Part 1: User Research
Proposal
The challenge was to create a front page of a website for Tibetan Children’s Villages child sponsorship program that looks professional and would appeal to philanthropists from around the world. I wanted to encourage users within that target audience to consider sponsoring a child with basic needs and education.
Target Audience
The target audience for this website would be middle aged philanthropists from around the world. Here are a few statistics I found in my research of Philanthropists:
The United States is the third most giving country based on the CAF World Giving Index.
- The average annual pay for a Philanthropist in the U.S. is $64,730 a year.
- About 39% of America's donations have gone towards religion including sub caues
such as relief for the poor, medical care, education, etc.
- About 19% of America's donations have gone towards education
Persona
Name: Mark Ryan
Bio: Mark is a 55 year old man based in Los Angeles. Prior to retirement, Mark was a dean at Yale. After he and his wife found out they were unable to have children, they decided to start sponsoring a child from a refugee camp.
Goals: Mark wants to be able to connect with a child and form a parent-child relationship. He is passionate about religion and culture and would like to help a child with connections to that.
Behaviors: Because Mark is now retired, he spends much of his time working on his spirituality through meditation and listening to the teachings of the Dalai Lama. He uses the internet to access online meditation meetings.
Motivations: Mark wants to give back to a community in need and provide access to education and basic needs to children.
Challenges: Mark is typically a very calm man. Because he practices meditation, he is not easily frustrated. Since the pandemic, he has started to take online meditation classes so he is comfortable with using the internet.
Website Research
Part 1:
https://www.savethechildren.org
https://www.worldvision.org
https://www.children.org
https://www.unicefusa.org
https://www.children.safinternational.org
Part 2:
In what ways do you plan to leverage your research in your web page UI/UX? What insights from your research do you plan to act upon?
There were several different elements on each of the websites that encourage the user to take action. The most noticeable and effective element is the use of photos to appeal to people's emotions. While I do think that having photos of children raises the likelihood of the user donating, I do not think there should be an excessive amount of photos. Many of the websites made me quite uncomfortable due to the almost exploitation of the children. There were several elements such as the search filter pattern, shopping cart, etc. that made the experience feel more like online shopping than a donation to a child in need. While these elements are used throughout the websites I looked at, for my website, I would like to stay away from these patterns.
What is the solution you’re providing for your users?
My solution solves the problem by creating an inviting space for the user to navigate through. Through adding elements that bring the user into the process such as using words like “Meet Yangdon”, there is a higher likelihood of the sponsor to feel connected to the child.
How are you going to convince users in your target audience to continue to interact with your web page?
There will be a tab on the main navigation bar for current projects as well as an account login where the sponsor will be able to send photos and messages to the child/organization
What can your users do on your page/website?
While my website is for the school as a whole and the sponsorship will only be one area of the website, there will be other elements that the user can navigate through. These larger categories will be on the main navigation and users will be able to hover over the tabs to see more areas of the website.
What calls to action/tasks do you want your users to perform?
The call to action is for the user to donate and sponsor a child. To convince them to do so, I will be using images to elicit emotions, as well as use certain wording and phrases to draw the user into the process, making it more personal.
Wireframes
Part 2: User Interface
Desktop Prototype
Desktop Interaction
Mobile Prototype
Mobile Interaction
Mockup
