone were completed to ensure the copy, imagery, and look and feel of the website were displaying properly.
Functionality Testing: A test of each link, button, and file download was completed to ensure the functionality/features were operating as they should.
Transition & Training
After the quality assurance was done, the website was published and transitioned to the SWSRA team.
The transition included the following:
Permissions: The team was set up with permissions to the website.
Training: Three training sessions were hosted to go over the general use of Squarespace and ISSUU, walk through specific use cases, and address any questions the team had.
Squarespace Help: Squarespace Help articles were provided to the team that addressed specific ways in which they would be using, updating, and maintaining their website.
Final Design
The final design included the homepage and 28 webpages.
The final design extract showcases the homepage, who we are, programs, register (formerly “registration”), get involved (formerly “support us”), and contact us webpages.
WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?
While the redesign met the client's needs, there are several areas of the website that can be improved upon in the next iteration:
Imagery: Incorporate more original photography into the pages to capture the attention of the website visitor and improve search engine optimization (SEO).
Online Registration and Payment: Create online program registration and allow for online payment. This will allow the website visitor to have a more seamless user experience if they are visiting the website to review the program offerings and would like to register a participant online (as opposed to the current options, which are via email, mail, fax, or drop-off at the office).