PROBLEM STATEMENT
Pro Bono Connect links civil society to lawyers from top law firms to give them free legal proceedings. In order to do so and to be found by Dutch NGOs, their website needs to be revised and optimized for intuitive use.
— PROJECT NAME
Pro Bono Connect
— ROLE
Website redesign
— DATE
05/01/2023
Pro Bono Connect (PBC) is the first public interest clearinghouse in the Netherlands and acts as intermediary between non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and law firms. It was established in November 2015 by the Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists (NJCM) after extensive research among law firms, NGOs and foreign clearinghouses. Sixteen of the Netherlands’ largest law firms support Pro Bono Connect.
The project was executed together with another web designer. However, it was never finalized as PBC had other priorities that arose while the we were busy on the redesign. It stranded after the first iteration.
OLD WEBSITE
The old website of Pro Bono Connect was outdated and old-fashioned. The information was not always accurate and pages were abundant. It included information about PBC, their supporters, how they were governed, some previous experience and contact and personal information. However, on some pages, the same topic was discussed with different information. Making it cluttered and unclear to the reader. Also, lots of white space was used even though texts were long. My focus was on redesigning the home page, activities page, news & updates and contact page.
The home page was redesigned to become more appealing to the readers of the website. I included more pictures and moving objects to draw the attention parts that needed them most. I made us of numbers and facts to quickly display what PBC has accomplished so far and where they are heading.
LANDING PAGE
Most of the competition makes use of a redirect to the donate page on a landing page. This is generally either at the top of the page or directly underneath the first block. Bigger NGOs use the landing page less often to direct to donations but provide more in-depth information and publicity.
DONATION PAGE
There are two ways to design the donation page. The first is as currently done by the foundation, a full page where all the information is asked. The second, less intrusive way is have new donors go through a step-by-step process split over a few pages. The second way askes less cognitive load of the donor.
WIREFRAME
To provide the foundation with more than just a set of guidelines, a quick wireframe including the identified elements for improvements was created. The wireframe was focused solely on the landing page as most improvements would include a change in the landing page. The wireframe, as depicted below, directly guides a visitor of the page to a donation page. Additionally, it provides more information on Kenya Child Care, their way of working, local stories, pictures and blogposts. Each of the individual elements can link to pages that provide in-depth information on the subject. The header was also rearranged and reformulated.
