Redesigning BRC Website
October 2020
Introduction / Summary
The Bowery Residents' Committee is a non-profit organization that helps those experiencing homelessness in New York City. They are an organization that has been around for more than 50 years. Their website was last updated in 2016! It’s usually customary to update every four years . It was clear they needed a change.
The Challenge
The challenge was to create a modern and user friendly website while maintaining the core branding and structure that they’ve had for years. They didn’t want to steer too far from the design and style and risk losing the recognition that their brand holds.
They also had a sidebar that was used to navigate and it needed to be moved to the top to make it easier to click on the other pages. The main concern was changing the platform of their website to Wix. We believe Wix is one of the most user friendly web platforms that allows for easier updates
The Solution
Before we could dive deep into the rebranding we needed to get a better understanding of the client’s goals and vision for the new website. First, we needed to understand who the website was for.
We spent 10 hours with BRC’s CEO and Leadership to try and figure out who their ideal customers were. We created 3 customer journeys, and from there we developed the wireframe and finally began the design.
Deliverables
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Brand Strategy
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Web Design & Development
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Web Maintenance
Developing the Ideal Personas
We did many exercises together to understand what the mission statement was, who the ideal personas were, and what their experience should look and feel like. An ideal audience persona is a fictitious yet very realistic person that would be a perfect match for the organization/business.
In doing the Persona Journey, we walked through one of the persona's ideal situation.
For example we came up with Geoffrey McKenzie-Bezos, a program officer of McKenzie Bezos Family Fund. He is listening to NPR on his way to work. As Geoffrey is listening to NPR he hears them talk about BRC and all the work they do. The work really inspires Geoffrey and makes him feel excited and hopeful about BRC’s work. When he gets to the office he decides to do more research on BRC and finds their website. Their website is compelling and informative, he reviews their strategic plan. He also notices their events page and sees that there is an upcoming event he can attend. Geoffrey goes to the event and then receives a post event email from them. The event was very touching and he really trusts BRC and their work so he emails a contact he found on the website. He has a meeting with him and they discuss how he can get more involved and donate.
It was that easy! Simply because the right systems and messaging were put on the website to make these conversations happen!
Defining the Brand
The Brand Discovery includes:
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Business Why
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Vision
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Brand Attributes
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Internal Positioning Statement
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Elevator Pitch
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Only Statement
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Mission Statement
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Ideal Customer Personas
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Brand Voice, Manifesto
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Awareness Strategy (marketing plan):
Through a series of exercises in the strategy sessions, we were able to extract and refine the key pillars of the brand. This defined the brand's personality: how it should look, sound, and act.
Results
The new BRC website has been completely transferred from their previous platform (Drupal) to Wix and has a modern and fresh design while maintaining the overall brand identity of the organization. The top menu bar makes it easy to navigate through the different web pages and the donate button makes it easier for people to donate.
We also help them with overall maintenance of the site and any changes that they may need, including creating new pages for their events, like their Champions Benefit page, and updating their News & Updates section.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!
