Client Discovery and Insights
As we embarked on the Phase 2 sprint, we focused on evaluating the core purpose of the website. This required a deep dive into the mission and objectives of the PRS program, an analysis of the current user base, and a thorough understanding of the organization’s overarching goals. Once we established a thorough understanding of these things, we could craft a design strategy that would align with the mission, values, and user needs and effectively support the organization’s vision for growth and impact. To gather answers, we conducted informational interviews with members at the organization to gain deeper insight into what PRS was and its mission.
Secondary Research - Interviews
These interviews aimed to distill this mission into a message that could be communicated in under 30 seconds. From these conversations, I discovered that a core value of PRS’s mission is that it is an opportunity to ‘train’--meaning engaging in a meaningful, enjoyable practice of Scripture reading within a supportive community to grow in one’s spiritual journey. I also learned that since PRS is a global initiative, but different locales were branded differently, like Spanish, we needed to aim for simplicity and understand any cultural nuances around colors, tone, and copy. Lastly, most users were already familiar with PRS or actively attending gatherings, and the website was tailored to returning visitors rather than first-time users. This trend was consistent across all languages. These notes were captured in FigJam for future reference (below).
Analysis on the former website
From a UI perspective, color palettes differed across locales. English had a triadic color palette of gold, purple, and teal, Japan was tan and white then Spanish, Korean, Chinese (Simplifed and Traditional) were Black, white and Gold. All of the logos differed. Additionally, some of the color choices like the tan/gold used throughout the Japanese site were not accessible and did not meet WCAG standards.
Former English Site
Former Korean Site
Besides the Korean and Chinese websites, each locale’s design was completely different. From a branding perspective, this inconsistency failed to unify PRS as a cohesive global initiative. Additionally, all locales fell short of the Aesthetic and Minimal Design Usability Heuristic due to cluttered imagery and content across the websites. The navigation bars were overloaded with links, making them unresponsive across multiple screen sizes, and there was no clear call-to-action guiding users toward their next step.
Building on this analysis, I reviewed the information architecture, messaging, imagery, UI components, and sign-up experience for each locale. While the key messaging effectively communicated what PRS is, why it matters, where and when gatherings occur, and how to conduct one, the structure across locales shared a consistent yet overly redundant architecture, with similar content repeated across multiple pages. Although most pages were concise and necessary, some differed slightly by locale, presenting an opportunity to streamline the user experience while maintaining clarity and alignment across regions.
Former Chinese (Simplifed and Traditional) Site
Former Japanese Site
However, these design considerations also came with constraints, primarily being the client’s reluctance to make significant changes to the existing color palette, imagery, and content. To navigate this, I collaborated closely with the marketing team to identify which elements needed to remain consistent and where adjustments were flexible.
Ultimately, these observations and constraints informed my design strategy, which prioritized maintaining the integrity of PRS’s core messaging while addressing usability issues and visual inconsistencies. Additionally, to deepen my understanding of the user experience, I attended a PRS gathering in NYC, allowing me to gain firsthand insights into the audience and their journey through the sign-up process.
Former Spanish Site
Screenshots of the former English site during evaluation process
Insight Synthesis
From the analyses, interviews, design considerations, constraints, the key insight was to design a universal template that would allow the user to understand what PRS in less than 30 seconds, and take action to join or find proper resources to run a gathering.
How might we?
Through this insight, the HMW question crafted to guide the re-design of the website was the following:
How Might We create a more consistent and engaging experience for users across all locales of the PRS website?
User persona
We developed a persona reflecting PRS’s core audience—users who value spiritual growth through disciplined biblical reading and community accountability. While prioritizing their needs, we also considered future goals, designing an experience to engage first-time users and expand PRS’s reach. This balanced approach aligned with Grace and Mercy’s vision, using the persona to guide decisions for both current relevance and future growth.
Jonathan
35 years old
New York City
Marketing Manager
Behaviors
- Has friend group of 8 core people
- Puts card down if necessary
- Goes out on a weekly basis for happy hour to split wings/pitchers with 5-6 friends
Motivations
- Achieve goal of read the Bible in Year at least once .
- Strengthening his spiritual discipline through regular scripture reading.
- Building stronger connections within his Christian community.
Pain Points
- Difficulty finding clear information about how to lead or join a PRS group
- Limited time to explore and understand new programs due to his busy schedule.
- Overwhelming amount of pages and content to understand the mission and values of PRS
Ideation
Using insights from the persona and analyses, we strategized how to create a cohesive, universal branding system while streamlining key information on the PRS website. Our goal was to ensure that any user, regardless of their background, could easily navigate the site, understand its purpose, and learn how to attend a gathering.
The Home page, App page, and About page were the primary focuses of Phase Two. The About page was created by consolidating content from four separate pages on the old website into a single, streamlined resource. In addition to these major updates, we also designed and launched two entirely new pages—the Stories page and the Resources page—to foster PRS’s long-term growth goals and enhance community engagement and the overall user experience.
Home page
The new home page was thoughtfully structured to engage users immediately and communicate the organization’s purpose within 5 seconds. I created a list of the flow for the home page to achieve this goal:
- a compelling hero section that clearly defines what PRS is
- vision statement
- how it works/foundation
- where to meet
- Mission Statement (to reiterate who PRS is)
- CTA to Join
Wireframe
Low-Fidelity Iteration
In my low-fi iteration, I wanted to test out more compelling and provocative copy in the hero; however, ultimately we went with a more concise copy that defines exactly what PRS is.
About Page
The goal of creating the About page was to consolidate all the essential information—who, what, why, and how—into a single, easily navigable page, streamlining the user experience by replacing the multiple tabs previously required.
App Page
The key updates to the app page included:
- Simplified design: removed large hero image and copy, updated copy, imagery, and removed purple accents
- Refreshed mockups with the new app released September 2024 for all breakpoints to showcase availability on both Mobile and Desktop.
- Updated the yellow CTA button in the navbar to link directly to the App page, ensuring easier access and improved visibility for the app.
- Updated links to the new app once the new app had been released for a month to ensure all major bugs were fixed
User Testing
Our beta launch of the website provided an invaluable opportunity to gather feedback across all locales. The main feedback we found was the following:
- Improper translations which led to the implementation of Lokalise to manage all translations going forward
- Easier to locate and join the NYC PRS with over 500 signups since launch of the Webflow site
