SERVE.ie
How UX Design was implemented to boost volunteer and donation numbers and deliver a user-friendly experience.
Marcelle Louise
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10 min read
The focus of this research is to present a case study of an Irish-based development and volunteering organisation, and how they are providing equal opportunities for communities living in poverty around the world. The research is supported through primary data collection of multiple interviews and correspondence with two of the key informants of SERVE, the Administration Manager, and the Communications Officer.
Challenge
"How to reduce the time required to donate or become a volunteer at SERVE?"
Brief
Global poverty is one of the most pressing problems that the world faces today. The poorest in the world are often undernourished, without access to basic services such as electricity and safe drinking water; they have less access to education, and may suffer from much poorer health.
Inspired by the belief that ‘Solidarity In Action’ can improve the lives of the most vulnerable, SERVE works in partnership with local communities and organisations to offer high-quality vocational and educational learning opportunities, helping young people (aged between 15–24) gain employment or start and develop their businesses.
SERVE has chosen to prioritise working with this age group as they are full of potential but often marginalised, face high unemployment, social exclusion, and are unable to earn a living in a dignified manner. Since 2003 SERVE has placed over 1,200 volunteers on overseas assignments and contributed over €20 million to development projects.
By donating to, volunteering with, fundraising for, and/or shopping items on the website, SERVE can continue to fund sustainable development programmes with its overseas partners. Therefore, the website is their main focus as it allows these processes to happen and independently of human interaction.
Goals
During my first meeting with the stakeholders, we discussed the current scenario, which problems they have already faced, and the changes they would like to see in the weeks ahead. Following the meeting, we set the project’s purpose, scope, timeline, and roles. As every user would have different needs, the goals of the project were defined according to them.
Users
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Perform actions such as donating, volunteering, fundraising, and/or joining the newsletter in less time.
Stakeholders
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Edit, add sections, and/or customized templates to the website in a faster way.
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Have a style guide that works for both website and social media posts.
Personas
After identifying the users, the next stage was to gain a deeper comprehension of their needs.
Sketching
Sketching allows you to visualize the screen-to-screen interaction so that your idea is something that’s visible and clear in user interface form. For this reason, I chose to sketch 4 pages: Home, Donate, Volunteer, and Event.
Style Guide
There was a non-defined style guide, with different colors that did not match. After carefully reviewing it, we were able to create a new style guide to define the colors, buttons, and typography.
Conclusion
The main requirements were achieved once the development phase started and we observed a growth in donations by 25% since the new website was launched. However, this is an ongoing project, therefore we are currently working on gathering user feedback and testing the improvements made so far to iterate future goals.