Helping a Pro Bono Client Promote Diversity
By Brittany Martello,
Account Manager - Digital Communications
November 7, 2018
At SPI Group, we have a long history of giving back to the community. Throughout our 20 years we’ve donated our design, editorial and website/application development services to nonprofit organizations such as animal shelters, churches and nongovernmental organizations. Here’s a case study of our latest pro bono adventure, project managed by yours truly.
In December 2017, to celebrate our 20th anniversary, we ran a contest that would award $20,000 worth of our services to a nonprofit. We promoted the contest on our website and through social media channels and invited our clients, friends and followers to nominate their favorite organizations or an organization they may be involved in. Seven thousand votes later, we had a winner — InterAction Inc. This 501c3 nonprofit works on college campuses and in communities around the U.S. to advance inclusion and racial equity.
Enhancing Design, Content and Navigation
We kicked off the project the usual way — by listening to our client, InterAction Inc. cofounders Deandra Cadet and Taeyin ChoGlueck. Deandra and Taeyin wanted clearer messaging and a redesign of their website. SPI Group was more than up to the task. This assignment hit our sweet spot. It required us to exercise our web development, design and editorial expertise.
First, we assessed their content. Then we collaborated with InterAction Inc. to better articulate their mission, vision and services. We presented this new content on their website in a way that was compelling and easy to navigate.
Our design team established a fresh, new look and feel for InterAction Inc., and summarized those design principles in a brand guide. We then applied those guidelines to website designs. A beautiful user interface is only half of the story; having the right back-end platform to power the site is just as important.
Boosting Performance and Making Maintenance Simple
InterAction Inc. craved what most clients want — robust performance that’s easy to maintain. To deliver on this, our application development team recommended moving InterAction Inc.’s site to WordPress. Switching to this platform gave InterAction Inc. an easy-to-use content management system, a wide variety of page templates and access to many different plugins (“add ons” for website functionality).
Of course, you can’t manage what you can’t measure, so we also installed Google Analytics.
Client Loves Flashy New Look
InterAction Inc.’s new site — interactioninc.org — went live the second week in October and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Friends of the organization love the site’s “flashy and new” look and said the content was “easier to understand” and their messaging “came across well.”
Post launch, after training InterAction on both WordPress and Google Analytics, they are successfully managing their new site and monitoring their progress.
Our team found the project fulfilling because we used our expertise to help a nonprofit organization do important work. The platform upgrade and analytics training will set up InterAction Inc. for future success. What’s more fulfilling than that?
Please check out InterAction Inc. or visit them on Facebook or Instagram to follow their journey.
See InterAction Inc.’s website before and after our redesign.
