Project Overview
Client: AsIAm
Sector: Charity
Category: Brand Strategy, eCommerce Web Design & User Experience
Challenge
Leading the Way
As I Am needed a new website that provided a more streamlined user experience, in line with their position as a growing charity organisation providing massive support to autistic people and their families. The previous website had grown to nearly 400 pages, many of which were outdated or separated from their main menu journey. Combined with inconsistent menu navigation and page designs, the result of this was that a range of users found it difficult to perform tasks such as finding key advice and guidance, signing up for fundraising activities and making donations.
Solution
Accessible Design
Horrible Brands designed a website in line with new branding that would allow the user journey to be much more easily navigable and bring consistency in terms of page layouts. The new design needed to be representative of brand values and engaging to a wide range of stakeholders. Ecommerce was also needed, allowing for the sale of Autism ID Cards (an important service provided for Adults and Children) and supporters to buy merchandise. Given that a sizable portion of the audience are neurodiverse, adhering to web accessibility guidelines was critical and especially when it came to presenting large amounts of FAQs, tutorials, webinars and other online resources in a way that avoided potential sensory overload.
Structuring Change
Bringing consistency and accessibility to the design was only one part of the solution. To create a truly effective User Experience, Horrible Brands carried out a detailed Information Architecture workshop – this focused on reviewing the entire suite of pages on the previous website and making recommendations as to what content could be kept, combined or retired altogether. Where pages were retired, a 301 redirect strategy was required to ensure that a strong presence with search engines, cultivated over several years, could be maintained. Technical research and setup of a new donations app was also required, allowing for repeat donations and the ability for the person donating to optionally include the transaction fee.
Result
A Platform for Growth
A Brand Strategy session brought alignment to the project team, while the Information Architecture workshop facilitated copywriting activities and the design of a User Experience that improved accessibility for all stakeholders. Built on Webflow, the latest website in CMS technology, the website provided confidence for As I Am in terms of data security and also made significant improvements in terms of efficiency with ongoing updates for fundraising events, news and sharing resources. The resulting website has given As I Am a platform to continue to grow and provide an increasingly more effective service for those in need.
400+
pages reviewed and restructured during the Information Architecture process
45%
reduction in average time-to-task for key user journeys like donations and resource access
100%
WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, ensuring accessibility for a neurodiverse audience
