MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN CASE STUDY
CASE STUDY MENDING STRIDES RANCH RESPONSIVE SITE DESIGN
HALLIE JAMES 2019
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN OPPORTUNITY + CLIENT
THE OPPORTUNITY Designers were asked to redesign the website of an existing non-profit according to the IDEO Human Centered Design Principles. This website was intended to function responsively, for mobile devices, tablets and desktops.
THE CLIENT For this task, I chose to work with Mending Strides Ranch, a new equine psychotherapy barn in Mint Hill, NC. I made the decision to work with Mending Strides because I saw that the work they were doing was impactful and unique, but it was hindered by the lack of sophistication and usability of their website.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INITIAL RESEARCH
HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN I began the process of this redesign by studying humancentered design. Human-centered design is a creative approach to problem solving that focuses on the people you are designing for. HCD maintains an emphasis on empathy towards the people who will be using your design solution. During this intitial research period, I learned information and techniques that became invaluable to the rest of my process. Primarily, I learned that the solutions to most problems lie within the people who are facing those problems. Those people have ideas, oftentimes they simply haven’t been asked for them.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INITIAL RESEARCH
MENDING STRIDES RANCH DIGITAL AUDIT After determining my approach for the redesign process, I conducted research on Mending Strides Ranch. I familiarized myself with their mission and vision as well as the goals of their programs. Following this, I started looking into the existing online presence of Mending Strides Ranch. I completed a digital audit, compiling screenshots and assessing the effectiveness of Mending Strides’ current website as well as all of their social media accounts. Through this, I discovered that the ranch had very little activity on any social media platform. Their website was outdated and difficult to navigate, despite being relatively new. The site was text-heavy and the images were small and low quality.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INITIAL RESEARCH
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE In preparation for attacking the challenge of redesigning Mending Strides’ website, I determined the design challenge for the site. I established which elements needed the most work in order to make the site as effective as possible. I brainstormed possible solutions to the major issues the website faced. And I came up with a single question to answer. How can the MSR website best attract and serve both donors/volunteers and potential clients in order to most effectively empower individuals through the use of Equine Assisted Therapies?
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN SECONDARY RESEARCH
FIELD RESEARCH In order to gain a better understanding of the market of Mending Strides Ranch, I began to research the field of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. I learned about the kinds of people that typically receive treatments as well as the newest advancements and discoveries in the field. I also researched organizations that offer similar services in an attempt to familiarize myself with the design solutions employed by other players in the field. In completing this research, I found High Hopes, an equine assited psychotherapy nonprofit with a much more effective website than Mending Strides. I drew inspiration from their design solutions when creating my own. I also researched The Meadows Treatment Center, a facility in Wickenburg, Arizona that treats some of the same issues that Mending Strides in different ways. The MTC utilizes their website to provide the easiest experience for possible clients, something that I wanted to extend into the Mending Strides site.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INTERVIEWS
CLEINT INTERVIEW In order to gain more information about Mending Strides Ranch and their website goals, I conducted a phone interview with Maria Hogge, the Founder and Executive Director of the organization. Before founding Mending Strides, Maria was a landscape designer with a passion for horses. She created Mending Strides Ranch after being inspired by a news story about horses being used in treatment for PTSD. In talking with Maria, I was able to gain insight into her goals for the website as the Executive Director. I learned that the website is primarily used by clients to sign up for treatment and by volunteers to print forms. The website also aims to educate visitors about Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and the practices of Mending Strides. I learned that right now, the website is not very effective in eliciting donations, which is something that would be a helpful change in the redesign.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INTERVIEWS
USER INTERVIEW 1 In order to gain more information on the perspective of potential site visitors, I interviewed Angela Schlottman, the Outreach Director at Carmel Baptist Church, a supporter of Mending Strides in Charlotte, NC. I chose Angela to interview because she is in charge of outreach partnerships and conducts extensive research on each nonprofit before recommending a partnership to the church. Because of this, she has knowledge of nonprofit websites as well as an outside perspective on Mending Strides. In talking with Angela, I gained more perspective on the user experience of the site. I was able to see where the things that Maria thought were most important about the site didn’t line up with what was easily accessible for the user. I also gained an understanding of what was successful about the site from the outside perspective of someone who is not a designer, but who has extensive experience with nonprofits.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN INTERVIEWS
USER INTERVIEW 2 In order to gain an additional perspective on the effectiveness of Mending Strides website, I interviewed Calvin James, the Contract Director of Marketing at Patterson Pope in Charlotte, North Carolina. I wanted to get a marketing perspective on the site so that I could optimize the work I do on the site. Calvin has decades of experience in the marketing world and also has experience in working with nonprofits, making him an excellent source of information. In talking with Calvin, I was able to gain helpful feedback on the most important issues to address in redesigning the Mending Strides website. He stressed the importance of having clear calls to action and making the site warm and inviting for the people Mending Strides is trying to help. Interviewing someone has expertise in the marketing side of nonprofits proved to be very helpful in moving forward with the redesign.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN AUDIENCE + GOALS
