Proposal to Redesign Website for Friends of Rock Creek Environment FORCE Proposal prepared by the Blue Team Anand Lalye Laura McCarthy-Ceffalo Srikant

Proposal to Redesign Website

forFriends of Rock Creek

EnvironmentFORCE

Proposal prepared by the Blue Team

Anand LalyeLaura McCarthy-Ceffalo

Srikant PolapagradaThet Oo

Website Redesign Proposal for FORCE

What is FORCE?

– A nonprofit organization that works to preserve the Rock Creek watershed.

– Its mission statement reads “promote a healthy and sustainable Rock Creek watershed through conservation, education and restoration. “

http://www.friendsofrockcreek.org/AboutUs/tabid/59/Default.aspx

History of the Organization– Founded in 2005

– Decided that the focus should be on the entire watershed, not just the creek

– Interestingly, did not want “friends” in the name


At initial meeting heard from similar organizations: Friends of Sligo Creek and Friends of Cabin John Creek Watershed

– http://www.fosc.org/fosc.htm

– http://www.cabinjohn.org/focjcw/


http://www.fosc.org/fosc.htm

http://www.cabinjohn.org/focjcw/

Research Methodology

1. Survey of Website—(Blue team member as member of public and first impression.)

– What works– What doesn’t work

2. Card Sorting Exercise


Survey of Website: What works?1.The logo is eye catching and does provide

a focus for the site.2.The map of the watershed is helpful and

gives the user a visual to determine the extent of the watershed.

3.Calendar provides a quick summary of the upcoming events.

4.Upcoming events and current news on the home page is useful.


Survey of Website: What doesn’t work?1.Too much text. Too static.2.Bureaucratic feel—similar to websites for

Federal agencies3.What are the reasons for the logos at the

bottom of the page? Members or administration?

4.Not an “outdoor” feel to the site.5.Menus organization and labels are

confusing.


What doesn’t work? continued1.No navigation aid for user to track its

current location.2.Because of weird pull down menu, users

will miss some content – for e.g.: mission statement.

3.Watershed map is useful but permanently occupying screen estate.


Website Redesign Proposal for FORCECard Sorting Exercise -> users’ mental model 1.Open sort was exercised.2.Due to the resource constraint, the

participants were not the representative sample of the targeted audience.

3.Nine people (friends and colleagues) were recruited for the sorting.

4.27 concepts/menu items were explained to the users.

5.WebSort was used for the exercise.

Initial result with 40 categories!!


Category Participants Total items Unique items Agreement

About the Watershed 2 10 6 0.83

About Us 8 33 11 0.38

About Watersheds 1 4 4 1

Additional Resources 1 4 4 1

Calendar and Events 1 4 4 1

Donation 1 1 1 1

Event Calendar 1 2 2 1

Funders & Sponsors 1 5 5 1Funders, sponsors, related

groups1 5 5 1

Get Involved! 1 3 3 1

Get Invovled 1 3 3 1

Getting Involved 1 6 6 1

How you can help 1 7 7 1Information about

watersheds1 6 6 1

Join us 1 1 1 1

Know Your Watersheds 1 5 5 1

Links 1 6 6 1

Media 1 2 2 1

Membership 2 4 2 1

News & Events 2 11 6 0.92

News and Events 3 17 6 0.94

News and Media 1 3 3 1

Not clear on what this is 1 1 1 1

Ongoing projects(?) 1 3 3 1

Other Links 1 6 6 1

Other Resources 1 3 3 1

Our Projects 1 3 3 1

Outside Links 1 5 5 1

Outside Resources 1 6 6 1

Projects 4 14 5 0.7

Public Relations 1 3 3 1

Related Resources 1 6 6 1

Rock Creek Park Society 1 7 7 1

Save Our Watersheds 1 5 5 1

Support Us 1 2 2 1

Take Action 1 5 5 1

UNSORTED 3 3 3 0.33

Watershed 1 5 5 1

Watershed Facts 2 10 5 1

Watersheds 1 5 5 1


Category Participants Total items Unique items Agreement

About Us 9 40 11 0.4

Join us 5 8 2 0.8

Watershed Facts 9 45 7 0.71

Getting Involved 12 49 12 0.34

Partners & Related Links 9 46 6 0.85

Not clear on what this is 1 1 1 1

News & Events 10 42 6 0.7

UNSORTED 3 3 3 0.33

After merging similar categories,


% of times each item was placed in each group

Watershed Facts

About Us

Partners

& Related Links

News & Eve

nts

Join us

Getting In

volved

Not clear o

n what t

his is

UNSORTED

What you can do for the watershed 55 . . . . 44 . .

Watershed Facts 99 . . . . . . .

Watershed Natural History 99 . . . . . . .

Threats and Problems: Watershed Health 99 . . . . . . .

Watershed Map 99 . . . . . . .

Reducing or Eliminating the use of salt as a deicer33 . . . . 44 . 11

Monitoring Projects . . . . . 88 . .

Clean-up Projects . . . . . 99 . .

Storm Drain Marking Projects . . . . . 99 . .

Links to Related Documents 11 11 55 . . 11 11 .

Links to Grant Funders . 22 77 . . . . .

Links to FORCE Corporate Sponsors . 22 77 . . . . .

Links to Nearby Watershed Groups . . 99 . . . . .

Links to National Organizations . . 99 . . . . .

Links to Federal, State and Local Agencies . . 99 . . . . .

News . . . 88 . 11 . .

News Archives . . . 88 . 11 . .

Calendar . . . 66 . 22 . 11

Upcoming Events . . . 77 . 22 . .

Past Events . . . 77 . 22 . .

Become a member . 33 . . 44 22 . .

Make a donation . 22 . . 44 33 . .

Photo Gallery . 55 . 33 . 11 . .

Our Mission . 100 . . . . . .

Board of Directors . 100 . . . . . .

Meeting Minutes . 56 . 33 . . . 11

Categories x Items Chart

Website Redesign Proposal for FORCETree Diagram –we settled with five groups.

• Clean and crisp color scheme for friendly and inviting look.

• Menu are reorganized based on the card sorting result.

• “Join/donate” button on every page since the donor should not have to dig up pages to contribute.

• Navigation aid like breadcrumb bar to help the users move around.

• More graphics and a bit of dynamic content to enliven the site.


http://www.scimd.org/Team%20Blue-%20Project%202/index.html

Here it is!!

Our suggestions for future development• Some form of CMS tool should be in-place for

regular updates and administration.

• Mass-mailing/listserv software to facilitate fund raising, organizing for action, and spreading information.

• Thank-you letters, public acknowledgments, and exclusive donors’ club/reception for top donors would spur more donations.

• More Web 2.0! Such as FORCE facebook group, follow FORCE on twitter,… would spur interest of young generation.