The Northwest Adoption Exchange (NWAE) manages and operates two online recruitment platforms for Washington youth in foster care. One is a public website (nwae.org) that features youth in foster care from Washington, Oregon and Alaska. The other website, the Washington Adoption Resource Exchange (WARE, warekids.org) is a password-protected platform for registered families and social workers from Washington state.
The existence of these two separate but connected platforms created confusion for social workers and families in Washington. Qualified Washington families interested in Washington foster youth would often use the NWAE platform to make inquiries not realizing that they should be using the WARE platform. Social workers often did not understand the difference between the public site and the password-protected platform. Both websites were staffed by the same people but with slightly different branding which further added to user confusion.
The team’s objective was to merge the NWAE and WARE websites to create one central resource for Washington state families and social workers. My job was to create wireframes that leveraged existing design and content, streamline the user flow, and help daylight services and resources for both audiences.
RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
The first step I took was conducting a usability audit of both the NWAE and WARE websites. The purpose of the audit was to familiarize myself with both websites, understand previous design and content strategy efforts, identify areas for improvement, and prioritize usability efforts.
In my audit I identified the following areas for improvement:
We interviewed Washington families and social workers. The family users were registered with accounts on WARE and regularly visited both the WARE and NWAE websites. The professional users mainly used WARE but were familiar with the NWAE website.
Our team’s goals for the interviews:
Family and professional users were confused by certain labels. For example, “Featured children” was a label used for the child profile index page. Users thought these children were highlighted or somehow unique from other children when in fact the term was used to promote all the children available on the website.
Social workers were not aware of a feature that would allow them to browse profiles of qualified families interested in adopting from foster care. It was hidden under a vague catchall label within the navigation. One worker talked about using an entirely different website (adoptuskids.org) to search for families.
A pain point we discovered was that important forms such as applying for an account or registering a youth on the website were downloadable PDFs rather than web pages. Another pain point was families were using both NWAE and WARE when searching for Washington foster youth not realizing that one could see all available Washington youth on WARE with the added bonus of being able to contact a youth’s caseworker directly. On NWAE, a caseworker’s contact information is not publicly available. To quote a family, it was “double the effort to look for kids on both sites.”
DESIGN
We revised the navigation structure and labels. On both sites, the bulk of the navigation items were grouped under a label called “More.” We surfaced these items and re-grouped them under more descriptive labels for improved discoverability.
For merging the two sites, we envisioned a main website and a subsite. We added a link to the navigation that would take a user to a login page. This login link would serve as a portal to WARE. We would rebrand WARE with a new name, called WA Access, but make it clear that it was a subsite of NWAE. The private subsite would still have its own navigation structure that was separate and different from people who used the public website.
Keeping these personas in mind, I spent time using and exploring the dashboard and application to understand the tools and features. What a user sees on their dashboard depends on the type of persona they are and user level account that they have. For example, a “full privilege” account level would see more dashboard options compared to a user with a “view only” account level. Logging in and using the dashboard as specific user account level types helped me see and experience pain points and better empathize with users.
In my review of the dashboard, I noticed that there was a missed opportunity to make information more readable. Data points and other information that workers needed to find quickly weren't very findable. And the color palette needed to be updated to meet 508 accessibility standards.
After receiving feedback from stakeholders, we realized that we had to change our direction. Some of our more ambitious ideas had to be tabled due to scope and time.
As we iterated, we simplified our approach. Rather than have a main website and subsite with separate navigation structures, there would be one universal website but with differing states. The two states would be a public state and a logged in state with an enhanced navigation structure. A user visiting NWAE.org would see the public navigation and once they logged in, additional navigation options would appear.
The next step in our process was testing the revised navigation structure for three user types:
Participants were recruited to complete an unmoderated “first-click test” hosted on Optimal Workshop.
Some example tasks we asked users to complete:
In addition to tasks, we asked several open-ended questions to gain more insight about new labels and whether users understood them.
Results from the “first click test” heat maps showed that the revised navigation wouldn’t pose a problem for users. Participants were able to complete their tasks with little to no issues. Answers for open-ended questions confirmed concerns we had about possibly confusing users with jargony acronyms which led us to recommend simpler labels.
From the testing phase we moved on to final design but with roadblocks ahead. As we approached the final stretch, the team ran into resourcing issues and what would result in a long gap in activity. Our project manager left the project and other circumstances out of the team's control led to a temporary pause.
After a several months passed, the project got back on track. We received final approval from stakeholders and moved forward with launch planning.
Pausing the project did cost the team significant momentum. But once we were back on track, it was easy to re-orient ourselves to the details. As with other projects I’ve been part of, resourcing was a roadblock and constraint. I appreciate that I was given the opportunity to help carry this project over the finish line.
