Client
International Free
Expression Project
Date Completed
June 2021
My Role
Project Management
Participatory Design
Information Architecture
High Fidelity Wireframes
The Team Members
Front End Developer
Copywriter
Client
International Free Expression Project
Date Completed
June 2021
My Role
Project Management
Participatory Design
Information Architecture
High Fidelity Wireframes
The Team Members
Front End Developer
Copywriter
A local arts nonprofit wanted to redesign their website, to launch with their first outdoor art exhibit. We struck a balance between place and space, designing a creative laboratory which activates the transformative power of being you. I lead the project through timelining, co-design sessions, team management, in addition to crafting the information architecture and high fidelity wireframes.
Started by a career journalist, the International Free Expression Project was mounting an art exhibit outside the historic Pittsburgh Post Gazette building (a newspaper that printed the Declaration of Independence!). At the same time, the organization was developing an arts innovation space inside the press room.
The client wanted a more navigable website, while allowing patrons to experience the show’s palpable symbolism from a distance. Though budget dictated a lean build, the project could not succeed without addressing the organization’s unfocused audience and tone. And when working with a lover of words, how you speak is almost as important as the clarity of your words.
During the project onboarding, I noted a conflict between the organization’s messaging and stated goals. In the founder’s words, the initiative was part human rights NGO, part museum, part community collaboration, with the added capacity of a maker space and food hall. This variety was itself confusing. However, of greater concern was the organization’s academic and alarmist tone, which would immediately alienate their young and diverse audience.
To clearly position the organization, I presented their activities within a competitive spectrum. On the far left are the militant defenders of free expression, namely democracy and media freedom nonprofits. On the right are for-profit art galleries with a social mission. While adhering to the principles of Geneva Convention Human Rights, the organization actually borrowed more from the community arts and incubators.
I proposed centering IFEP in their physical laboratory for innovation. The space provided conceptual limits to an unending number of initiatives (much like a museum or science center), while materializing some of the organization’s more overwhelming ideas.
“Canadian Journalists for Free Expression champions free expression, including freedom of the press and access to information, in Canada and abroad, as a fundamental pillar of democracy.”
“RedLine was created to support emerging artists, and provide creative opportunities for local residents.”
“Manchester Art Gallery is...a place of civic thinking and public imagination, it promotes art as a means to achieve social change.”
“NEW INC incubates everything from social enterprises to venture-scale start-ups to creative studios to influential new artworks.”
"We will aim to combine the force, passion and creativity of the artists of our planet, and translate them into educational programmes that can easily be understood by children."
A new logo was out of scope, however the current version was neither vectorized nor clear enough to extract a favicon. It also was only orange, yellow, and black. I sent over several working logos, a few steps more modern and with slight tweaks to the available shades. Within 15 minutes, I received a very clear email. The logos were unacceptable. I was not on the right track.
When I called the client to gather feedback, I realized the number of times he referenced himself. ‘It’s too garish for me,’ ‘It’s just not my style.’ He did not like the logo, but more importantly, the logo was a reflection of him. I quickly put together 2 remote co-design sessions, inviting 2 other young staff members to broaden the dialogue. In the first, we brainstormed 3 personas, narrating their journey with a journalist’s acuity. In the second, we evinced the brand values by ranking key dichotomies.
With tangible audience and values top of mind, I then asked the founder to describe his personal feelings when looking at a series of images. After a couple I knew he would dislike, he stopped at a bright but simple illustration. “You aren’t really asking what I like, are you?” No, I really wasn’t. And that was the point. He began discussing who would like these images, and when we reached what I hoped to be the key brand image, he couldn’t have been happier. “I had no idea where this was leading, but here we are.”
Based on our mutually generated goals, the website needed to succinctly but warmly communicate the organizational mission. I sorted the results of our identity sessions by type and importance, and created sections which directly address user’s most common questions about IFEP. Titles like ‘Why is this Important’ and ‘What is Free Expression?’ establish clear sign posts to digest the mission. From these blocks I derived the simplest possible page structure, paired with a concise menu to direct distracted teens and artists alike.
Given the lengthened discovery phase, I sketched some basic wireframes then moved directly to high fidelity versions in Figma. The words could not distract from the organization’s communication superpower: art. I structured the pages like a museum exhibit, using generous white space and minimal typography to elevate the power of the images.
As for the upcoming exhibit, I pared down the pieces to provide space to think, mirroring the experience of walking through the outdoor space. Automatic sliders encouraged reflection and equally conserved much needed page real estate. I added subtle animations on scroll to further activate viewer’s event experience.
The client made almost no edits to the designs, though of course the copy was changed far past the launch date. The website saw more than 200% increase in traffic, and exhibit attendees reported the connection they felt when viewing the site while standing next to the building walls. Identity is personal, yet its expression is universal. And when expression is limitless, so too is our capacity to change. Sometimes the first step towards transformation is simply seeing the world through another’s eyes.
Courtesy: IFEP & Angelo Re
