Mission + Action Consulting LLC
Website Design, 2023 - Mission + Action Consulting LLC
As someone who has had over 15 years of experience in the non-profit and philanthropic space, Monica aims to guide her clients in fundraising and strategy sessions. She needed an upgrade on her website to reflect her growing business as she moves to focus on it full-time.
My work included:
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Creating a brand for the website based on the logo already created
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Validating the site design with the client’s audience
I collaborated with Blu Mays, another designer, on the user interviews and subsequent analysis to understand if the initial site design and content resonated with the intended audience.
Design opportunities
Creating an approachable brand that could attract the client’s base audience
Emphasizing the main call to action to work with Mission + Action Consulting
Showcasing past work to establish credibility
Previous website design
I focused on designing an informative and approachable website that accurately portrayed Monica’s expertise and offerings.
Understanding the non-profit space
My first task was to understand how non-profits organize their site and analyze their language. I conducted a competitive analysis based on Monica’s potential competitors and inspirations. I analyzed four companies that were similar in some way to Mission + Action:
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Bold Ventures - similar audience and services
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Kairos and Heart Consulting - similar company size and services
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AmPhil - Similar work focus, larger company to compare
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Mission Spark - Similar services
In summary, Mission + Action could compete in the non-profit space by having clear service offerings and company mission, informative case studies and testimonials, and visuals that are polished and clean and community-focused.
For the full analysis, see my spreadsheet here.
Initial designs and validation
The initial design was based on having a business-like visual, with lots of blues and grays in the UI. I chose two simple fonts for the heading and body text that were bold yet clean. But before choosing it as the final design, we took the time to validate it with Monica’s previous clients to ensure they were seeing the website as intended and that the language was understandable.
User Interviews for validation
For the design validation, I collaborated with Blu Mays on creating the interview script while she conducted the interviews under my management, analyzed the findings, and presented them to Monica.
We interviewed three previous clients, two in the philanthropic space and one in the non-profit space. Our goals were to validate the language used on the site and get feedback on the design.
Our major findings were that:
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The visual design looked too business-like and not approachable or affordable for her typical clientele.
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Users wanted to know more about who Monica is and the specific services she offers and past work experience so they know they’re getting their money’s worth.
With these findings, I then started adjusting the design to make it more approachable and worked with Monica for more descriptive content on her services and past work. For the full analysis, view the presentation here.
Final design
The final design combined the desire for a business-like website with the need for approachability. It also included more content that gave better descriptions of what Monica offers for her business.
Since Monica is still in the process of getting more headshots and pictures of herself, the visuals are subject to change and the site hasn’t been published yet, but the main pieces of the website are ready for launch.
