Increasing Interactions on the Iowa 4-H Website

Increasing Interactions on the Iowa 4-H Website

Research, Strategy, UX Design, Copywriting

Problem: The Iowa 4-H website's design was making it difficult for users to effectively find the information they were looking for.

Goal: Redesign the website to make it easy for all users to quickly find information and contact the state 4-H team if they have questions about signing up for 4-H in their area.

My Role: UX designer designing the website experience from conception to delivery working on a cross-functional team. I collaborated with an outside research company to conduct interviews and surveys, as well as the 4-H product development team on designs, and IT developers on implementation. I created paper and digital wireframes, designed low-fidelity prototypes, and accounted for accessibility in my designs.

Before & After

The Process

Empathize: Through a two-phased research approach, I used interview and survey data to understand website users and their needs. I also reviewed website analytics, conducted a competitor audit, and created user personas. A primary user group identified through research was working parents who are unfamiliar with Iowa 4-H and want to get their child involved.

Define: Research revealed that organizing and consolidating the structure and content of the website would enhance the usability of the website and make it easier for parents to locate important joining information.

Ideate: Taking the time to draft iterations of each of the main screens on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. I also researched the 4-H websites from other states to get a better idea of what content and design choices were resonating well with different user personas.

Prototype: Using the completed set of digital wireframes in Adobe XD, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was navigating to each of the main webpages and signing up for more information on joining 4-H.

Test: The final prototype was presented to leadership members and handed off to the IT department for implementation. The website was in the process of transitioning over to the new design when I left my role with Iowa 4-H.