Rebuilding Exchange
(UX Case Study)
Throughout the redesign of this website, I was able to refine my skills in various different facets within user experience and research. The goal was to assist in attracting more volunteers and build community for the non-profit organization, Rebuilding Exchange.
Tech:
Figma
Sketch
Team:
Sarah Ludlow
Marietta Mendler
Ashley Van Velkinburgh
Katie Buenafe
Timeline:
2-week sprint
Research
In the early stages of research, we conducted user interviews and surveys which guided our discovery of the common attitudes and behaviors associated with building community and volunteering.
Competitive & Comparative Analysis
Our first step was to find the top competitors and create a pluses and deltas analysis based on each of their sites in order to discover recruitment trends among other nonprofits and adult learning programs.
What it ultimately revealed was that our competitors offer engaging features and resources such as financial aid and artist grants. But they were lacking contact info and other information that Rebuilding Exchange provides.
-
Dykes With Drills
Plus:
•Train people of every skill level to use power tools
•Offer financial aid for workshops
Delta:
•They don't have a phone number or LinkedIn, there is only an email
-
Great Lakes Yard
Plus:
•Rentable products, (customizable builds)
•All lumber has been sustainably harvested
Delta:
•No hours of operation listed on their website or Google page
-
Englewood Arts Collective
Plus:
•Support new artists with grants
•Over 2000 followers on social media
Delta:
•No about page or contact page
Key Interview & Survey Results
Through affinity mapping information from our interviews and surveys, we were able to distill some key takeaways to anchor our persona creation.
Define
User Personas & Their Journey’s
We developed two personas, Hunter and Beth, who both desired a stronger sense of community but who were looking for different ways to get involved. On one hand, Hunter wants to find a way to build his skillset in carpentry while connecting with people of similar interests. On the other hand, Beth wants to help her community learn and find likeminded individuals through a teaching opportunity.
We ended up making two separate personas because RX was aiming to reach two different demographics, one who wanted to engage as a participant and one who wanted to volunteer to teach. These served as an anchor throughout the rest of the design process.
The Problem Statement(s)
Beth needs to share her talents with fellow individuals passionate about helping others because she currently struggles to find ways to connect with her community.
Hunter needs a way to improve his skills while also building relationships within the community because he wants to further his career.
Ideation Sessions
Moving along in the process, the team conducted multiple ideation sessions where we came up with a series of “how might we” statements followed by solutions for each.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
Guided by our user flow and site map, we organized multiple design studio sessions to ideate for the main pages of our updated site.
Develop
The Final Prototype
With this final version, we implemented feedback received from initial usability tests of both the current site and our mid-fi version. We completely altered the navigation, refining it to be much easier for users to find the activities and opportunities within the site. With this alteration came a redesign of each landing page in order to recruit more users without initial confusion from the home page.