WEBSITE DESIGN CASE STUDY

DESIGNING A NEW WEBSITE FOR A CHARITY

THE CAPACITY FOUNDATION WEBSITE AND SHOP

I was invited to take a critical look at the website of the Capacity Foundation – a charity based in Mold, North Wales, which works to end dependency on international aid in Malawi, East Africa.

The client thought the site was looking a little jaded and that it would benefit both from a makeover and from the addition of new content.

First impressions were that the home page was very long, while other sections of the site were almost bare.

I suggested relocating much of the original home page content elsewhere and instead using the page to focus on what the Foundation is and does.

Reducing the content allowed texts to be better spaced and judicious editing helped make them more readable.

HERO IMAGE

Although the original site used positive words on the home page header, their message was not reflected in the images. Photos – which were displayed in a carousel format – were mostly dark and of poor quality when enlarged.

To help give the site a more vibrant, entrepreneurial feel, I selected the hero image now used: three women from Malenga Mzoma who set up their own successful businesses using loans from the Foundation.

NEW COLOUR PALETTE

Unusually, the client did not want their logo colour used elsewhere on the site, so a selection of bold, bright colours was taken from the hero image.

Colours from the new palette are used in headers, footers, buttons and icons.

DONATIONS

A ‘Donate’ link on the charity’s original site simply sent users to an external website.

The new site uses a WordPress donations plugin to keep everything on site, other than a quick visit to PayPal to complete the donation.

New pages were added for two other ways in which people can support the Foundation financially: leaving a legacy and fundraising.

BLOG POSTS

In common with many sites, the ‘Blog’ page had not been kept up to date.

On the new site, blog posts appear on the ‘News’ and ‘Success stories’ pages (the latter was my suggestion and includes a brief post introducing the ‘hero women’: Elisy, Isabel and Mamie).

I manage the site and posts are added by me, using texts sent by the client.

ONLINE SHOP

As the main site was nearing completion, the client asked for an online shop to be added!

Rather than redesign the main site, I created a ‘shop’ subdomain and used WooCommerce and Elementor to build the online store.

The colours used reflected those of the main site and I tweaked the Foundation’s logo to help give the shop site its own identity.

As part of my site management role, I photographed all items before adding them to the shop.

NB, problems with obtaining items from Malawi during Covid caused the charity to discontinue the shop at the end of 2021.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

I improved the mobile layout, so the site looks and works better on phones and tablets.

To see more, visit the website of the Capacity Foundation.

If you think that your current website would benefit from a critical review, feel free to get in touch for a chat.