2025
Compassion Homepage redesign Proposal
Project Overview
The aim of this personal redesign project was to give a fresh coat of paint to the website of a nonprofit charity organization. Upon exploring Compassion’s existing site, it became evident that there was plenty of room for improvement. The mission? To create a user-friendly, engaging experience that reflects the essence of their charitable work while making it easier for users to navigate and interact with the organization.
My design:
Original Design:
Empathizing with the User
For my preliminary user research I spoke to 5 individuals - 3 female and 2 male. I asked them the following questions to determine which direction to go with the redesign:
1. have you ever heard of child sponsorship through Compassion or other organizations? if so, what thoughts and feelings come to mind about it?
2. please open in another tab and browse through the homepage: https://www.compassion.com/. Now imagine you have $100 you've decided you want to donate to any charity. Do you think this website might convince you to sponsor a child or make a donation to this organization just based on the homepage? why or why not?
3. Is it clear from this homepage what Compassion does? Why or why not?
4. Is there anything you find frustrating or difficult to understand on the homepage? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think you might or might not choose Compassion over a different organization to support? If you have another organization in mind that you'd prefer to donate to, please explain why you are drawn to that organization.
4. What are some additional features that you think would be useful to have on this website's homepage?
samples of user feedback:
“The age slider going up to 22 years old makes me curious and suspicious why it goes over 18. I would also like to see more explicit information on how money is collected from each contributor, how it is distributed, and who ends up spending it.” - Carlos/32
“the pages in general seem to have way too much information. I have some icky feelings about “picking out a child” rather than being matched with them. It’s like they’re shelter dogs.” Christine/30
“I think the accreditation should be more prominent so I know they really do what they say. Certain elements are hard to see or read. It would help to know what organizations are associated with compassion” - Harry/35
“I would be more interested in knowing how the money will be sent, what portion is being taken for taxes or supporting the organization’s website for example. More transparency would be great”— Hillary/30
“the photos feel really sad and a little dehumanizing and it’s unclear what the money is going to and how much is the suggested donation.” — Cassie/33
Research synthesis
Insight 1: Financial Transparency and Allocation
There is significant concern about how funds are allocated within the organization. Questions arise about whether money is spent on essential needs or "fun" activities, and how funds are distributed to children. Transparency regarding partnerships with churches and organizations, as well as visibility of watchdog ratings, is crucial for building trust.
Insight 2: Ethical Considerations and Impact
Ethical concerns such as the potential for a colonial mindset and the white savior complex are prevalent. There is a desire for Compassion to prioritize ethics and ensure that their impact extends beyond individuals to benefit entire communities. The notion of "releasing a child from poverty" requires a clearer definition and understanding.
Insight 3: User Experience and Communication
The user experience is criticized for being confusing and poorly organized. Issues such as small logos, non-distinctive colors, and navigation difficulties are noted. There is a call for more personal and less dehumanizing communication, avoiding guilt-inducing tactics and sad imagery.
Recommendations
Compassion should enhance transparency by clearly detailing fund allocation and partnerships. Ethical practices should be prominently featured, ensuring that community impact is prioritized. Improving the user experience on digital platforms through better design and more personal communication can foster stronger connections with supporters.
Ideation Phase
I used Miro to create a sitemap, competitive audit, personas, storyboard, “how might we?”, and crazy eights exercise to start to visualize what the designs might look like.
A tour of my Miro Brainstorm page
Time to iterate!
After wireframing, I proceeded to create a lo-fi mockup.
For the final mockup, I implemented the following feedback among others:
show the impact that the organization has more prominently
explain more clearly what it is that compassion does with their funds
outline what the organization does and what the money goes towards using hard data
feature more prominently the statistics that outline the ethics of the company like the amount of spending and watchdog ratings
use more hopeful imagery to avoid the perception of manipulation and guilt-tripping
improve the overall layout and graphics to increase accessibility and readability for the user
Final Mockup
Where do we go from herE?
To further develop this idea, further user feedback should be gathered on the new design as well as A/B testing to see how the original website compares to the new one. A complete prototype should be developed for the entire website along with more user testing to ensure a better experience for the user.
