THE
COMPANY
RISE is a public-private initiative, that started in January 2021, based in Amsterdam, NL. It is a collaboration with more than 25+ partner organisations (female empowerment organizations) to continue our joint journey to gender equality in the workforce. RISE supports women in the growth and development of their careers by providing the tools, information, and know-how necessary to do so.
Sometime after this project, they rebranded from RISE to Equals. I’ll refer to the company as RISE, given the name at the time of this project.
THE
TEAM
My role - UX/UI Designer
And two other UX/UI Designers, each taking care of a different area of the website to address the client’s requirements.
THE
METHODS
Market research, interviews, surveys, user flow, wireframes, site map, competitive analysis, affinity mapping, hi-fi prototypes and agile. Development.
Tools: Google Forms, Miro, Figma, Figma Mirror.
TIME
FRAME
10 days.
PROJECT
OVERVIEW
This project served as the culmination of my full-time 9-week bootcamp at Ironhack in Amsterdam. For this project, I collaborated with two colleagues, but each of us was responsible for a different area of the website. Of course, to make the design consistent and seamless between these areas, we worked closely together.
My responsibility for this project was the website redesign, aimed at enhancing navigation to drive better conversions and improve site performance.
RISE requested the development of an online platform that would serve as a source of inspiration with content, provide event and job board listings, facilitate connections through a chat feature, and help users find their coach, among other features.
The goal was to create a single platform that catered to everyone interested in learning and engaging with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Specifically, the landing page would have to be designed to offer different navigation options for non-members and members, while also providing private access to partners.
PROBLEMS &
CHALLENGES
RISE needed to create functionalities to better serve their different types of users: free users, members and partners.
The challenge was to create specific areas for members and partners, with relevant features for them, while making the design and experience coherent.
THE
APPROACH
Here is my approach and what I executed on this project.
1. Conduct research: gathered information about the target audience, including needs and preferences. This was done via interviews, customer feedback, and navigation tests.
Interviews, in particular, provided a deep understanding of the target audience’s expectations, pain points and desired features. Customer feedback was analysed to uncover strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement, while navigation tests evaluated the usability and intuitiveness of the platform's interface.
2. Identify the problem: the data gathered and analysed in the previous step, alongside an analysis of the competitive landscape, led us to a comprehensive understanding of the problem space.
3. Define the scope: after a comprehensive assessment of the problem, we determined the project’s goals, and the essential features to be included and listed the resources needed to complete the project successfully. A clear scope is critical to creating a feasible roadmap, managing expectations and aligning stakeholders.
4. Create wireframes: next, we designed visual representations of the layout. The goal at this stage is to create a blueprint for the website’s structure by positioning elements while considering how users will interact with them. We need to ensure a logical flow, optimal usability and functionality, and a clear display of information.
5. Visual design: this is when we carefully selected a cohesive colour scheme, typography, and icons that aligned with the overall design concept. In one word: aesthetics! The aim is to create a unified and visually appealing user experience in all areas.
6. Design prototypes: at this step, we created a high-fidelity prototype based on the previous step. This is a visual and functional representation of how the new website will be, and we use it to test its functionality and usability.
7. Iteration: finally, the newly designed website, including both web and mobile versions, was thoroughly tested to ensure it addresses user needs with a user-friendly experience. Feedback from these tests is used to refine the design to further enhance user experience.
THE
OUTCOME
The project elicited a deeper understanding on how they RISE users think and use the platform. With the redesign, we were able to improve the functionality and flow, creating these exclusive areas for the website. New features were designed and the look was greatly improved.
The redesign was very positively received by the stakeholders, exceeding their expectations. However, we could not come to an agreement on plans for implementing the redesign. Sometime later, with changes on the organisation side, they rebranded from RISE to Equals, and therefore this RISE redesign is not live.
FINAL DESIGN
WEBSITE
FINAL DESIGN
MOBILE
See the full case study, with detailed information, below:
PROBLEM
DEFINITION
RISE users need a platform where they can support each other because women face specific challenges in their career paths.
