Powering Design With User Feedback

MLH exists to help Massachusetts residents find information to solve common legal issues, like securing public benefits or fighting an eviction. To ensure every aspect of the site was grounded in the audiences’ needs, MLH wanted to incorporate feedback during the discovery and design phases from real people who fit MLH’s primary and secondary audience profiles.  

By performing a thorough discovery process — including working group interviews, visitor interviews, cohort site analysis, and wireframe and prototype testing — Oomph was able to create a successful site design dedicated to the needs of visitors.

Helping the Audience by Understanding Them 

MLH shares insights on heavy topics ranging from housing and homelessness to money, debt, and immigration. The site contains sensitive information that could change their visitors’ lives; by connecting them to domestic violence help or resources to get their children back, for example. When Oomph first jumped into the project, our main goal was to step into the shoes of their user groups to better understand their needs when they seek legal information.

The main audience of MLH is Massachusetts residents who are primarily low-income and may not speak English as a first language. They use the site to become informed about legal issues they’re facing quickly and efficiently. As one visitor stated:

 “I’m coming here because I have a problem. I want to know, where’s the search? What can I do here? What can I not do? Don’t waste my time making me read [fluff]…”

To meet this need, the MLH team provides information in plain English at a fourth to sixth-grade reading level, rather than using complicated lawyer jargon, which makes it accessible to a wider group of people. Additionally, many resources have been professionally translated into other languages, such as Spanish.

The secondary audience that visits the site is those who help the primary audience, such as social service providers, legal aid lawyers, and legal librarians. Oomph had to walk a fine line by getting feedback from the secondary audience to help inform information about the primary audience; however, our main goal was to ensure that low-income and non-English-speaking people could find the answers they needed.

Gaining the Audience’s Trust with Thoughtful Design Details

We learned that many visitors found the MLH website by searching Google with their questions. Many primary audience members would visit the site on their mobile phones, perhaps even listening to its content with their text-to-speech tool. Knowing that, we had to design an accessible experience on any phone, tablet, or desktop device. This increased the importance of a mobile-first design so the pages loaded quickly, the information was clear, and the experience made sense for mobile browsing.

A Modernized Design

The site’s look was outdated, making some visitors feel that it either lacked credibility or didn’t contain the latest legal rules and laws (even though it’s been actively maintained and added to for the past 15+ years!). For the Oomph team, the final designs had to walk a fine line between being authoritative, trustworthy, and comforting. To achieve this, we retained the blue color palette but created slightly softer tones to help create a calming aesthetic.

Our team also limited the amount of photography on the site but ensured that any photos we used represented the diverse groups MLH serves. Icons became a tool to guide the visitor through different topics; regardless of the visitor’s language, the icon could help them understand what information may be within that particular topic.

MLH has also accumulated a lot of content over the years. To help organize its search and topic organization feature, we incorporated content filters according to the information type: articles, how-tos, e-books, and videos. Each category has its own icon, and each icon is represented by a color. This helps unify the search based on the type of content the visitor is seeking.

Color Contrast and Accessibility

From the start, MLH made it very clear that their new designs should comply with both 508 and WCAG 2.1 guidelines — ideally conforming to the highest level of contrast, level AAA. As Oomph created the color palette, we were careful to use only high-contrast colors and document how to use them in a system to ensure that the palette satisfied accessibility guidelines. 

Supporting the Content With Tools

MLH had several existing tools to assist in digesting content. During our discovery phase, we validated the need for these tools and upgraded them. For example, on the content pages, there are options to print, share, listen to the content, and even switch the language as the visitor lands on the page.

Within the main navigation menu, the design included a “Quick Exit” button. This supports visitors who need to abandon the page when, for example, a domestic violence survivor’s abuser re-entered the room.

We cultivated a passion for this feature through our research and have written an article detailing our best practices for implementing a quick exit button. Additionally, we have created a Drupal Module for this feature so that more people can implement this important tool for sites with sensitive content.

Findability of Content Through the Main Menu Navigation

On a larger scale, the primary and secondary navigation menus needed an upgrade. As it stood, the main categories were wall-to-wall across the desktop, and it was hard to determine where a visitor needed to go. The secondary navigation menu read like a table of contents in a chapter book and didn’t allow the visitor to return to other categories. 

We solved for this by creating a survey to test a proposed navigation structure and revised the information architecture (IA). This included a new top menu that supported every step of our primary audience’s journey. We also created a level of navigation that directed visitors to the information they were looking for, no matter how they entered the site. 

