Amputee Outreach
Programs Used: WordPress, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Illustrator, cPanel
Background
In my advanced web design class, everyone is given a project where we work with the business major students to develop a website for their fictional business idea. However, in my case I was assigned a real client because of my previous experience in web design. In my first meeting with my client, the founder and director of Amputee Outreach, I found out that there really isn’t much support or attention being brought to the amputee community in the north state. My client wanted a website to help bring that attention such as helping provide assistance and/or referrals to organizations and professionals involved in services needed by amputees. They also wanted the website to bring awareness to the equipment lending program Amputee Outreach offers such as wheel chairs, canes and more to those in the amputee community.
Research
In the research process I looked at other websites related to the amputee community such as Amputee Coalition and found they use drop menus, a wide screen website layout and a 3-grid system on the home page and a 2-grid system for others.
Original Wireframe
Original Mobile Wireframe
Design Solution
I was provided with the organization’s logo and based the colors and look of the website off that. I used a simple 3-column layout on the home page and 2-column layout on other pages. I created clickable “call to action” buttons on the home page so they’re one of the first things that stand out prompting the user to click on them. These buttons are shortcuts to create ease of access to pages within the website such as the calendar page for upcoming events and a donation page if users want to donate to the organization. Along with the buttons, I also created an “FAQ” page and a contact page if users had any questions for the organization and it’s worked well so far. This website is also responsive, so it works on desktop and mobile formats. On mobile format the menu is really easy to use. I created a dropdown menu that can be easily accessed in the upper left on mobile devices. Amputee Outreach has grown, receiving numerous donations through the website and even getting attention from those out of state.
Desktop Layout
Challenges
One of the challenges I faced with this was setting aside my own design aspects/bias I felt were best for the website. Along with that I needed to listen to the design ideas my client would like to see on the website. My client and I would bring different ideas to the table and find common ground on what would be added to the website.