Save the Children (Redd Barna) is a member-run organization, and has been fighting for children’s rights since 1919. The organization is politically and religiously neutral, and works for long-term and sustainable change in 122 countries. In Norway, Save the Children is represented through volunteers, local groups or regional offices, and is pushing for all children to have their rights fulfilled.
Focusing on the users
Save the Children is a complex organization, with both political and knowledge-based goals – in addition to recruitment and fundraising campaigns. The target group consists of companies, individuals and children. This obviously places several demands on the content of the website.
The previous Save the Children website was outdated, the content structure was cluttered, and the overall message – what the organization actually stands for – did not come across well enough.
— The structure on the website mainly mirrored the entire scope of the organization – more than the actual user needs.The front page alone had 60 different links. In other words, it was messy, and you had to navigate through remains from the previous website solution. The need to start from scratch was obvious.
Anne Bleiklie, editor of digital media, Save the Children
With complementary expertise, we at Dekode and the communications agency Netlife chose to collaborate on the project. The latter delivered content strategy, and is using the “core model” – a practical tool for interdisciplinary content design, which helps define what kind of content the users most likely need.
— Save the Children adapted the core model and worked with it for a long time in order to find out what was to be communicated. Those in the organization who i.e. work with children in Norway, started on the fundamentals, and attended a kind of “boot camp”: They went to work thoroughly, produced content from scratch, ran rounds with a critical eye and found the core pages. They did the same with the other topics that are most important for Save the Children, says advisor Marius Granholt in Dekode.
Save the Children has a strong brand, which is why Dekode didn’t make conceptual changes. The main thing for the organization was having to be explicit, more clear, clarifying concepts (individual donor / permanent sponsor / sponsor etc), and focus more on the results of the work they do. It became an important prerequisite to emphasize where the money given to Save the Children actually appears and to what extent they were beneficial. This is now displayed with graphics on the website.
When developing websites, we at Dekode use the Growth Driven Design method. In short, the method is based on getting a working website up and running as quickly as possible, and then using real and authentic user data to constantly improve the solution. User testing is an important part of the procedure, and was also used on the project with Save the Children.
The website has now been launched, and the organization has got the tools they need for further operation. In Save the Children, they now hope that the users of reddbarna.no notice several improvements and the neater website.
— The approach for future development of our website is now user-focused and insight-based. I hope that members and volunteers experience and acknowledge the fact that we now have a better rig and that it is easier to find the information they are looking for, says Anne Bleiklie in Save the Children.
Customer:
Save the Children
Role:
WordPress
Front-end
Back-end
Project management
Digital strategy
Url:
Partner:
All photos: Save the Children