The first step of this project was to define the Design Challenge. This intital step in IDEO's Human Centered Design Toolkit provides clarity on how to approach the design problem. The purpose of this step is to formulate an action-based question that drives the project by providing specific areas of focus for the designer.
The goal of this step in the process was to gain a general understanding of the chosen organization by collecting information from the client's current website, marketing collateral, and other relevant materials such as advertisements and social media. This provides an understanding of how the organization exists in its respective community and contexts other than its digital presence.
This step was focused first on determining the audience of the project and second on defining the specific goals of this audience when visiting the client's website. This helps give clarity to why the website exists altogether and what in particular can be redesigned to better serve the target audience.
Conducting interviews is crucial to grasp the exact vision that the client has for their website and/or the specific aspects of the website that are most important and helpful to visitors. In this step, interviewees provided feedback to help pinpoint areas of focus that will optimize the effectiveness of the website in achieving the goals of the client.
In this final step, all of the collected data was compiled and used to create a new brand identity and more effective client website that will assist the organization in better serving its community.