1. How might we help RISE to be perceived as trustful by possible members and investors?
2. How might we help convert from free access to becoming a member?
DESK
RESEARCH
To kickstart this project, I initiated the process with comprehensive desk research. And my findings were:
15.6%
Women in Tech | NL, 2018
18.4%
Gender pay gap in Tech | NL, 2017
<26%
Women in Tech management position | NL, 2017
11.6%
Female founders in start-ups | NL, 2017
"A study published by Harvard Business Review found that investors tend to describe young male entrepreneurs as “promising” but young female entrepreneurs as “inexperienced.""
STRONG FEMALE LEAD, Why I'm betting on diversity.
By Melinda Gates | Sep 13, 2018
"COVID-19, appears to be affecting women’s livelihoods more drastically than men’s. Early estimates suggest that around the world, women’s jobs are 1.8 times as likely to be cut in this recession than jobs held by men."
The Pandemic’s Toll on Women: COVID-19 Is Gender-Blind, But Not Gender-Neutral. By Melinda Gates | July 15, 2020
INTERVIEW
INSIGHTS
17 people were interviewed during the research process.
35.3%
Are Dutch women.
41.2%
Are between 30-34 years old.
31.3%
Are changing to the Tech Sector.
65%
Looking for Specific Content.
43.8%
Value creating topic awareness.
AFFINITY
DIAGRAM
After the interviews, I used the affinity diagram to cluster the topics highlighted during the interviews. With that, I identified points of improvement for the platform navigation, and also the Site Map.
- The diagram was divided in:
- Demographics
- Sources
- Job Board
- Activities/Events
- Content
- Network
MARKET POSITIONING
MATRIX
I conducted a market positioning analysis to identify where specifically RISE would stand in the market, compared with our direct and indirect competitors, as well as to identify if there were any hidden opportunities.
RESEARCH FINAL
CONSIDERATIONS
With these steps, I gathered information to make sense of how the users were navigating through the platform and if they were able to understand what RISE is and what it does.
I conducted a navigation test on the existing platform. The results were not good: the platform lacked information about their work and who they are. The burger menu navigation was very confusing and users got lost trying the topics and where they should go to find what they wanted. The conclusion was that we needed a new site map, so that is what we did.
Also, after analysing all the data from the research stages, it was clear that women transitioning careers or looking to upskill prefer content specific to the topics, instead of general. For example, women looking to become software developers were more interested in content (courses, talks, workshops) about software engineering and transitioning into it, than more general topics such as women in the workforce.
That led me to propose a Sort By button. With this feature, the users can sort the content of the courses, workshops, and articles by level: Entry, Mid, and Senior topics.
USER
PERSONAS
After carefully considering the stakeholder's input and incorporating insights from the interviews, I prioritized identifying and categorizing RISE's main three target groups.
PROJECT
SOLUTION
A redesign of the platform, aimed at providing the features and usability to help women support each other in their career paths.
SITE
MAP
My next step involved structuring the site map for seamless navigation and user experience.
USER
FLOW
Subsequently, I proceeded to establish the user flow for the website, ensuring a logical and intuitive path for users to navigate and engage with the content.
STYLE
GUIDE
I used the We Rise existing visual identity, colour palette and fonts. I redesigned their cards, buttons, platform layout and navigation.
MID-FI
PROTOTYPE
I developed a web and mobile version for it, although 46% of the visitors are on desktop and 39% on mobile. The Sort by option was implemented in the website, so the users can select their topics by the level of content complexity.
USER
TESTING
Once the mid-fi prototype was ready, I conducted a navigation test with 8 people to validate the design. I asked them to find out who RISE was, what services it offered, what was their target group, and to navigate through News and Courses.
The feedback was positive, and the users could navigate the pages easily, with no blockers. After the mid-fi prototype was validated, I moved to create a hi-fi prototype.
FINAL DESIGN
WEBSITE
FINAL DESIGN
MOBILE
NEXT
STEPS
Due to organisational blockers, the redesign was not implemented. A few years later, RISE rebranded as Equals, and changed their website completely. If this redesign had been implemented, my next steps would have been:
1. Conducting a tree testing to validate the navigation bar proposed, and also a card sorting to validate the content shown in each topic on the navigation bar.
2. Conduct more user interviews to validate if the path for each of the different types of users (free users, members, partners) was working well.
3. Iterate the design based on the previous two points, both for the desktop and mobile versions.