prototyping

Building an effective fundraising platform for the Brain Research Trust

The Challenge

Brain Research Trust

Unlike similar neurological charities (Parkinson’s UK, Alzheimer's Society), the Brain Research Trust are unique in that they potentially fund over 200 brain conditions, but for decades their scope was limited to the UCL Institute of Neurology in London and to studying a comparative handful of illnesses. In 2016 however, they decided to expand the scope of their ambitions to the entire country. To embark on this, they hired The Team to rebrand them  and I was set the task of planning a new, responsive website that would communicate the scale of their ambitions, fulfil the needs of diverse audiences and act as an effective fundraising platform.

Approach

USER STORIES AND JOURNEYS

After cataloging many user stories, we prioritised and identified the most important ones for each group to expand into more detailed user journeys, from first contact to long term engagement. We identified that given the amount of fundraising activity, encouraging live-streaming, for instance, would be of enormous benefit. They also demonstrated to the client the central importance of a newsletter and a robust content strategy in maintaining long term relationships and encouraging repeat donations. 

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE AND ETHICS

Much discussion was had on the best way to present the breadth of the ailments that would be studied, which raised some ethical issues. Some conditions are very rare and do not have dedicated charities, so at one stage we considered having landing pages for each, aiding SEO. However, because of the nature of how projects are funded, not all conditions were necessarily studied at all times. To complicate matters further, a rarer condition could potentially benefit indirectly from research into another condition! After some deliberation and a number of iterations, we settled on listing out primary conditions, and presenting categories of other types that were being actively funded. 

The psychology of donations

In structuring the donations journey, I studied the current thinking on the psychology of giving and reviewed a great number of competitor sites. I identified a number of methods to encourage users to give higher amounts, and also applying the "peak-end rule" to reward them with videos and messages of thanks at the end of a donation process, and leave them with a positive feeling that their donation is having a tangible impact on people's quality of life. 

Outcome

The rebranding and relaunch of the site was a huge success, resulting in an upsurge of donations and a new approach to content strategy. Caroline Blakely of Brain Research Trust CEO said:

“We briefed The Team to review our brand and to create something that would support and drive our ambitious strategy for growth. Our new look and feel is warm and engaging and brings a human element to our medical research. It gives us the tools we need to progress as a national charity, funding the best neurological research in the UK.”

GSMA Mobile Connect - a little button that hides vast complexity

The Challenge

Mobile Connect is a small button that hides a lot of complexity. A challenger to "Login with Facebook" with future ambitions to allow electronic voting, the idea emerged from within the GSMA (which represents more that 800 mobile operators worldwide) and needed a way to communicate not just the user experience, but the more fundamental technological challenges that it posed if it were ever to be a success. 

Approach

Mapping Complexity

The first month of the project was an investigation into the technical complexities of what would happen behind the scenes when a user tapped "log in". We first mapped out all the different devices that would work on; and as it was a global project it had to work in markets that still dominated by feature-phones as well as the most modern devices. We mapped out technical scenarios (was this to post a comment or make a transaction etc) and flow diagrams to illustrate the logic. Soon, we realised the limitations of traditional methods. 

Creating New Tools

We were in a race against time to get a working prototype for the 2014 GSMA World Mobile Congress, and mapping the logic for each of the 155 chosen scenarios using flow diagrams in order to build a working prototype was not an option. I therefore created a new method, a card game that I played with the key stakeholders to rapidly map out each scenario in a fraction of the time. Once they got the knack of how it worked, I created worksheets they could fill in in place of the cards.

Prototyping

As each "card" corresponded to a screen template within Axure, I could now apply the logic to a frontend interface so that engineers could simply enter a few options to see how the login experience should look and function across a huge number of technical scenarios. 

Outcome

We successfully demonstrated the proposed product at the World Mobile Congress and a pilot project was then quickly proposed in Sri Lanka. If anything, the mobile operators were taken aback by the level of detail. "I think we were a little ahead of our time with it at first but once the Operators [were] ready to see that level of detail it is really well received." said product manager Jo Gilbert. Today, Mobile Connect is available to over 2 billion customers. 

Marketing Programme Director was also happy with the project; "I worked with Jamie on a complex, innovative and far reaching Telecommunications project. His input on the streamlining of the user experience and journey was invaluable. His proposals were well considered, practical and forthcoming, Always the professional, Jamie is organised and approachable, making him very easy to work with. I have no hesitation in recommending Jamie and would be delighted to collaborate with him again."

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Helping the ICO talk to different audiences

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The Challenge

The Information Commissioner play an important role in the digital ecology of the UK, dealing with both Data Protection and Freedom of Information requests. Their site had grown organically since it first launched in 2007, but like an untended garden it had become overgrown and difficult to negotiate. Some paths through it were well trodden, if meandering, others overgrown and obscured. In 2014, as part of Fluent Interaction, I worked on restructuring and relaunching the site. 

Approach

User Research

Initial research showed that users felt the site labyrinthine, and because information was diffused throughout it and pages looped back on one another or was repeated elsewhere, they were left with an uneasy feeling that they had missed something.

Some important information, such as the principles of data protection, were buried six layers deep. And because there was a vast amount of information that needed to be there, it became clear early on that robust information architecture was central to the success of the site. 

Information Architecture

During the heuristic evaluation of the existing site I also embarked on a substantial research phase in which I digested a significant amount of the site content, including much in the way of PDFs. We then conducted a series of workshops out of which came a set of user stories ranked by importance. Armed with this information, I set about mapping a number of options for site and page level architecture, keeping in mind that it had to serve the general public, but also a small and quite vocal group of hardcore Freedom of Information enthusiasts and data controllers. 

Further workshops iterated and then validated our decisions, and in conjunction with development partners, we then narrowed in on the page structures and catalogued each functional component, which too was ranked in order of importance. 

Prototyping and Testing

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With the site structure crystallising, each iteration of the interactive prototype - informed by user testing - added more and more fine-grain resolution and attention to detail, such as micro-interactions and micro-copy. Clarity of navigation and information quality was of primary importance to the site, and this vetoed any design pretensions. However that did not mean there was no room for innovation. One particular challenge was how to present and query large documents that had once been PDFs; our solution was the "mutli-page document" which allowed users to zero-in on information quickly and effectively and deep link to relevant segments. 

Outcome

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Since launch, the ICO have been approached by a number of organisations worldwide who see their new website as the model they want to emulate.

Greer Schick, the ICO's Online and Internal Communications Manager said "I was impressed with Fluent. Understanding the needs of our users and our organisation was fundamental to their approach. This meant that all of their advice, ideas and designs were relevant for us and our users. That, plus their support for our agile approach, really helped make the project a success."

As well as serving the general public, the ICO has a small but highly dedicated fanbase. Freedom of Information blogger "FOI Man" was cautious of the update, hearing that we were using Gov.uk principles, but was pleasantly surprised.

"I’m pleased that by retaining features like the guidance index, they’ve found ways to cater for those of us old hands who were used to finding information in a particular way, whilst providing a helpful step-by-step approach for new users. The gov.uk site could certainly learn a thing or two from this – trying to make digital services accessible to new groups is a noble aim, but the needs of existing users of online resources should be taken into account as well."