Housing 21
Art Direction
Overview
Housing 21 is a leading, not for profit provider of Retirement Housing and Extra Care for older people of modest means. They are committed to providing a modern, forward-thinking 21st-century service.
They aim, to provide a consistently excellent service and a great experience for all the people that they serve and seek to engage and empower residents to make choices and exercise control over the services they receive.
Key skills
Design Thinking, Design Strategy, User Interface Design, User Experience Design, Responsive Design, Wireframing, Art Direction.
The problem
The challenge initially briefed by the client's digital team, consisted of the development and redesign of a range of page templates along a core user journey with a specific focus on improving usability, navigation, aesthetics and content hierarchy. The finalised outcome was to be utilised as a proof of concept and presented to senior stakeholders to form a business case for future development opportunities.
20,000
The number of Retirement and Extra Care Living properties managed in nearly 200 local authority areas.
42,000
The number of hours that Housing21 provide in social care each week.
A screenshot of the home page taken of the Housing21 website prior to work commencing
The approach
After initial discussions regarding functional requirements, and an initial user research on-boarding piece conducted by our UX team, we worked alongside the client to highlight and define a range of core templates to focus on along a core user journey.
I collaboratively led a whiteboard scamping session that was initially undertaken to establish template purpose and information hierarchy with an emphasis on improving the user experience. The resultant scamps were swiftly transitioned into the production of high fidelity wireframes to define page structure, hierarchy, layout and functionality.
Image shows the result of a low-fidelity whiteboard scamping session demonstrating information hierarchy mapping
Image shows the developed scamp taking shape into a high-fidelity wireframe
Images show the development of a core user journey from home page to hub page to property listing page
The solution
The solution consisted of the creation of a set of high fidelity visual designs for both desktop and mobile format. Utilising the client's corporate guidelines, application of brand styling was applied to the wireframes, with a focus on incorporating design best practice and affordance principles which brought the design to life. The proof of concept was approved by the senior stakeholders and continued into development via a third party.
Improved information hierarchy
Harnessing findings from user research, has led to the refinement of content and information hierarchy to present relevant information in a clear and logical manner to target the desired target audiences.
Enhanced site usability
Improved navigation principles and governance has resulted in a website that is clearly structured and provides the user with the ability to traverse through the site easily.
Video details the property search and filter functionality
© 2023 by Darren Trapp