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Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Project Overview
Since 1896, Kids First Australia have been providing support, aid and education to children and families across Australia, with the belief that all young people should have the opportunity to grow and thrive in a nurturing, safe and strong community.
Experts in the family violence, counselling and early education spaces, reinterpreting Kids First’s web presence to better support their services was a challenging but highly rewarding experience for everybody involved in the project.
Creating a streamlined but intuitive interface was fundamental in our approach to completing this complete redesign of Kids First’s public-facing web presence, enabling the not-for-profit organisation to continue providing their outreach to some of Australia’s most vulnerable people.
Team
Neil Thomas - Lead UX Designer Nicole Dolan - Senior UX/UI Designer Vlado Grancaric - Lead Engineer Shelley Neergaard - Project Manager Tan Nguyen - Frontend Engineer Aidan Partington - Frontend Engineer Chris Brown - Drupal Backend Engineer Claire Lombardi (Kids First Australia) - Director Marketing and Communications Alex Chivers (Kids First Australia) - Communications Coordinator
Project Brief
OVO were tasked with redesigning the Kids First website, streamlining the user experience through a refreshed interface, redesigned information architecture, and the development of a visual design that eschewed maudlin imagery in favour of fun and bright illustrations to appeal to users whose lives may be anything but.
Informed by a comprehensive customer and stakeholder research period, it was essential that the rebuilt site would make accessing Kids First’s programs quick and easy, whether the user is a parent looking for a school to send their child to, or someone in urgent need of a support service.
The content management system was also overhauled, to enable internal stakeholders to more quickly and easily respond to the changing needs of those who rely on their services.
Project Need
It is a tragic reality that many people seeking assistance from Kids First are doing so in a potentially unsafe environment, be it due to domestic violence, addiction, housing insecurity or another position of duress.
To help protect those looking for urgent help, or those researching these support services at work, at shared computers or in other highly visible locations, the primary navigation features a clearly marked ‘Quick exit to Google’ link, as well as the option to hide sensitive or triggering page titles.
The majority of the site’s content sits in the centre of the screen to avoid being seen over the shoulder by others, and a ‘Need urgent help’ call-to-action quickly provides links and phone numbers for child protection services, suicide helplines and LGBTIAQ+ support.
OVO worked in conjunction with Kids First’s qualified counsellors to ensure those seeking help would find the site’s interface, design and language comforting and easy to navigate.
User Experience
Prior to beginning any development on the project, OVO ran several co-creation workshops and user interviews to ensure we were making the correct decisions for those who would be using the website. Close attention was paid to our use of language, undergoing many iterations during design and as a result of prototype testing sessions to ensure our tone of voice was right for the audience.
OVO created a Headless CMS setup for Kids First with a component catalog which can be placed on any new page. This gives Kids First better flexibility on the content they can put on pages but also makes the site run really fast. With content being at the front and center of everything and not ridged page templates like you get in a classic setup.
Project Marketing
Given the nature of this project, no marketing activity was undertaken.
Project Privacy
As well as being built with industry-standard encryptions and SSL certificates, the site’s ‘donation’ mechanism is powered by Supporterhub; a highly secure Australian third-party eCommerce tool designed for managing donations to not-for-profit organisations.
Digital - Community
This category is all about helping our communities to connect and engage, from emergency services to Not for Profits to social groups, these apps and sites not may not only assist in delivery but also create efficiencies providing those at the coalface more time to do their important work whether it be fighting fires or managing the local team. It's not all serious though we're also looking for projects that work to help bring the community groups together with fun and enjoyable activities.
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