Search

For search, we used a multi-filter approach which allows visitors to search both by topic and by content type. This filtering allowed them to find questions that might belong to multiple categories, and to narrow down content to the types they are willing to review.

Proactive vs. Reactive Enhancements

Analytics and user interview results showed that most visitors start their journey on either the homepage or pages that are three or more levels down the navigation. Many also reach the site via a specific Google search. While it is likely they found what they needed, they may not be aware of other information that can help them. To mitigate the risk of bouncing away from the website, we created a “Viewers also reviewed…” component on answer pages that showcased related content more naturally.

Repeating Help Footer

Above the footer, we created a “safety net” to help visitors who have browsed the site for a long time but have not found what they are looking for. If they reached the end of the page, this footer would direct them to more content that may hold their answers.

Previously Viewed

We added a “Previously Viewed” section at the bottom of content pages to remind visitors of the content they have already reviewed. This reduces the burden on the visitor when they ask themselves, “I think I’ve seen that already, but I can’t remember where I saw it.”

A Modern, Helpful Website Design

Through prototype testing with our first design mock-up with real visitors, the participants individually determined that the new site’s design and content organization was easy to navigate, gave them a trustworthy impression, and looked appealing. Today, the MLH website is live with a fresh Oomph design. We hope the structure and design will continue to not only keep visitors on the site longer but also help those visitors find the legal answers that they need.

Have a project that requires a human-first, empathetic approach? Consider talking to Oomph about incorporating user feedback into a user experience-focused design project for your next website refresh.

Simplifying Complexity without Losing Power

The biggest challenge as Oomph acclimated to the tax-collection world was rapidly learning enough about the complex regulations and requirements of municipalities in the industry to provide sound advice and recommendations. We started by examining their systems — the workflow of documenting and planning new product features and adding them to the roadmap, of designing the UX of those features, and of leveraging their in-house design system to build and support those features. 

RSI’s main product, GOVERNMENT PREMIER, are highly customizable and configurable. Every single screen has options that would display depending on the authenticated user’s role and privileges and the tenant’s own back-office processes. User stories included many requirements based on permissions and configuration. This added challenges when imagining potential interface solutions that need to accommodate growth in multiple directions. 

Oomph’s purposefully used our outside perspective to ask many questions about GOVERNMENT PREMIER’s processes. We took our years of experience designing interfaces for a wide range of consumers and applied them here. In this typically slow-to-evolve space, a user-focused experience coupled with GOVERNMENT PREMIER’s technical expertise would revolutionize tax collection as a friendlier, more intuitive, and highly customizable experience.

Maintaining Consistency in a Rapidly Evolving Product

Our findings and recommendations indicated previous UX teams did not create a rulebook that governed their decisions, and so, the system lacked consistency. Quality Assurance reviews would suffer from this lack of governance as well. Therefore, the first thing we did was to establish rules to design by: 

Ultimately, these rules are flexible and have served well as a starting point. Any new screen can adhere to these rules, and when we find cases where these rules are preventing users from completing their tasks or are frequently confusing users, we revisit them to make updates or clarifications. Oomph has continued to consult on new screen design and UX workflows after more than a year of working together.

Setting a New North Star to Align Our Compasses

To continue to move the product forward without increasing UX and technical debt, the teams needed a well-defined shared understanding for the user experience. Internal teams were moving forward, but not always in the same direction. Within the first month, our teams agreed upon a playbook and then continued to expand it during our engagement. We met twice weekly with product owners across the company and became a sought-after resource when teams were planning new features.

During our time together, we have celebrated these outcomes:

As Oomph moves into our second year collaborating with the GOVERNMENT PREMIER teams, we plan to fully investigate user personas on both the admin and taxpayer side of the platform, add more context and governance to the project designs, and provide quality assurance feedback on the working application. We value our partnership with this unique team of experts and look forward to continuing the tax software revolution.

New Drupal, New Design

Migrating a massive site like healthdata.org is challenging enough, but implementing a new site design simultaneously made the process even more complex. IHME wanted a partner with the digital expertise to translate its internal design team’s page designs into a flexible, functional set of components  — and then bring it all to life in the latest Drupal environment. Key goals included:

The new healthdata.org site required a delicate balance of form and function. Oomph consulted closely with IHME on the front-end page designs, then produced a full component-based design system in Drupal that would allow the site’s content to shine now and in the future — all while achieving conformance with WCAG 2.1 standards.

