A collection of inclusive, cross-functional UX & UI resources, infrequently curated by Jennifer Strickland
2017 Alive & Thrive Redesign Website
to Progressive Web App
Role: Senior UX Designer (Researcher, Strategist, Information Architect, Prototyper)
Responsibilities: User Research, Strategy, Content Strategy, IA, UX design, prototyping, mentor junior staff, technical documentation
Audience: Global external partners and internal staff
Challenge: The existing website was due for a redesign as Alive & Thrive moved into the second phase of their work. Audience interviews and surveys revealed a disconnect between perception and mission, usability issues, and large gaps in meeting user needs. Much of the audience travels extensively including to remote areas where electricity and Internet connectivity are unreliable. Serving such vulnerable populations in sensitive circumstances, A&T saves lives, so reliable access to this material is vital.
Actions:
- Understand the audience. Partnering with the Account team and a Digital Strategist we conducted three dozen user interviews of external partners and internal stakeholders. Consolidating the findings into personas [187kb PDF], and strategic recommendations including a progressive web app optimized for connectivity challenged use cases, and leveraging in-browser notifications for new material updates.
- Organize and label from the audience point of view. Conducted card sorts, treejack tests, and surveys, we established a taxonomy and information architecture to present the latest direction, archive the first generation of material, optimize the filters for the Tools & Resources. We presented summary findings [855kb PDF] for approval while explaining our methodology. Collaborating with new management staff and engineering, adjusted the site map [28kb PDF] to take into account new information.
- Collaborate on flexible responsive wireframes to illuminate use case realities. Using responsive HTML/CSS wireframes [responsive HTML/CSS/JS], quickly collaborate on information architecture and responsive features. This allowed us to use browser settings to throttle connectivity to replicate real-world connectivity challenges, gain stakeholder buy-in and understanding for an offline-first, progressive web app approach.
Result: Through user research and responsive wireframes, the website shifted from a site that reflected the agency's assumptions to one that met audience needs, optimized for challenging connectivity scenarios.