Case study: Managing student loans and improving financial literacy

Client
Fire Safe Marin

Agency
Self-Employed

Role
Digital Designer

Launched
August 2021

Fire Safe Marin is a trusted wildfire preparedness non-profit organization in Marin County, California. After experiencing record-breaking wildfire seasons and a pandemic that impeded outreach efforts, Fire Safe Marin enlisted my services to make important information more accessible and motivate homeowners to adapt to wildfire.

Visit firesafemarin.org ⟶

Background

My role

I was hired to lead a six-month design engagement. I was solely responsible for brand and content strategy, identity design, user experience design, website buildout, and project management.

Discovery

Analyzing visitor acquisition and behavior

I reviewed Fire Safe Marin’s website analytics to gain insights into visitor behavior and how visitors engage with content on the website. The data indicated that there was high interest in plants (fire-resistant and fire-hazardous) and evacuations, and engagement and returning visitorship were low. Based on the analysis, I recommended the following:

Optimize the website for people visiting via mobile devices.
Update website content to ensure it stays fresh, relevant, and engaging.
Increase user engagement and loyalty by improving visual design and content quality.
Make it easier for people to access the most popular pages on the website.
Modify Google Translate integration for better accessibility and tracking.
Track goals, events, and conversions to measure website performance.

Key findings from the digital analytics report.

Evaluating information architecture and content quality

I conducted information architecture and content audits to understand what content Fire Safe Marin had: type, quality, taxonomies, how it was organized, and what could be kept or deleted. I mapped out their content inventory and site map, which listed every page on the website, and recommended what actions we needed to take with each one. I helped them visualize what could be by creating a detailed site map and wire flow that mapped out recommended site structure, hierarchy, and page templates.

Additional research

Along with audits and data analysis, I performed stakeholder and user interviews. These interviews helped me learn about the needs of Marin County residents and Fire Safe Marin partners, and how they perceived the Fire Safe Marin brand.

I also evaluated their website’s heuristics to identify problems with consistency, accessibility, visibility, navigability, language, and general functionality.