Institute for Inclusive Security
The Challenge
The Institute for Inclusive Security, an international nonprofit organization that focused on global security issues and the political power of women, wanted to redesign its site to help it do three things better: better explain what the organization does, showcase its most important content better, and deliver their site to mobile users.
The Solution
I tackled the first of their three objectives by creating new spaces where they could “tell the story” of their organization. Next, I designed large, full-width feature areas where they could showcase large visuals and art for their top stories. Third, I made the site responsive so that it would read well on any size screen. Finally, we made dozens of small visual design improvements: everything from white space to typography or modernized web forms to clean social networking buttons. Throughout the project, I worked closely with the client to think about and think through content strategy and branding challenges.
After the new site launch, the redesign was so well received, it became the model for other sites within the organization’s parent foundation.
A new home page to highlight the biggest stories
We got rid of an outdated, ineffective “carousel” photo slider at the top of the home page and replaced it with a a new feature area designed to boldly showcase the top story or event at the Institute. This new feature area was more search-engine friendly and rendered better on mobile devices. We also added a secondary area for other top stories below that section to highlight recent articles and reporting by Inclusive Security.
Telling the Institute’s stories
We added a new blog section to showcase reports on the issues and regions where the Institute and its experts did their work. It allows the site to remain dynamic and fresh with new content.
Better story pages
We designed a new, reader-friendly layout for stories that minimizes clutter and promotes sharing on social media.
Designed from day one to play nice with small screens
As always, we worked to make sure the new design was responsive and would look great on screens and devices of any size.
