Epilepsy Toronto
Enhancing accessibility for people with epilepsy and other disabilities through a digital design audit.
Project Overview
Epilepsy Toronto has supported people with epilepsy and seizure disorders for over 60 years, raising awareness, promoting community, and providing resources. Their programs and events cover everything from diagnosis to challenges like employment and relationships.
I partnered with them to lead a comprehensive web design audit as the sole UX Designer, collaborating with 6 key stakeholders to gather insights and craft data-driven recommendations.
Challenge:
Epilepsy Toronto's current digital presence is not attracting and engaging enough potential users and stakeholders, hindering the agency’s ability to raise awareness, grow involvement from donors/ sponsors, advocates and volunteers, and receive support from individuals living well with epilepsy.
The research plan outlines the steps to develop an assessment aimed at enhancing Epilepsy Toronto’s online presence to increase community involvement and engagement.
Duration:
12 weeks
My Role:
Sole UXer — UX Design and Research
Research
The research plan I created for Epilepsy Toronto's digital presence aimed to comprehensively evaluate its effectiveness and understand the diverse user groups it serves. This plan included an outline of the project goals
To achieve these objectives, a multifaceted approach was adopted, incorporating both secondary and primary research methodologies.
Secondary research involved a detailed examination of comparable non-profit organizations, focusing on their digital strategies, donor relationships, and user demographics. This analysis provided valuable insights into industry best practices and areas where Epilepsy Toronto could enhance its online presence.
Additionally, primary research methods, such as user surveys and stakeholder interviews, were conducted to directly engage with the community and gain firsthand perspectives on their interactions with the organization's digital platforms.
By crafting user surveys and sending them via Epilepsy Toronto’s monthly newsletter, I wanted to uncover the motivating factors driving involvement with Epilepsy Toronto and their current interaction patterns. I conducted 5 stakeholder interviews to discover potential pain points and unmet needs.
Snapshot of comparative analysis of other non-profit organizations.
Synthesis
From the stakeholder interviews and user surveys, I was able to identify our primary users, the user challenges with the Epilepsy Toronto website and what people believe the most important website pages are.
This led to these 3 key findings:
Navigation on the website is confusing and overwhelming
People with epilepsy and their caretakers are the primary users of the website
Resources, Contact and Event are the most crucial pages on the website.
User Group Report
Through the research I conducted via user surveys and stakeholder interviews, I synthesized the gathered user data to delineate 3 distinct target user groups intended for engagement through Epilepsy Toronto’s digital platforms.
User Engagement Analysis
Through data pulled from Google Analytics, I was able to uncover users’ current interaction patterns on the Epilepsy Toronto website and provide actionable insights to inform strategic decision-making processes.
1. Optimize Content for Conversion: Leverage popular pages (such as ‘Famous People with Epilepsy’) to drive user engagement. Incorporate strategic calls-to-action to encourage users to explore related content, sign up for newsletters, or participate in events.
2. Enhance Event Engagement: Build upon the popularity of "Events" pages by creating dynamic event pages with clear details and visuals. This can lead to increased participation and reduced bounce rates. For example, put all events in list view instead of sub categories in Events tab so users can browse all in one place.
3. Visual Appeal for "Team" Page: Enhance the "Team" page's visual appeal with images, brief bios, and engaging narratives. This can foster personal connections and elevate user engagement. Divide people by department so there’s no content overload.
Web Accessibility
I assessed each page in the primary navigation bar to provide specific recommendations for each one. These suggestions included various aspects such as:
Increasing the contrast to ensure readability and accommodating users with visual impairments
Using proper heading hierarchy to provide a clear content structure and aid screen reader users.
Caption all videos to make content accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Include descriptive alt text for images used in news and blog posts.
When delivering this assessment, I made sure to emphasize that by implementing the outlined recommendations, the website will become more inclusive, providing a welcoming and accessible experience for individuals with epilepsy, autism, and other disabilities. Regular testing and ongoing commitment to accessibility will help create an environment where all users can engage fully with the organization's offerings.
I also encouraged the client to remember that accessibility is an ongoing process, so it's important to continuously evaluate and improve the website's accessibility features based on user feedback and advancements in technology.
Reflections
The best way to learn is to dive in!
I had never created a research plan, conducted stakeholder interviews or done a digital assessment. However, I learned so much on this project through my own research and reaching out to peers in the space that could assist.
Explain the why!
It’s so easy to tell clients what changes they need to make, but it’s crucial to let them know the reasoning behind every recommendation. That way, they can feel empowered to make those changes.
Next Steps
Make the changes outlined in the digital design audit.
Track website engagement metrics (total users, page views, new visitors, etc.) overtime and compare it to the previous data.