UNICEF USA

REDESIGNING THE UNICEF WEBISTE TO ENCOURAGE DONATIONS AND EMPOWER ITS GLOBAL IMPACT 

The current UNICEF website features a predominantly dark theme with black background color, which does not fully capture the essence of its mission. In this project, the focus shifts to a vibrant and engaging aesthetics that represent children and encourage users to contribute and donate the cause
Preface
UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) is a global organization that works to protect the rights and well-being of children worldwide. Established in 1946, UNICEF provides humanitarian and developmental aid to children in over 190 countries and territories. The organization's focus areas include education, healthcare, nutrition, clean water and sanitation, emergency relief, and advocacy for children's rights. UNICEF is committed to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, healthy, and supportive environment

Timeline - 4 weeks
My Role - UX Researcher & Designer
Tools - Figma, Adobe XD

PROBLEM SPACE

Non-profit organizations focused on children's welfare face significant challenges in securing the support for their initiatives. It is crucial to understand that how potential donors and other stakeholders interact with the non-profit websites and what could be the key elements influencing their donation considerations

HOW MIGHT WE?

How might we design visually appealing website for UNICEF USA that enhances user experience and encourages them to make donations, ensuring that it also reflects the positive impact and energy of the children welfare cause?

ULTIMATE IMPACT

I want to shift the current website theme to a more colorful and vibrant design that fosters a stronger emotional connection with visitors encouraging them to explore the site more deeply and feel inspired to donate. My goal is to increase the usability and visual appeal of the UNICEF website by incorporating colors that strongly represent children and their rights

ASSUMPTIONS

A website dedicated to children's welfare should be vibrant and colorful as these elements are more likely to engage people. Dark and somber themes are uninviting and may deter potential users from making donations and exploring the content

CONSTRAINTS

The redesign had to align with UNICEF’s existing brand identity, ensuring consistency in the visual elements and allowing updates to the navigational features Further, the project was to be completed within a tight timeline requiring prioritization of key elements only

USER RESEARCH & DESIGN PROCESS

Diving deep into user research & crafting every detail to align with what the users truly want

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The current UNICEF website lacks a vibrant design. The dark and somber theme may inadvertently create a disconnect with visitors reducing their willingness to explore the site or further contribute to the cause. The gap in visual appeal and usability hinders the website’s potential to inspire the visitors to take action

UX HYPOTHESIS

By redesigning the UNICEF website with a more colorful and vibrant theme that strongly focuses on children's rights, the user will feel a stronger emotional connection with the content

INITIAL INTERVIEW FINDINGS

During the intial interviews it was identified that the current UNICEF website does not look visually appealing. Most participants hold the view that the dark and serious tone of the website feels disconnected from the hopeful spirit of UNICEF mission

PROTO PERSONA

Emily Spring is a 32-year-old working woman and one of her goals is to contribute to a global cause.

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

The key themes of the affinity diagram included pain points, and donation considerations. From the insights, it was clear that the users wanted a website that is not only functional but also resonates with them on an emotional level. The categorization of feedback greatly helped in refining the design approach

CARD SORTING

The UNICEF website has finally been restructured as shown in the card sorting below. Catering to the user’s feedback, the content has been divided neatly into the relevant categories. All the unnecessary and cluttered labels have been removed. The card sorting ultimately informs a new site map!

USER PERSONA

Kristen Watson, a 33-year-old restaurant manager wants to donate to a children’s organization. She comes across UNICEF USA but feels that the site doesn't effectively communicate the impact of donations. As she navigates the website, she gets confused about where exactly to donate.

USER SCENARIO

Kristen doesn't feel connected to the website and feels that the layout is too dark. However, she decides to sign up as she's drawn by UNICEF's mission and want to support it.

VALUE PROPOSITION

The redesigned UNICEF USA website with vibrant visuals and a brighter layout will inspire greater user engagement. People will be encouraged to donare and explore the site which will increase awareness and drive meaningful action in the future

TASK FLOW

CONCEPT SKETCHES

LOW-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES

The low-fidelity wireframes demonstrate a simplified navigation and a logical categorization of the content. A total of four pages were designed with the goal to streamline access to the essential pages of the website. These included the homepage, how UNICEF words, donation and ways to give. These wireframes helped to reduce the cognitive load and enhance the user experience in the final design

MID-FIDELITY PRTOTOTYPE

USER TESTING

For the user testing, a guerilla plan was developed for the participants to outline the tasks, instructions and results. From the Homepage, the users were asked to visit the three sub-pages and share their thoughts along the way

ITERATIONS

Based on user feedback, the following iterations were made

HIGH-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE

The prototype progressed from mid-fidelity to high-fidelity version incorporating user feedback and design decisions. The following design is a polished vision of the final product while still allowing room for iteration

CONCLUSION

Our primary objective was to redesign the UNICEF USA website in a way that it resonates with people on an emotional level. Through careful research, user testing and iterative design processes we successfully achieved these goals by developing an easy to navigate and engaging interface that encourages the users to donate. The refined theme and design elements ensure a visually engaging experience that aligns with UNICEF’s mission and encourages people to help the children

KEY LEARNINGS

We learned the importance of, 

  • User-centered design in creating an effective website

  • Critical insights gathered from the usability testing that guided our design process

  • The need for a visually engaging interface and its impact on user’s decision

THANK YOU FOR READING MY CASE STUDY


REDESIGNED UI ELEMENTS