Case study - RNIB
Stakeholder workshops | IA and tree testing | sketching | component specification | wireframes and interactive prototypes | user stories
www.rnib.org.uk - launched March 2014
www.rnib.org.uk - launched March 2014
Image thanks to http://ami.responsivedesign.is/
Background and goals
The Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) is a leading charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people with sight loss. They approached us in need of a new website that worked equally well across all devices, with accessibility clearly at the top of the agenda. There was a very tight budget and deadline for this project so it really was a case of maximising speed and efficiency on our side, and flexibility of the final solution, without losing any quality, especially taking into account the client's particular audiences.
Solution
A completely new IA was designed that took into account the different stages of a lifecycle of somebody with sight loss. This ranged from basic information about sight loss, to being recently diagnosed and coming to terms with sight loss, to understanding your options and next steps and finally getting on and living with sight loss.
We also made a big feature of search, combining various existing but separate directories, FAQs etc into one, more prominent, accessible search.
In order to maximise efficiency our solution was based on a set of flexible components that could be slotted in to create various pages as necessary.
And of course, the underlining theme was accessibility, both on the front and back end of the site.
We also made a big feature of search, combining various existing but separate directories, FAQs etc into one, more prominent, accessible search.
In order to maximise efficiency our solution was based on a set of flexible components that could be slotted in to create various pages as necessary.
And of course, the underlining theme was accessibility, both on the front and back end of the site.
Process
As accessibility was paramount on this project, we paired up with a visually impaired consultant in the early stages of the project. Consulting with her, along with 3 stakeholder workshops (of 12-16) people and telephone interviews, provided the foundation of the project.
Card sorting exercises lead to iterations of the IA, which were tested using Treejack.
6-up sketching was done to quickly decide the general layout of the various page types and navigation. This was then converted into various standardised components that could be used across the site. The components and mock-ups of all page types were created as interactive wireframes which the client then performed user testing on.
Card sorting exercises lead to iterations of the IA, which were tested using Treejack.
6-up sketching was done to quickly decide the general layout of the various page types and navigation. This was then converted into various standardised components that could be used across the site. The components and mock-ups of all page types were created as interactive wireframes which the client then performed user testing on.
Various workshop outputs from audience identification to personas and user stories
Presentation of initial ideas, sketches, information architecture and designs to the client