IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY AND
DISCOVERABILITY FOR THE ARC
Sep 2024 – Feb 2025 | Freelance Project | User-Focused Web Design
ENGAGING IN CAUSE BASED DESIGN
The Arc of the DFW Area is the local chapter of a nationwide non profit organization that advocates for the protection of human rights for those that have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The Arc approached us with the 3 needs:
- Improve the accessibility of their website to better serve their target audience.
- Increase discoverability of their website as much of their community was unaware of it’s existence.
- Develop new features to shift the focus of their website from an educational database to a resource of self-advocacy.
During the design phase, one of my responsibilities was to document our process and produce a video.
If you do not have time to explore the entirety of this deck, this video will provide a good look into our work with the Arc of the DFW Area!
I WORKED ON A TEAM OF 7 DESIGNERS
Lead Developer
UX Designer
Project Manager
UX Designer
Lead Developer
UX Designer
Prototype Lead
UX Designer
Visual Lead
Graphic Designer
Communication Lead
Graphic Designer
Visual Lead
Graphic Designer
01
We conducted a heuristic analysis of the Arc’s previous website.
Cognitive overload due to walls of text and ineffective visual hierarchy caused users to disregard intended interactions favored by filling the organization’s inbox with questions.
02
We restructured the Arc’s information architecture to prioritize storytelling and event visibility.
Previous versions of their website served almost exclusively as information distributors but lacked an effective call to action or sense of persuasion.
03
We conducted a cut & paste wire framing workshop to bring together each of our best ideas.
Creating multiple iterations of components that would be present across the entire website, and then finalizing the visuals we would move forward with.
04
We initially designed in Figma, where we created many sacrificial iterations before finalizing our direction.
During initial designing we struggled with finding a balance between visually appealing and effectively accessible, but with the nature of the Arc’s mission, accessibility was needed.
With the conclusion of the design phase, Myles and I continued to work with the Arc to develop their website.
- Responsive scaling for mobile and desktop
- Feature development including CMS “tell your story” submission system and connection points to Neon One system.
- Search Engine Optimization
- User and accessibility testing
FEATURE DEVELOPMENT
We developed automatic CMS systems to streamline the users ability to share their story and the Arc’s implementation of stories into their story bank.
Telling the stories of those who have been impacted by the Arc empowers others with intellectual/developmental disabilities to live self determined lives and gives stake holders tangible feedback on the impact of their efforts.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
In our first conversations with the Arc, they explained to us that many of their members did not even know they had a website.
In the first 30 days after launch, the Arc of the DFW’s website reached 216% more users and achieved a click through rate of 4.6%.
Designing and developing an accessible and discoverable website for the Arc of the DFW Area has digitally built up their community and will continue to tell the stories of those they have impacted.