Overview
My Role: Design Lead
Organization: Global Community Charter School
Team Members: Head of School, Chief Operations Officer, Family Coordinator, Copywriter, Operations Manager
Original Homepage
Global Community Charter School (GCCS) is a charter school based in Harlem, New York, entering their second year of operation. They needed a website that could not only help recruit new students and faculty members, but also serve and support the current GCCS community. Additionally, the solution needed to be able to be maintained internally by administrators, as I originally agreed to redesign their current site as a freelance designer.
THE WHY
GCCS requested a website that would support their current and prospective community of students, families, and staff members, to ensure the longevity and ultimate success of their new charter school.
Challenge
Lack of resources (time, money, and staff members)
Unclear prioritization of cross-departmental direct and indirect needs
Underdeveloped long-term student recruitment and content strategy
Process
ORIGINAL PROPOSAL
I developed a six-week plan to migrate their current content and launch their new site.
Discovery
I began my creative process by researching more about GCCS’ community and learning more about their competitors. This included conducting a content audit and competitive analysis of surrounding schools.
Sample deliverables from the content audit, competitive analysis and various surveys
I conducted early in the Discovery process.
Digital Applications
During the Discovery Phase, I joined the GCCS team full-time as the Design Lead. My new role introduced an opportunity to support the team make an online student application available ahead of the planned launch for the new website. Using a third-party form building site, I built GCCS’ first online student application using their current CMS platform.
Old site with a new option to apply directly online
USER TESTING SESSIONS
I collaborated with our Family Coordinator and recruited over 30 English and Spanish speaking parents to participate onsite in usability testing sessions to validate our design and business decisions.
Task completion rates rose from 45% to 85% in less than three weeks.
Ideation
Meanwhile, my creative process for crafting the new website came somewhat accidentally.
Collaborative Painting by Second Graders at Global Community Charter School
The art class needed some extra support. Having a background in art and some in urban education, I spent some time building the curriculum and teaching the K-2 students (so much fun!). While I was working with the students, I was inspired by how incredibly gifted they were.
I had an idea.
Collaborating with Mr. Soto, the art teacher, we taught a self-portrait lesson to these 225 Kindergarten-2nd Graders. Afterwards, I played with layout, composition, trying to select the images that would speak to our school the strongest.
The talent!
Outcome
Homepage of new website
GCCS’ new website launched in the Spring of 2014. It was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Student applications soared by over 300%. Online traffic increased by over 400%.
Current and prospective families expressed their appreciation for the student artwork. It represented the creativity, diversity, and freedom of self-expression within the school’s community.
The success of the site presented a new challenge: How can we manage the increased number of student applications?
