Redesign • UX • Research • Prototyping
Transforming InTouch.org
This project aimed to enhance the In Touch Ministries website, improving engagement, usability, and accessibility for all visitors, especially seniors.
I redacted confidential information in this case study to comply with my NDA. All data in the study are mine and do not reflect Arrow’s views.
Project Overview
In 2014, I served as the UX lead for a comprehensive redesign of the In Touch Ministries website (intouch.org). In Touch Ministries is a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Charles Stanley.
The existing website was outdated and struggled to effectively engage visitors and serve the ministry's needs. As the UX lead, I was responsible for conducting user research, developing user personas, defining an improved information architecture and navigation structure, and establishing a modern visual design direction.
This diagram is an opportunity tree that visualizes potential areas for product development and improvement, based on insights from research and discussions with product managers, designers, and researchers.
Challenges
Accessibility became a strategic tenant for us early on. We detected that readability was subpar during early discovery, with the font selection and color contrast not passing standard accessibility evaluations.
Balancing Diverse User Needs: The project demanded a deep understanding of the diverse user base, from churchgoers to more Bible-focus users, including different generational cohorts and behaviors. This was a foreign topic for me and other team members, but it was nothing that extensive research and deep empathy couldn’t solve. We concluded that we need to identify user personas to address their needs effectively and balance the ministry goals.
Enhancing Engagement and Conversion: A primary objective was to convert passive users into actively engaged community members and supporters. Mapping the conversion journey and designing the website to facilitate this transition was a complex yet critical challenge.
Creating a Unified Design System: Developing a cohesive design system to accommodate the various content formats and platforms was essential. This involved seamlessly creating new components, patterns, and iconography across the website's multiple content formats.
UX & Research Deliverables
In this section, you can explore some of the deliverables I produced during the trajectory of this project.
Personas
The project began with an in-depth user research phase to understand the core In Touch audience's needs, behaviors, and pain points. This included analyzing website data, reviewing user feedback, and conducting an open card sort to assess how users mentally grouped and organized content.
Based on the research findings, we developed a set of user personas that brought the key audience segments to life. These Personas captured the most important attitudes, behaviors, goals, technical proficiencies, and nuanced needs that would drive decision-making throughout the design process.
“..new believers need they can be directed on where to begin their journey. New believers want to know how to pray
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“...I would like however to hear more about how to be more Godly as a single mom and how to be a better example to them.
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UX artifact: Persona representing a key user segment.
Results & Conclusion
The final information architecture, interaction design, and visual design deliverables provided In Touch Ministries with a comprehensive strategic roadmap for relaunching intouch.org as a more user-friendly, engaging digital platform aligned with the needs of both new and longtime visitors.
The design work set a strong foundation for better-connecting people to the ministry's teachings and resources in a personal, intuitive way. By employing a user-centered design process from research to UI, the potential was established for intouch.org to more effectively advance its mission of leading people into a relationship with their religious practices.
