Reimagining a heritage NGO
Website redesign for INTACH
Project Background
INTACH-(The Indian national trust for art and cultural heritage) Thrissur, Kerala started functioning in 2013 with the primary aim of sensitizing the public about the relevance of heritage conservation and taking necessary actions towards the same. After nine years of significant growth and expansion, increasing the online digital presence was necessary. The original website had become dated and inefficient. Having been a part of INTACH activities myself, I have taken up the redesign of the website as a self-driven passion project.
Understanding the organization
The design process started off with in-depth research about INTACH. Non-directed interviews with INTACH trustees and volunteers helped to gain insights into the range of activities, future plans, and major challenges they are facing.
INTACH possesses a treasure trove of authentic data on the heritage of Thrissur and the existing members are subject matter experts from varied streams of heritage. In the 50-member team, there is a clear underrepresentation of the younger generation, and the greatest challenge the existing members face is to communicate the value of heritage to youngsters and engage them.
Understanding the Users
Interviews and surveys helped me gain insights into the user’s motivation, goals, frustrations and needs when associating with heritage matters . This helped me to find opportunities on how the INTACH website could improve the experience.
I came up with six user archetypes that will guide me through defining the product and content strategy. This helps to crosscheck that the solution caters to all the major user types.
The Core problem & Design Concept
There is a bias towards age in defining heritage. The older an asset the more its value. Similarly, a historic attitude toward young people in most cultural institutions pulls back the youth.
Heritage needs to be redefined as the continuum between the past, present, and future. There has to be a fresh pair of lenses to understand what the younger generation values and what they wish to pass on to the next generation.
INTACH being an organization that welcomes this change, efforts have to be taken to communicate how they bridge the wisdom and creativity across generations to challenge assumptions and invent opportunities.
Creating meaningful connections to Embrace change and redefine heritage
Design
The personality and values that the design has to represent were identified. The wide range of user groups that the website has to cater to was a challenge. The concepts of inter generational design thinking were referred to make sure the visual design addresses all of them. The first phase was that of identifying functionalities that need to be incorporated into the website and then a visual identity was created, completely revamping the existing one and developing upon the core concept.
How might we design the website
To demonstrate the credibility and legacy of INTACH?
To encourage more people to become INTACH members and volunteers?
To enthuse and inspire all, especially young people to get engaged with heritage?
To raise funding?
Phase 1: Functionality
How might we design the website
Phase 2: Aesthetics
To communicate to the diverse age group of users?
To communicate the values and build trust?
To generate interest but avoid overwhelming situations?
Existing IA
Revised IA
Home Page
In the home page, the information is presented in a natural and logical order and the layout helps to bring the attention of the users to three identified tasks they can do
Donate
Join
Explore
A clearly stated mission
Donations made easier and more meaningful
The Donate now button leads the users to the donation page where one can decide for what cause the donation amount should be used.
Join now
A welcoming invite for everyone to be part of the activities. It leads to the page that gives information about various membership options and volunteering opportunities.
An Interactive heritage map
The Interactive heritage map can act as a engaging and informative way to learn about the heritage of Thrissur. Users could be guided to other medias including articles, videos and images that has a geographical location from this map.
Option to explore and book a heritage walk
Heritage walks are still a favorite way for exploring the heritage of a place. As phase 1, the heritage walk is being developed in to multiple options one can explore according to their interests. In phase 2, a heritage trail app will be conceived with digital place making strategies integrated.
Reflection
I thoroughly understood the importance of accessibility and inclusivity in design. The initial tendency of mine was to go for visually pleasing interfaces and play around with color combinations and typefaces but as I tried to learn about Web content accessibility guidelines, I understood that there are a lot of important guides to be kept in mind before deciding upon any decision in visual design of a website.
I wish to research more on intergenerational design principles and do user testing of designs with a varying age group. Most of the celebrated web designs favour the generation Z but especially being a NGO site, I felt the relevance of understanding the emotions and perceptions of users from a wide range of age groups.
I am currently learning different platforms to developing interactive maps and I wish to integrate a custom illustrated map showing the heritage of Thrissur to the website.