TLDR Summary

This is a UX case study for a responsive site I designed for Quiet Lightning, as part of Designlab UX Academy, focusing on information architecture and visual design.

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Brief

Quiet Lightning is a San Francisco literary arts non-profit. They self-publish a monthly journal, solicit submissions and curate monthly author readings in the form of what they call “literary mixtapes.”

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QL’s stakeholders needed a revamped, responsive website, for desktop and mobile. They were looking to improve the following aspects of their site:

1. Make author submission CTAs more prominent and accessible

2. Make donation CTAs more prominent and compelling

3. Improve overall information architecture and navigation

4. Surface QL’s associated literary events calendar - Litseen for easier access

5. Streamline visual design based on existing look and feel

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The new QL site’s audience

1. Writers in the San Francisco community looking to submit their work and connect with a literary community

2. Potential donors seeking to financially support a lit-arts organization

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My Role

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I researched, designed, tested and iterated a substantial reorganization and visual design of this literary non-profit’s responsive web presence. This involved conducting extensive research and stakeholder interviews.

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Timeline

80 hours, 4 weeks

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Full case study‍‍

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Key insights

Information architecture makes or breaks a site like Quiet Lightning, where users need to find the information they seek quickly and should be able to easily navigate through deep and comprehensive archives.

Paring down the amount of text a user has to wade through helps reduce fatigue and helps encourage engagement and exploration.

Lastly, clear and up-front value proposition helps garner support for the organization.

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