Giving better user experience and engagement

Evolution and upgrade

The GIVIT website, initially launched in 2020 on Umbraco 8, had served its purpose well until both technological advancements and evolving organisational needs called for a change. With Umbraco 8 approaching its end of life, upgrading to Umbraco 13 became an essential move for enhanced security, improved performance, and long-term scalability. Alongside this necessary technical upgrade, there was a compelling need for a fresh design to better represent GIVIT’s growth and meet the diverse needs of donors, corporates, staff, and volunteers.

Challenges & pain points

The primary challenges involved an outdated information architecture and visual design that no longer captured the dynamic essence of GIVIT. Over time, the original website structure became misaligned with the organisation’s expanding scope and changing user needs. The navigation and layout were not optimised for today’s digital audience, making it harder for potential donors, corporate partners, and prospective staff or volunteers to engage meaningfully with the content. Additionally, the donation process could be confusing, which risked deterring supporters - proving the need to streamline user pathways and clarify messaging around GIVIT’s mission and impact.

Objectives & strategy

In addressing these challenges, the project set out to realign the website with GIVIT’s evolving objectives. The strategy focused on restructuring the information architecture to better serve a diverse audience, ensuring that every visitor could quickly access the information they needed. A fresh, vibrant design was introduced, incorporating new colours and dynamic shapes to inject energy into the public interface and reinforce a consistent brand identity. 

Equally important was the need to simplify and enhance the donor experience by streamlining the donation process. Additionally, the content required a refreshed approach that educated visitors—donors, corporates, and future staff or volunteers—about GIVIT’s impactful mission. Notably, the upgrade to Umbraco 13 presented an opportunity to empower GIVIT’s content team: new widgets were developed to give website editors great flexibility when creating pages. These widgets, featuring intuitive copy-and-paste and drag-and-drop capabilities, significantly streamlined content management, allowing for quicker updates and a more agile approach to meeting evolving content needs.

Key improvements

We initiated the project with extensive research, examining similar not-for-profit websites to understand the industry’s best practices and user engagement strategies. This research provided valuable insights that informed every stage of the redesign.

Collaborative design workshops were held with the GIVIT team, enabling us to capture their unique vision and requirements. Through several iterations, we refined the sitemap and carefully documented the project in a lengthy specification process that detailed both user flows and technical needs.

Working closely with GIVIT’s SEO partner, we optimised content throughout the process. Comprehensive testing was conducted to ensure that every aspect of the site functioned seamlessly at launch, resulting in a well-coordinated rollout that met both aesthetic and performance goals.