Society for Science.
Society for Science is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education and scientific research. Society for Science is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization focused on promoting the understanding and appreciation of science and the vital role it plays in human advancement: to inform, educate, and inspire.
Strategy
Research-informed UX design.
The project began with an extensive discovery phase, during which nclud completed the following work on behalf of the Society for Science:
- 20 individual interviews with external stakeholders across the organization
- 4 cross-sectional focus groups
- A literature review
- An internal audience survey focused on the organization’s digital presence and areas of improvement, with over 40 responses
- An external audience survey focused on the organization’s digital presence and areas of improvement, with over 800 responses
- Baseline usability testing across digital platforms
- A Google Analytics, accessibility, and SEO audit
- Card sorts and first-click testing of information architecture
Through research and analysis, nclud found that individuals were having a difficult time engaging with the brand and completing tasks between the digital properties. For example, the competition application process was so confusing to understand from the website alone, that students, teachers and parents alike took to constantly calling and emailing Society for Science staff with questions. Additionally, staff had such a difficult time finding the information they wanted to pass along to individuals that oftentimes kept word documents with helpful language to send on their desktop. Specific user flows needed to be tested to ensure that individuals could find the information they were looking for in no more than a few clicks. An overarching concern was how to accommodate the many audience groups (donors, educators, students, parents, volunteers, judges, the general public, etc) looking for varied information across the site. This research effort led to the combination of societyforscience.org and studentscience.org, as well as a massive restructuring of the information architecture.
Design
Revitalizing a 100-year-old brand.
With so many associated business segments, the Society for Science struggled to effectively communicate its brand. In previous years the organization tried to remedy this by creating off-shoot digital properties, but this only led to more task flow confusion and lack of brand cohesion. nclud worked with stakeholders to ideate on the Society for Science’s already established branding through moodboarding to help define refreshed look and feel. We focused on strengthening the brand colors and using them as geometric elements throughout the user interface. Our partners wanted the brand to come across as established, yet vibrant and approachable to all ages.
Development
A modular solution.
For this project nclud took a modular-driven development approach. We crafted reusable components that could be used to build any kind of page necessary. This allowed the Society for Science staff just the right amount of options when building pages, but did not overwhelm them with extraneous knobs and switches. Our unique, hand-crafted development process resulted in light-weight pages without extra cruft slowing down page load times. Our passion for design and user experience doesn’t end at the frontend. It is an integral part of crafting a backend experience to make the work of managing website content more enjoyable and efficient.
About Society for Science
Society for Science is a champion for science, dedicated to expanding scientific literacy, effective STEM education and scientific research.