Website Redesign
A non-profit platform providing trauma couseling & scuba-therapy to veterans and first-responders.
Role
UX Designer & SEO Specialist
Timeline
3 months
Client
Deep Sea Valkyries
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Deep Sea Valkyries, a veteran led non-profit dedicated to providing trauma couseling and healing retreats for Veterans and First Responders.
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The website was build with the intention to reach veterans all around US and get them help they need. It started with a personal pain which resonated with the community and that is how Deep Sea Valkyries was born.​
THE GOAL
A full website redesign and rebranding within one semester to improve donor engagement and veteran outreach.
WEBSITE AUDIT
Conducted heuristic evaluation and website analytics to understand how SEO is affected by UX issues and shortcomings. Improving the UX leads to improved veteran outreach and engagement.
Website Analytics - Keywords that leads users to the website and how it is affecting the Bounce rate and time spent on the website.
UI Issue 4: Typography, accessibility issues
UI issue 1: Navigation - not responsive
UI Issue 2: Button Label too long for mobile view
UI Issue 3: Visual inconsistencies
THE PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED
Accessibility
No content hierarchy,
Low contrast ratios,
No alt text
Visual Noise
No visual hierarchy,
Poor Typography,
Fragmented UI
Invisible Presence
High Bounce Rate,
Low search engine rankings
PLAN OF ACTION - DESIGN PROCESS
This isn't just a UI refresh but a Systems thinking lead design upgrade. The pattern involves Data-Driven Design which deals with the choices based on Search Intent (for SEO), WCAG Guidelines (for Accessibility) and Conversion Optimization (for CTAs).
DESIGN SYSTEM
Blue defines the sea - being a scuba therapy, associated the brand to water.
High-contrast text colors for dark and light modes.
Added for warmth, improved contrast ratio and breaking the monotony of blue.
Heading 2 style - The heading in blue and black both are H2, this ensures the screen readers read the headings as they should be read.
HIGH-FIDELITY DESIGNS
Donate Now Page
Events Page
About Page
Contact Page
Blogs Page
IMPACT
90 Days
Designed & Deployed in
Quick Turnaround
12 pages
Improved IA, Reduced to
from 30+ pages
WCAG 2.1
All pages follow the accessibility guidelines
WHAT I LEARNT? - KEY TAKEAWAYS
1
UX is more than aesthetics
UX is about feasible scalable solutions, constant improvements and how a user sees the product.
UX is about communicating and prioritizing what is more important and know when to trade-off what.
2
Hand-off is crucial
Working with non-technical clients means - explaining the technicalities of design and SEO in the most easy ways we can.
Hand-off documentation has to be full-proof, with every step having a screenshot.
3
Feasibility & Scalability
Every Design from Figma does not always make it to the actual website/product, as scalability and easy future update for client is top priority.
If a non-technical person is managing the designs, it has to be scalable and automated.
FEEDBACK
Aanchal, thank you for being such an outstanding member of the GIT Creative Agency this semester. You’ve contributed to DeepSea’s SEO efforts in a strong leadership capacity. I trust that the website will show major improvement because of your guidance and dedication in this area.I also appreciated your insight after the client meeting about quick revisions and turnaround time. I love that you’re already thinking about how to work efficiently within the client process.