Website Redesign

Research-Driven Design: Enhancing Advocacy Through Accessibility

A comprehensive website redesign for Trans Minors Rights begins with in-depth research into the organization’s goals, audience needs, and digital presence. As a nonprofit advocating for policy changes around puberty blockers for transgender youth in Pennsylvania, their website serves as a crucial hub for education and activism. Currently, it functions as a petition platform while also informing visitors about their mission. With an active presence on social media and involvement in local pride events, they engage their community through giveaways and are developing educational materials for youth navigating medical settings. Understanding how users interact with their site will ensure a redesign that enhances accessibility, strengthens engagement and streamlines their advocacy efforts.

Research and discovery were essential in shaping an effective website redesign strategy. Understanding the target audience was the first step in identifying and addressing user challenges. Through careful analysis, the primary audience was determined to be younger Pennsylvanians (ages 13-25) navigating transgender rights, as well as parents and guardians advocating for their children. By gaining insight into their needs, behaviors, and digital interactions, the redesign can prioritize accessibility, clarity, and engagement, ensuring the site effectively serves its community.

Strategic Redesign: Streamlining Navigation & Enhancing Usability

A research-driven approach was taken to address user challenges, beginning with ideation, site mapping, and wireframing. The redesign process started with restructuring the site’s navigation, ensuring key areas—such as petition details—were easily accessible through the header. Wireframing established a clear content hierarchy, mapping out where information and visuals would be most effective. Information architecture was refined in the low-fidelity prototype, focusing on logical flow and usability, while the high-fidelity prototype emphasized color psychology and the overall emotional impact of the site.

Key Issues Addressed:

  • Improved visibility and accessibility of petition information

  • Reduced homepage distractions for a more focused user experience

  • Minimized excessive scrolling for smoother navigation

Foundations of User-Centered Design: Wireframing & Prototyping

With the site map finalized, the next step was developing a foundational wireframe to strategically place key information, buttons, and visuals. This phase prioritized enhancing the user experience while aligning with the organization’s goals. Research-guided design decisions to ensure intuitive navigation, with critical content easily accessible through the header while still allowing for engaging, scrollable sections. This balance between structured navigation and dynamic content flow was essential in creating a seamless and user-friendly experience.

Building on the wireframe, a low-fidelity prototype was developed to structure information in a way that was clear, engaging, and easy to digest. Research into user behavior informed the segmentation of content, ensuring that visitors could quickly grasp the mission of Trans Minors Rights while seamlessly discovering ways to support the organization. Key sections included the mission statement, supporting documentation, and calls to action. Careful attention was given to the flow of information, ensuring that as users scrolled, the content was presented in a logical, intuitive sequence that reinforced engagement and comprehension.

Bringing the Vision to Life: High-Fidelity Prototyping & Visual Design

The high-fidelity prototype was designed with a research-backed approach to color, imagery, and navigation. Vibrant colors were carefully selected to resonate with the target audience while maintaining cohesion with the hero image, which was chosen to represent youth, happiness, and diversity. The content was structured to be thorough yet concise, ensuring key information was easily digestible. Multiple navigation pathways were incorporated to enhance usability, allowing users to explore different sections of the site effortlessly while staying engaged with the organization’s mission.

User Testing & Insights: Refining for Clarity and Engagement

Usability testing was conducted with the same participants from the initial testing phase, ensuring continuity in feedback. Testers were asked to complete a series of ten tasks using the updated nonprofit prototype and site map, providing insights into any difficulties encountered.

Key Findings:

Successes:

  • The site felt more engaging and relatable to users

  • Key information was easier to locate

  • Reduced excessive scrolling improved navigation

Challenges Identified:

  • Some dropdown menus felt redundant

  • The nonprofit nature of the site was not immediately clear

  • The “Sign Petition” menu option caused confusion

These findings provided valuable data to further refine the design, ensuring the final iteration effectively balanced clarity, accessibility, and user engagement.

In response to the usability testing feedback, refinements were made to the latest high-fidelity prototype and site map to emphasize key information and simplify menu options. These adjustments aimed to create a more intuitive navigation experience, allowing users to access essential content directly through the menu effectively addressing concerns about excessive scrolling.

It became clear that users still struggled to identify the organization as a nonprofit and locate petition details. To resolve this, the homepage was redesigned to prominently showcase the nonprofit’s identity in both the hero section and footer. Additionally, a stronger call to action was integrated into the hero section, accompanied by a clearly labeled button leading to petition information. These updates ensure that users can quickly understand the organization’s mission before deciding to engage further.

Refining the Design: Enhancing Clarity & Navigation

Final Thoughts: Designing for Impact & Engagement

With the proposed redesign, the nonprofit can track user engagement through analytics, measuring petition conversion rates and interactions with key information. Based on usability testing, the updated design should reduce pain points, encourage exploration, and create more opportunities for meaningful engagement. Streamlined navigation and reduced scrolling will make it easier for users to learn about the organization and take action.

This project challenged me to design an experience that is inclusive, educational, and accessible. Usability testing reinforced the importance of offering multiple ways to access information without overwhelming users. I learned that people value clear, simple navigation while still wanting comprehensive information at their fingertips.

The final design effectively balances the needs of both the organization and its audience, helping to increase petition signatures and spread awareness about puberty blockers. A welcoming, intuitive interface will strengthen community engagement and expand the nonprofit’s reach. Maintaining up-to-date content and ensuring every page remains as engaging as the homepage will be key to long-term success. Including a call to action across the site will further support the nonprofit’s mission.

Moving forward, I plan to integrate usability testing at each stage of the design process to make iterative improvements earlier, reducing the need for major changes at the final stage. Testing the site map before wireframing, for example, could have simplified the structure from the start. This project reinforced the power of research-driven design, and I’m excited to carry these lessons into future work.