Parents Without Partner
Website Redesign
Parents Without Partners (PWP) is a single-parent support group for all single parents and their children. PWP is a 501.C3 educational organization promoting resources and community for single parents and their children.
As the Holidays are approaching, there are families that struggle during these times. Organizations such as Toys-for-Tots, Salvation Army, etc aid and support families in a variety of different ways. Parents Without Partners, we believe is very unique in their mission to support single-family households. As a team, we were able to decipher the ways we can help develop and evaluate the mission and support of PWP through their website.
Problem Statement
Single-parent households face more stressful family dynamics because one individual has more responsibility. Therefore, accessible resources for family planning are essential for family enrichment.
Meet Jennifer Terrisond
She has 2 lovely beautiful children; Celeste is 4 years old and Thomas is 1 year old. “ I love my children unconditionally and would do anything for them”. Jennifer struggles with finding the time between her two jobs as a Waitress and Cashier to support her kids the way they need and deserve. Daycare is extremely expensive and with the rocketing prices of food, housing, education, and transportation. Jennifer experiences feelings of being overwhelmed and underprepared.
Her Goals
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Finding emotional and mental support during hard times, accessible resources for childcare, family enrichment, and legal assistance
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Earn enough to support and care for her children's basic needs.
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Keep her children emotionally and mentally happy.
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Job/career building and assistance to enrich and empower single partners
Her Pain Points
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High stress, custody battles
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Less opportunity for her to be able to have time to spend with her kids
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Expensive cost of living.
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The entire process has affected the kids, making them more emotional. Jennifer experiences a huge lack of support from outside resources and friends/family members who want to help but don’t understand what she’s going through.
After Jennifer settled on looking for a non-profit organization focused on helping single parents like her, multiple ‘top 10’ lists for nonprofits providing aid to single parents included Parents without Partners which was in the top 5. However, their website didn’t give the feel of a top 5 nonprofit. Some of the positive aspects of their website included a comprehensive company history, an interactive map for locating contact details, and insightful quotes related to parenthood. However, their site was so large and crowded with words, all covered up with a blue-tint that made the site feel sad and depressing. For Jennifer each page felt as it provided too much information, and yet there was nothing listed about joining the support group itself. She thinks it didn’t look or feel like a site to support single parents at all.
Current PWP Website
"How might we help single parents like Jennifer to get easier accessible resources for their family planning?"
This is our Vision
Our goal is to create a site that felt more welcoming and comforting to a single parent seeking assistance and looking for help. Warmth, revival and hope is what we wanted our site to portrait. We want to showcase what PWP had to offer if you join to be a member. We aimed to make information easily accessible and clear, while also offering additional content such as resources, news, events, and more.
All of these changes will solve the problem of the site’s functionality and mood, creating a better user experience for single parents who shouldn’t have to struggle to find the support they want.
Branding
The previous website had a well-structured and relatively straightforward information architecture, but we found it necessary to make specific improvements. The current PWP branding doesn’t fit the mission of the organization. The blue colors conveyed a depressing, sad, and cold feeling.
This was the primary catalyst when upgrading the UI. We wanted to create a place that is welcoming, hopeful, and reflective of family and children.
Inspiration
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Summer
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Warmth
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Brightness
Theme
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Playful
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Bright
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Comforting
Key UI Updates
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Color Theme
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Consistent Typography
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Distinct Action Buttons
Card sorting and sitemap construction
We used card sorting to help understand users' expectations and understanding of Parents without partners website. We concentrated us on Home, PWP Chapters and Join Today (member sign up) page to finish our project in giving time frame.
Initial lo-fi prototype and Testing
We prototyped 3 pages from our proposed sitemap which include landing page, contact us, and join today pages. Before finalizing our initial low-fidelity prototype, we underwent an iterative design process, exploring numerous sketches and versions in our team. Our main goal was to make the "join now" button highly visible and distinct from other navigation elements, ensuring it captured the user's attention.
Lastly, we placed a strong emphasis on offering comprehensive details about how to join and what to expect after joining. This was an addition, addressing missing information in the original site's content and ensuring potential members had clear guidance throughout their journey.
On the application page where users could join, we also incorporated possible FAQs for people to get their questions answered. During our testing phase, we observed that users sought clarification regarding their purpose when signing up as members. As a response, we incorporated two sign-up options, which not only simplify the registration process but also help whether users intend to join as parents or volunteers.
In our design decisions, we integrated a news and events section directly onto the landing page instead of creating separate pages for them. This change was aimed at enhancing user engagement and highlighting important updates and upcoming events for busy parents on the go.
We chose to keep the interactive map functionality rather than displaying contact information for different states in a long list. This choice provide a more interactive and visually appealing way for users to find regional information. We changed the wording from chapter to regions because it raised a lot of confusion for the user, they didn't know what chapter was.
Our Design
We have incorporated elements that improved the user-friendliness of each page to make it easier for Jennifer to navigate the website.
Interactive Map on "Contact Us" page engaging way to find more contact information quickly with filter function
"Join Today" page that had FAQs to address questions about signing up for membership or volunteer
Carousel on landing page for all updates on events and news, making it convenient for busy parents like Jennifer
Future Additives
We have envisioned future additions to our platform, including:
Resource Page
This page will be a valuable resource, featuring carefully curated insider information that can be bookmarked and linked for Jennifer's convenience. It not only facilitates easy access to information but also encourages her to share our content, also saving time and creating value for herself and others.
Service Page
We plan to introduce a dedicated service page that offers services tailored to the needs of single parents, like Jennifer, providing valuable support.
Forum
Our upcoming forum will encourage member interaction, enabling individuals like Jennifer to connect, communicate, and exchange tips and information. This forum will serve as a supportive community, keeping members motivated and informed.