Bamboo Canvas is a non profit resource platform for students, educators and artisans to learn about Asian arts and sustainable techniques.
The platform hopes to instigate engaging conversations that spread the knowledge of Asian arts and culture. Their vision is to empower visitors to apply any new learnings to their own enterprise and personal experience.
Timeframe
2 months ongoing
ROLE
Research Prototyping Visual Design Usability Testing
How might we optimize the digital experience while providing relevant resources for students, educators and artisans?
Problem
Current website has a poor organizational structure and navigation that doesn’t support the founder’s goals of targeting students, educators and potential donors. A re-design will allow each of these groups to utilize the site in the most efficient way.
Goal
Create an identity refresh and Implement website redesign into the limitations of Squarespace that will help students engage more frequently with the platform.
Diving deep into the current website usability with users
poor organization
I can find some information but it’s not very engaging. I would go elsewhere to look for information.
UNCLEAR MISSION
Honestly, I’m not sure what the company does really.
LACK OF CONTENT
There were a lot of blank pages that I was confused by.
DISCOVERABILITY
It would be nice if there was a search option to find information quickly.
DEFINE + ideate
Making it easier to explore content
Our target audiences were students, educators and artisans. To ensure they were all getting the relevant content, I focused on incorporating these main areas:
Landing page with discoverable content
Make learning resources more engaging to explore
Clear and concise mission statement
Call to Action Donate
Simplified Navigation
Focus was on ensuring all users could access the relevant content they needed quickly in the navigation and also grouping all learning resources under one navigation dropdown.
A more intuitive flow
Previously, it wasn’t easy to explore topics and often required a lot of clicks to return back to the main category page. The flow redesign focuses on clear categorization and accessible content all in one place.
PROTOTYPE
Key Solutions
01
How might we assist students to navigate relevant learning content more easily?
Content Organization
Giving users the freedom and flexibility to find resources through search, explore by country and explore by topic with improved visual hierarchy.
Mega Menu Navigation
Creating a global menu navigation was essential for users to quickly access specific learning resources without having to excessively use the backspace or losing their place in the site.
Breadcrumbs and Anchor Links
Given the large amount of content, breadcrumbs provided a secondary means of navigating through resources quickly and reduce use of back button.
Anchor links were used to allow users to “Jump to a topic” so they can get to their desired information in a matter of seconds.
02
How might we help users find out more about what Bamboo Canvas offers and discover content more intuitively?
Optimized Homepage
The landing page now showcases the most relevant content with engaging imagery. It provides concise headlines and discoverable content for company mission, learning resources, consulting services and donation support.
Clear and Concise Mission
A relevant and dedicated page for users to find out more about what Bamboo Canvas does and their values as a company.
Donation Transparency
Being transparent about how people’s donations impact the company are crucial to converting users into donors.
Visual system
A more vibrant and engaging visual identity
The new bamboo logomark acts as an artist’s canvas, the perfect place for new ideas and creative expression. It is also representative of a new student or learner who is interested in Asian art and wants to explore. They are like a blank canvas ready to absorb anything that they can learn.
Setting the grounds for a more efficient visual system
With a team of changing researchers, interns and content managers, it was important to have a set of guidelines that would streamline the entire design process and create a more consistent user experience across all platforms. Any collaborator on the project can also adapt and add to the system as needed.
COMING UP
Next Steps
We’re currently in the process of implementing the website into Squarespace and organizing the visual identity system.
We will then be able to utilize google analytics to measure website performance.
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