CHELSEA HUTCHISON FOUNDATION
Responsive Web Redesign
OVERVIEW
This virtual group assignment focused on preforming UX and UI processes on a nonprofit organization. I have an aunt who is highly involved in and personally connected to the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation (CHF). This worthy organization exists to raise awareness of SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) and use it to grant comfort, hope and positivity to individuals and families living with epilepsy.
Chelsea was born September 28, 1992 and brought more joy into our lives than we can express in words. At the age of 11, she began having occasional seizures, until one night, April 19, 2009, at the age of 16, Chelsea died very unexpectedly after having a seizure in her sleep. The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation was created in loving memory of our precious daughter, sister, niece, cousin and friend, Chelsea Alice Hutchison. No one had ever told us a seizure could take her life. The term, SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) is a term we would learn to know well.
Chelsea touched many lives and we are amazed at how many she continues to touch even after her passing. The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation is designed to assist people living with Epilepsy. Funds raised by this Foundation provide grants for seizure-response dogs and epilepsy monitors for those in need, wish trips, educate the public about SUDEP, and provide support to those who have been affected by SUDEP.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Parents of children with epilepsy should be aware of the dangers of a common yet little-known condition called SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy). Young families struggling with epilepsy need support, coping mechanisms and access to educational tools. These resources become more readily available through increased awareness, donations and social events.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE
Nonprofits require money and resources now more than ever. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on their fundraising efforts. How do we continue to inspire support and gather donations?
Each year, thousands of people living with epilepsy die from SUDEP. But too little is known about why SUDEP happens and what can be done to prevent death in epilepsy. How do we shine more awareness on this condition?
Individuals and families need reliable educational resources and community support. How can CHF become more of a communication platform for individuals and families dealing with this disorder?
RESEARCH METHODS
I first asked and gained permission to conduct this project from Julie Hutchison, Chelsea’s mother and founder of the nonprofit. After her blessing, we proceeded forward with three stakeholder interviews. These interviews were conducted with seated board members of the CHF and mothers of children with epilepsy. The content we gathered was insightful and the stories we heard were powerful. We needed this valuable qualitative data to realize the short/long term goals of CHF, all pain points from an organization standpoint and also frustrations from real people who are personally affected by epilepsy and SUDEP.
Toni New: CHF Advisor and Event Photographer
Stacey Biggs: Mother of child with Epilepsy
We wanted to pair our 1-on-1 interviews with additional quantitative research in the form of a survey which garnered 27 responses. This survey was intended to obtain more insight into the user’s point of view, needs and wants. Through the survey, we wanted to get a pulse of what motivates a person to become interested in a cause and what factors encourage them to donate or participate in an organization’s events.
THE USER
As a team, we thought long and hard about our user, creating a proto-persona early on in the design process. After accessing and analyzing the collected data, we realized that we were pretty spot on with our proto-persona. We made some tweaks and edits, and presented our user persona in the form of Julie Nguyen. Julie represents the individuals who care for and love someone dealing with Epilepsy. Julie constantly worries about her son, Daniel, who has began experiencing seizures. Julie and Daniel have the opportunity of attending Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disney World, where they are introduced to ambassadors of the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation. They hear about her tragic story, learn about available resources, and build relationships with other individuals and families going through the same situation.
An Empathy Map was created for our user-persona encompassing Julie’s emotions, pains and gains. We were better able to relate to and empathize with her and Daniel and begin constructing useful and improved solutions to the CHF and its users.
STORYBOARD & CARD SORTING
We wanted to further summarize our research findings with a storyboard. To better understand existing scenarios of interaction, as well as to test hypotheses about potential scenarios, this storyboard allowed us to live a day in the life of our user-persona, Julie.
In order to map out the structure, hierarchy and organization of the existing CHF website, we dove into card sorting. Our goal was to improve usability and increase site engagement while eliminating confusing or redundant pieces of information so that users could smoothly navigate through the design to accomplish their desired goals.
PROTOTYPES
I took the initiative of doing paper sketches. We wanted to design mobile first and transform it into a responsive desktop version secondly. Many layout ideas were generated and various concepts considered before landing on the sketches below. I wanted my sketches to walk the user step by step through the task of registering for the SoCal Stomp 5k (one of the organization’s most exciting fundraising initiatives).
As a group, we reviewed our own annotations with notes from testing our paper sketches and began iterations. We simplified the navigation and shifted the dropdown menu tiles into card.
One of our many user tests for our high-fi mobile prototype was with our bootcamp guest instructor, Riddy Khan. Many great points were called out including the option of incorporating an overlay with a scrolling feature versus multiple pages of information that the user would have to tap on.
DESKTOP EVOLUTION
A thorough web analysis was done on the existing Chelsea Hutchison Foundation website. We determined that the use of a main and sub navigation was confusing and needed sorting to highlight hierarchy. There is also a scrolling hero banner that the user has no control over and could be better used for pertinent information or current events. The social media icons were too small for fat thumbs and the body copy was hard to follow as it spread the entire width of the page.
Through transforming our mobile prototypes into a responsive web version, we decided that the homepage should highlight current events related to raising CHF and SUDEP awareness. Drop downs were created for the main menu to stack a lot of related, informational pages. And we utilized a banner type layout to divide up the sections in hopes of making the information easier to digest so that users are not overwhelmed.
CHELSEA HUTCHISON FOUNDATION
CONCLUSION
We approached this design prompt with sensitivity, wanting to respect the nature and meaning of the nonprofit. I came away from it learning that deserving organizations like CHF rely heavily on donations and support to make meaningful change. Their mission and goals cannot be met without community engagement and monetary contributions. A nonprofit website must be user-friendly, enticing and accessible to all, so as not to squander any opportunity to capture aid that in return could save countless lives.