Before proposing anything new, we spent two weeks auditing the existing site and evaluating how similar organizations drove engagement and earned trust. From scratch, we then built a design system that nine developers could implement inside an eight-month timeline.

We started by evaluating every screen of the legacy site. We discovered issues including a confusing information hierarchy, overly dense text, and a lack of clear purpose in the contact forms that left users lost. The site also faced accessibility problems, with colors that didn't clear contrast guidelines and broken responsiveness.

We analyzed successful microfinance platforms like Kiva and Grameen America to understand industry standards for building trust. We realized our solution needed to build confidence for every visitor, using testimonials and measurable impact to show we put people we serve first.

To craft an experience that felt credible and modern, we established a fresh, accessible design system. We used a cohesive color palette of blue shades and clean typography to build components that evoked a feeling of immediate trust.

Donors, clients, and members came to the site for completely different reasons, but the previous site treated them as one audience. We rebuilt the homepage around three separate paths, each with its own entry point, language, and primary action which were to become a client, join as a member, or donate. Everything deeper in the site was organized underneath those three branches.

Huge thank you to Jeff Antony and Sylvie Tran for being two of the most talented, creative, and hardworking designers I could have asked to work with. To Weston Zong and Annabelle Guiditta, our Engineering Manager and Project Manager, thanks for leading the best TSE team with me.

And of course, so grateful to the incredible developers who made our designs come to life: Jaden Huang, James Escobedo, Katelyn Li, Munachi Okoro, Suhaan Khurana, Sweekrit Bhatnagar, Tony Wang, and Yasmin Kabir.