Context
Direct Action Everywhere is the largest animal rights grassroots organization, pioneering a new wave in animal liberation. They use non-violent direct action inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Emmeline Pankhurst. With chapters across all continents, they're known for banning fur and animal testing in California, rescuing animals, challenging powerful figures, and maintaining non-violent principles.
Objectives
The Challenge
The existing website was created by volunteers without design knowledge or resources. It failed to effectively communicate DxE's mission and values.
Solution Approach
Conduct 10 three-hour sessions teaching UX and visual design to approximately 10 activists with no prior experience. This approach ensured long-term website sustainability at minimal cost while addressing their specific challenges—something an external consultant would struggle to understand quickly.
Process
Competitive research
Take away: We had sufficient features but targeted the wrong audience with lower quality execution.
Personas
Developed from first hand team experience and interviews to fill information gaps. These personas now inform various projects from legislative writing to planning live demonstrations.
Story boards
Created to visualize user experiences when interacting with the website.
User flows
Developed 8 user flows based on personas and storyboards, then eliminated pages that didn't address user needs.
Site Map
Combined all user flows through card sorting exercises, creating an intuitive navigation structure for most users.
Feature prioritization
Organized features in value vs. implementation effort quadrants with input from international stakeholders. This helped prioritize high-value, low-effort features.
Wireframes
Developed collaborative wireframes based on established priorities, user flows, and personas.
Usability testing
Imported wireframes to Invision and tested with users across 5 countries. Participants were selected based on personas. User Testing scripts were designed around user flows. Wireframes were refined until participants could successfully complete tasks.
Visual design explorations
