Open Door Legal provides free legal services to disenfranchised communities in San Francisco.
As a big supporter of their mission, I was thrilled to volunteer as a user experience designer for the revamp of their website.
The website was designed several years ago with mostly donors in mind. It was challenging for potential clients seeking legal help to find it.
We were tasked with creating a seamless user flow for potential clients with the aims of decreasing the bounce rate and increasing the number on case intake forms submitted.
We identified two primary user groups: potential clients and donors. I focused on the potential clients and through our user interviews, surveys, and affinity mapping, we found that most people attempting to access ODL's services did not speak English as their first language and did not trust the internet.
My primary focus was on building trust with potential clients through intuitive information architecture and ample context. I also incorporated a language selector and text size adjustor in the subheader so that users have autonomy over their experience.
The initial page users found when they clicked "Get Help" included an outdated Covid-19 announcement and a single question that lead to a 20 minute survey without any introduction.
By reviewing their Google Analytics, we found users would click "Get Help," then view every other page on the site before returning to complete the survey.
In the redesign of the potential client landing page, I added more information about the organization, examples of cases they work on, frequently asked questions, and client testimonies. In between every section, I included a "submit your case" call to action button to reinforce the process for finding help.
Both clients and stakeholders found the prototype intuitive and informative. The frontline team commented on how drastically this redesign will reduce their workload since many of the questions they get in person and on the phone will be answered here.