EcoSchool Network Web Redesign
Promoting environmental education, one school garden at a time
TL;DR
Challenge
An unorganized, overwhelming website with no calls-to-action
Solution
Parse down content
Strategically feature ESN’s work
Provide inspiring messaging
What I did
Affinity maps
Content strategy
Information architecture
Personas
User interviews
User surveys
UX writing for desktop
Tools
Maze
Miro
WordPress
About EcoSchool Network
Eco-School Network (ESN) is a micro non-profit located in Portland, Oregon. At the helm are two directors who manage a network of volunteer project leaders. These project leaders teach lessons of environmental literacy and instill more sustainable initiatives within the schools themselves. Their projects range from school gardens, waste reduction in cafeterias, and carpooling initiatives.
Challenge
Eco-School Network’s mission is to teach environmental literacy to young students in hopes that the ecological stewardship sticks. And this education takes resources (read: money). Was their site preventing them from recruiting new volunteers and donors?
Our analysis found that the main problems with their website to be:
Disorganization of site content and lack of obvious featuring of any of ESN’s actual work
Confusing and overwhelming navigation
No calls-to-action in any of their messaging
Solution
Architect ESN’s site content for a smoother navigation experience.
Eliminate unnecessary site content.
Feature messaging that inspires potential volunteers and donors to commit to the cause.
Objectives
1. Remove content that obscures ESN’s work.
2. Highlight the impact of volunteers’ time and donors’ money.
3. Heavily feature ESN’s current initiatives.
4. Create copy that is compelling and inspires action.
Methods
Surveying charitable behaviors
According to 32 users on a survey about their donation habits:
25% report monthly giving to a cause.
Currently Eco-School Network’s platform does not facilitate monthly donations.
58% say they donate to causes that they discovered via social media.
ESN does not have a strong presence on social media.
Top 4 categories of causes users donate to:
Crisis (65.6%)
Children’s Education (46.9%)
Environmental and Animal (43.8%)
Youth (43.8%)
All perfectly in line with ESN’s efforts (because yes, the state of the environment is a crisis).
Participants are more than willing to contribute financially to causes like ESN, so why
User interviews: What do you think of ESN’s website?
We asked 3 users to freely click through the website for 5 minutes and express their initial thoughts. All users agreed that:
They could get on board with Eco-School Network’s mission and intention, however…
They were uncertain about the type of work that ESN does.
The layout was confusing and overwhelming.
These tests confirmed my team’s speculation: anyone could get behind ESN, but the organization of the website was a roadblock.
Affinity mapping: Who is our user?
A round of affinity mapping revealed:
Users want to know the direct impact of their time and/or money before they donate.
Non-profits that take an active role in their community are more compelling to donors.
Users don’t want to read. They want the highlights without hunting for them. (As a UX writer, I can tell you that this is a near-universal truth.)
Now familiar with user motivations, frustrations, and goals, we created a persona:
Meet Sustainable Susie
Our end user!
Deliverables
Condensed, organized information.
With the implementation of IA best practices and more concise copy, you don’t have to be an archaeologist to understand the lasting impact of Eco-School Network.
Inspiring messages.
ESN is a great example of community leaders who are working to tackle the climate crisis. Bold messaging is the way to inspire others to fight the good fight.
A reason to give.
When you see how, dollar-for-dollar, your donation can enrich the education of tomorrow’s leaders, the draw to give is stronger.
Results
A 4-participant usability test, when asked to complete 3 tasks using our new site design:
9/10
was our design’s efficiency rating, according to 75% of participants
100%
of participants greed our design was easy-to-use, well-organized, and streamlined