Design Can Help Tell A Story, Or Hold It Back
In the previous iteration of their website, Upstream was using a generic template that wasn’t very modern, engaging, or interactive. This left a lot of room for improving both how they presented information on their site, and how we could leverage design to make a strong but welcoming impression.
Overall their existing content was in a pretty good place, although it wasn’t presented in a way that drew a user in and enticed them to learn more about getting involved. Overall, the UI across the entire site was very flat, and simply wasn’t doing Upstream any justice. They knew to succeed in rising awareness, increasing partnerships, and attracting new employees, they needed to invest in how they present their organization online.
Using Structure And Style To Emphasize Energy And Personality
After identifying the needs of the organization and their users, we began focusing on the information architecture for the new website. Creating a navigation structure and information hierarchy that broke up the site into key areas and made for pages that were easy to scan, consume content, and explore naturally. We were also thinking about ways to bring out the energy and personality of the brand and showcasing what makes Upstream so unique.
This was key among Upstream’s goals, as they wanted to use the site not just to provide info about the amazing work they are doing, but also as a way to entice potential health care partners and employees to join in their mission.
As the Briteweb team began to build out the site, we continued to offer our perspective on the overall experience, content, animations, and general interactions on the site. By staying involved to offer our design perspective, we ensured the user experience we defined was fully implemented and consistent with the strategy of Upstream.
