Empowering policy makers to make better decisions
Enabling policy makers and practitioners use data to end homelessness, for good
ROLE
Product Designer
DURATION
1 year
TEAM MEMBERS
Product Manager • Strategy Lead
OVERVIEW
The Centre for Homelessness Impact collates and commissions research examining the most effective ways to combat homelessness. In addition to commissions, it conducts and evaluates research on homelessness globally.
OUTCOMES
One of my favourite parts of this project was the way in which so much could be done to improve the user experience of the website through typography considerations and UX best practice, without embarking on a complete re-design. On completion, the team was pleased with the new look and feel of the site, and helped re-galvanise the way the organisation approached communications and design.
Upon being surveyed, 84% of people preferred the new design for these pages, with an uptick in browsing session length of 40%.
Focusing on how users would make use of the information presented considerably increased how well I addressed their needs. This has cascaded down to the way my projects are undertaken, from research, to prototyping, testing and beyond,
CHALLENGE
One of the challenges of the sites as it existed was that many of its pages were not optimised for the purposes they served. As a result, information pages had differing structures and lacked cohesion, while it wasn’t immediately clear what information was supposed to be extracted by users.
Furthermore, little attention had been given to the audience of these pages, and what problems they sought to solve by visiting the website, specifically its pages on the research it was cataloguing.
DISCOVERY
A key area of focus was on enabling pages to be readable at length, and at varying resolutions. Given that a large portion our users I interviewed were researchers, practitioners or members of the press, it was important that the information presented be as digestible as possible.
Typography became an area of great interest to facilitate the re-design, with how it was used being a gateway to encouraging reading. Moreover, the use of media was encouraged as a mean of promoting story-telling through data.
How might we…
Enable policy makers and journalists to visualises data on homelessness, and empower better reporting?
SOLUTION
One of my favourite parts of this project was the way in which so much could be done to improve the user experience of the website through typography considerations and UX best practice, without embarking on a complete re-design.
In regards to the appearance of article pages, the streamlined and uniform look fr pages allowed content writers to better visualise how their content would live on a page, while also ensuring that their work was easily browsable on mobile.
Moreover, this approach allowed for more time in
RESULTS & IMPACT
On completion, the team was pleased with the new look and feel of the site, and helped re-galvanise the way the organisation approached communications and design. In surveys, 84% of people preferred the new design for these pages, with an uptick in browsing session length of 40%.
REFLECTIONS
Focusing on how users would make use of the information presented considerably increased how well I addressed their needs. This has cascaded down to the way my projects are undertaken, from research, to prototyping, testing and beyond,