Simple Steps
Redesign of the website for a non-profit organization supporting the careers of immigrant women.
Overview
Simple Steps, a Silicon Valley-based non-profit organization, empowers immigrant women to achieve their professional goals in the United States.
I collaborated with a group of designers, working in an agile manner, to redesign the Simple Steps website for a more engaging user experience.
I collaborated with a group of designers, working in an agile manner, to redesign the Simple Steps website for a more engaging user experience.
What I accomplished
User testing results revealed an 88% increase in positive impressions of the redesigned website.
Successfully redesigned the main page and gave it a revamped aesthetic with better functionality.
Achieved a higher level of brand consistency and alignment with the organization's mission and values through the redesigned website.
Successfully redesigned the main page and gave it a revamped aesthetic with better functionality.
Achieved a higher level of brand consistency and alignment with the organization's mission and values through the redesigned website.
What were the problems?
As Simple Steps expanded its community of female immigrants seeking professional guidance and support, a branding refresh was needed to implement a better user experience.
The Solutions
01
Enhance the first impression
Re-design the website to improve navigation and clarify the services provided to users.
02
Improve usability
1. Re-organize information to improve findability.
2. Polish visual elements and adjust colors for better readability.
2. Polish visual elements and adjust colors for better readability.
03
Encourage user engagement
1. Provide accurate information about consultation services.
2. Simplify the registration process for support groups.
3. Streamline the 1:1 consultation questionnaire by reducing the number of questions.
4. Offer more detailed information, including the specific donation amount required for a career consultation.
2. Simplify the registration process for support groups.
3. Streamline the 1:1 consultation questionnaire by reducing the number of questions.
4. Offer more detailed information, including the specific donation amount required for a career consultation.
Design Approach
D I S C O V E R
Research
Through my research, I aimed to:
________
________
Understand the experiences of people who have used the Simple Steps website.
Discover the goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations of Simple Steps users.
Identify the goals of Simple Steps users.
Discover the goals, needs, motivations, and frustrations of Simple Steps users.
Identify the goals of Simple Steps users.
Research methods
- Survey conducted with 26 participants (all members).
- Interviews conducted with 14 participants, including 11 members and 3 non-members.
- Interviews conducted with 14 participants, including 11 members and 3 non-members.
Survey
Google Surveys with 26 participants
Survey Summary
User interview
User interview insights
D E F I N E
User Personas
By conducting surveys and user interviews, I gained a comprehensive understanding of Simple Steps' target users.
Based on this research, I created personas to effectively represent them.
Based on this research, I created personas to effectively represent them.
I D E A T E
Sketch
Prototype
Low Fidelity Wireframe
To make a prototype, I started by making a wireframe with low-fidelity in Figma based on my sketches.
High Fidelity Prototype
After completing the low-fidelity stage, I proceeded to develop the high-fidelity prototype.
3 Major Improvements in My Design
1. Improved users’ first impressions of the website
Redesigned the website to make it easier to navigate and make the services clear to users.
2. Enhanced usability
1. Reconstructed the Information Architecture by eliminating irrelevant elements.
2. Grouped scattered information to make topics easier to find.
3. Polished visual elements and changed color for readability.
2. Grouped scattered information to make topics easier to find.
3. Polished visual elements and changed color for readability.
3. Encouraged user engagement
1. Provided more detailed information, such as the specific donation amount needed for a career consultation.
2. Reduced the number of questions in the 1:1 consultation questionnaire.
3. Simplified the questions for support group registration.
2. Reduced the number of questions in the 1:1 consultation questionnaire.
3. Simplified the questions for support group registration.
Key Takeaways
Don't make users work too hard
They prefer to minimize the total mental effort needed to engage.
The power of collaboration
Throughout the collaboration with other designers, I enjoyed discussing different ideas from diverse perspectives within our amazing team. This team effort led us to making successful decisions for this project.
Be aware of technical limitations
We used Squarespace for this project, which has a lot of technical limitations. To operate within these constraints, I had to make adjustments and pivot our approach for certain tasks. Had I not acknowledged these constraints, we would’ve wasted a lot of time trying to create designs that weren’t possible within Squarespace.
