Overview
I led the content strategy, UX writing, and redesign of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) website. The website serves as a statewide resource for sexual assault survivors and the organizations that support them.
The new website after the redesign 🎉
The challenge
TAASA needed an updated website that made it easier for people to find resources, understand their work, and get involved with them.
Primary goals
1) Help people find relevant resources and information
2) Improve the user experience of the website through visual design, content and more
Content-first design
It was clear the website redesign required more than a visual upgrade. I spoke with stakeholders and users who shared obstacles including navigation difficulty and jargon. The TAASA website redesign would require a content-first approach including new content and information architecture.
I went page by page to review the content, headlines, and calls to action. This in-depth content audit confirmed the need to improve site navigation and create a content strategy.
A peek of the TAASA.org content audit
Ask the audience
After the initial user interviews and content audit, I brainstormed new menu navigation labels and mapped out pages to add and remove.
I conducted card sorting tests with people to validate user-friendly label names for the new menu navigation. I also asked them to sort the new menu options into groups to identify what made sense to them. Card sorting helped me focus on how to structure the site based on user feedback.
Create space
A critical insight from the user interviews and card sorting exercises was that TAASA had sufficient information for its primary audience of crisis center staff. However, it lacked information for another audience - survivors. The website needed a designated place for survivors to find resources and support. I would include survivor's needs into the content strategy and redesign of TAASA.
I created personas based on the interviews to help guide the content strategy and redesign
Information architecture solution
I started creating site maps to outline the new site's information architecture. I finalized the information architecture based on testing and feedback from clients and stakeholders.
The final architecture focused on:
1. Improved navigation - I built a new global navigation system and labeling system that allows users to access resources quickly.
2. Consolidated content - I remove duplicated content and pages.
3. Relevant content - I created separate tabs for TAASA's different audiences that removed jargon and contained user-centric language and resources.
A site map of the old site
One iteration of the new site map for TAASA.org
A new way to navigate TAASA
TAASA's website now serves both the primary and secondary audiences of the organization. When people reach the site, the site contains consistent and understandable language. The calls to action and navigation are clear and show them what to expect next.
The website also meets the accessibility guidelines for people of all abilities. It now has a score of 96 out of 100 on the Google Audit Tool.