Focus Ireland’s success depends on the clear expression of its values. That’s why it needs a welcoming and user-friendly website that’s easy to navigate, and that inspires users to make the donations on which it relies.
However, Focus Ireland’s website was struggling to communicate its values, to help users access information and to facilitate donations. The website needed a re-design that would convey the charity’s mission, simplify navigation and inspire users to donate.
To understand better the goals and behaviour of the site’s primary users, and the problems they were experiencing, we used Google Analytics, Hotjar video recordings and a UX workshop to develop a clear sense of their journey through the site. These findings informed a comprehensive redesign of the website, one that works with the existing Focus Ireland logo and colour palette to create a visually engaging interface that makes navigation simple and intuitive. The key to this approach lay in streamlining the structure of the website into four core strands. Our redesign also brings to the fore the real-life testimonies of people experiencing homelessness, helping to position Focus Ireland as an authentic advocate for change and to motivate users to interact with the site.These elements combine to great effect in the new website, expressing the charity’s values and creating a friendly, uncluttered interface that offers a fluent user experience and encourages users to donate.
The Focus Ireland website offers a wealth of content, especially in the Resource Hub, which provides information designed to help key stakeholders understand issues surrounding homelessness. To help Focus Ireland manage this material, and continue to develop the website in the future, we deployed a versatile Content Management System that empowers Focus Ireland to add content and build a wide range of new pages while maintaining a consistent visual identity.
The result is a website built for the future, with the flexibility to help Focus Ireland challenge homelessness and change lives for years to come.