AUDIENCE I combined the knowledge I gained from my primary and secondary research with the information I received from my interviews to determine the goals of the key audience members for the Mending Strides site. I started by brainstorming every possible user of the site. I then divided these users into categories based on their characteristics and reasons for visiting the site.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN AUDIENCE + GOALS
GOALS Once I had determined the key audience groups that access the Mending Strides website, I defined their goals in visiting the site. With these goals, I established an action step for each potential user. This provided me with insight into the most important and most accessed pages on the site.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN VISUAL ELEMENTS
CALL TO ACTION Based on the information I gained from my interviews, I decided to make my primary call to action “Learn More.” I considered something more along the lines of “Sign Up” or “Register Now” to push people to sign up for therapy or camps, but after talking with Maria and Angela I realized that the process is a little more complex than that. Most people need more information on equine psychotherapy and the services offered by Mending Strides before they want to commit to a therapy session or camp. The services offered by Mending Strides are far from self explanatory, so the “Learn More” option is essential. I also chose to include a “Donate” call to action, because this is a key aspect of the current website. The Executive Director of Mending Strides noted that they are not currently taking a lot of donations through the website but she would like to see that change. By including a donate option at the forefront of the site, traffic to that section of the site would theoretically increase.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN VISUAL ELEMENTS
STYLE TILE After determining the Call to Action, I created a style tile to showcase some of the visual elements I intend to use on the redesigned site. The elements of my style tile are intended to portray Mending Strides as inviting, trustworthy, peaceful, professional and warm. The colors I chose were taken from Mending Strides’ current logo, which is not in use on their website or social medias. I chose these specific colors because I felt they effectively communicated the adjectives I wanted Mending Strides to exemplify. I simplified this logo into one color and placed it in the upper left-hand corner of the home page mockup, which makes up the top portion of the style tile. I used the phrase “Healing Starts Here” to communicate the core mission of Mending Strides while also grabbing the attention of site visitors. Additionally, I incorporated the calls to action as buttons that would function to navigate visitors to the corresponding pages of the website. I also included several images on the style tile to show a focus on the relationship between horses and people, something that is lacking on the current website. I chose Trajan Pro 3 as the typeface for headlines for consistency, as it is the typeface used by Mending Strides in their current logo. I chose Whitney Book as the typeface for the subheadings and body copy in order to improve the readability of the site and add some simplicity to the user experience.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN SITE MAP
SITE MAP Once the stylistic decisions had been made, I went back to the logistics of the site. I created a site map to display all of the pages that would exist on the final site in their appropriate categories. To do this, I started by writing out every element of content that exists on the current website. I then divided these into pages and finally, into overarching categories that would function as main navigation pages.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN SITE MAP
MENDING STRIDES RANCH SITE MAP
N AV I G AT I O N
HOME
ABOUT
PROGRAMS
VOLUNTEER
D O N AT E
C O N TA C T
NEWS
THE RANCH
UPCOMING EVENTS
FA Q ’ S
P AY P A L
C O N TA C T U S
P H OTO G A L L E RY
EQUINE ASSISTED P SYC H OT H E R A PY
INDIVIDUAL THERAPY
FORMS
A D D I T I O N A L W AY S TO HE L P
FA C I L I T I E S + DIRECTIONS
R E L AT E D N E W S
T H E S TA F F
CURRENT PROGRAMS
BOARD OF DI RECTORS
SUMMER CAMPS
AMAZON SMILE WISHLIST
ME DI A STORI E S
PA R T N E R S
OUR HORSES
M A I N L A N D I N G PA G E S FO OT E R
C O N TA C T U S
D O N AT E
VOLUNTEER
SOCIAL MEDIAS
PA G E S T H AT A D D R E S S G O A L S
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN WIREFRAMES
USER FLOW 1 USER: Lisa, a wealthy 60 year old woman who loves horses GOAL: Make a Donation
WIREFRAMES + USER TESTS
MENDING STRIDES RANCH
MENDING STRIDES RANCH
DONATE AMOUNT
The site map paved the way for the digital development of the site. This process began with devloping lo-fi wireframes, or wireframes without any of the stylistic elements of the site.
NAME LEARN MORE
OPENING TOUCHPOINT
I used these wireframes to create user paths, a visual that shows the progression of site activity for a potential user.
DONATE
“Customer testimonial about how Mending Strides really helped them overcome their real life problems by building a connection with horses and
Lisa was told about Mending Strides through a member at the equestrian club she sometimes rides at.
PHONE NUMBER
BILLING ADDRESS
CITY
She finds their website through a Google search for “Mending Strides Ranch”
STATE VIEW PROGRAMS
ZIP CODE
I then completed user testing with my wireframes, asking potential users to attempt to navigate the prototypes I had created. This enabled me to find the most effective solutions to each of the issues faced by users on the site.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION!
EMAIL ADDRESS
FOOTER
COMMENTS
CONTINUE
FOOTER
DIRECTED TO PAYPAL SITE MAKE DONATION
What you give makes a difference. It helps us keep the ranch running and allows us to make a difference in the most lives possible.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN WIREFRAMES
HI-FI WIREFRAMES Following the completion of the lo-fi wireframes, I started to build hi-fi wireframes, in which I incorporated the visual elements from my style tile into the wireframes I had created. I created prototypes of the mobile hi-fi wireframes and reworked them until I was satisfied. I then set about adjusting the prototypes to work for tablet and desktop screen sizes.
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS- BEFORE AND AFTER
MY REDESIGN ORIGINAL SITE
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS
MENDING STRIDES RANCH REDESIGN RESULTS