Equipping IHME To Lead the Public Health Conversation

Collaborating on a Comprehensive Content Model

IHME needed the site to support a wide variety of content and give its team complete control over landing page layouts, but the organization had limited resources to achieve its ambitious goals. Oomph and IHME went through several rounds of content modeling and architecture diagramming to right-size the number and type of components. We converted their full-page designs into annotated flex content diagrams so IHME could see how the proposed flex-content architecture would function down to the field level. We also worked with the IHME team to build a comprehensive list of existing features — including out-of-the-box, plugins, and custom — and determine which ones to drop, replace, or upgrade. We then rewrote any custom features that made the grade for the Drupal migration.

Building Custom Teaser Modules

The IHME team’s design relied heavily on node teaser views to highlight articles, events, and other content resources. Depending on the teaser’s placement, each teaser needed to display different data — some displayed author names, for example, while others displayed only a journal title. Oomph built a module encompassing all of the different teaser rules IHME needed depending on the component the teaser was being displayed in. The teaser module we built even became the inspiration for the Shared Fields Display Settings module Oomph is developing for Drupal.

Creating a Fresh, Functional Design System

With IHME’s new content model in place, we used Layout Paragraphs in Drupal to build a full design system and component library for healthdata.org. Layout Paragraphs acts like a visual page builder, enabling the IHME team to construct feature rich pages using a drag and drop editor. We gave IHME added flexibility through customizable templates that make use of its extensive component library, as well as a customized slider layout that provides the team with even more display options.

Working to Make Citizens and Communities Healthier 

IHME has long been a leader in population health, and its migration to the latest version of Drupal ensures it can lead for a long time. By working with Oomph to balance technical and design considerations at every step, IHME was able to transform its vision into a powerful and purposeful site — while giving its team the tools to showcase its ever-growing body of insights. The new healthdata.org has already received a Digital Health Award, cementing its reputation as an essential digital resource for the public health community.

Same Look, Better Build

Ordinarily, when we embark on rearchitecting a site, it happens as part of a complete front-end and back-end overhaul. This was a unique situation. Visit California users enjoyed the site’s design and helpful content features, so we did not want to disrupt that. At the same time, we needed to upgrade the frustrating back-end experience, look for broken templates, and find optimizations in content and media along the way.   

An underperforming API (which functions like an information pipeline to move content from one part of the site to another) and bloated data/code resulted in sluggish site performance and slow content updates/deployments. If the Visit California team wanted to change a single sentence on the site, pushing it live took well over an hour, sometimes longer — and often the build failed. Poorly optimized images slowed the site down even further, especially for the mobile visitors who make up the majority of site traffic. 

They were in dire need of a decoupled site connection overhaul so they could: 

Oomph started by looking under the hood — or, in this case, under the APIs. While APIs are supposed to make sites perform better, an outdated API was at the root of Visit California’s problem. Over the course of the project, Oomph integrated a new API, optimized images, and corrected bottlenecks across the site to make updates a breeze.

Putting Visit California in the Fast Lane

Implemented a New API

Visit California needed an API that could more quickly move data from the back end to the front. Two previous clients shared Visit California’s back-end architecture but used a modern JSON API Drupal module successfully. Switching from the GraphQL module to JSON API on the back end streamlined the amount of data, resulting in the team updating content or code in minutes instead of hours or days.

Streamlined Data During Deployments

On the front end, a Gatsby Source GraphQL plugin contributed to the issue by pulling and refreshing all data from the entire system with each content update. Oomph replaced the faulty plugin, which had known limitations and lacked support, with the Gatsby Source Drupal plugin.  On the back end, the Gatsby Integration module was configured to work with JSON API to provide incremental builds — a process that pulls only updated content for faster deployments.

Fixed Image Processing Bottlenecks

Because we were already in the code, both teams agreed this was a great opportunity to identify improvements to boost page performance. We found that image processing was a drag — the site previously processed images during deployment rather than processing them ahead of time on the back-end. Oomph used the JSON API Image Styles module to create image derivatives (copies) in different sizes, ultimately decreasing build times. 

Lightened the Load on the Back-End

As Oomph configured the new architecture, we scoured the site for other opportunities to reduce cruft. Additional improvements included removing deprecated code and rewriting code responsible for creating front-end pages, eliminating static queries running thousands of times during page creation. We also resized large images and configured their Drupal site to set sizing guardrails for photos their team may add in the future.

Home page weight before and after:

Visualizing the improvements to loading speed:

Core Web Vitals Improvements:

Exploring the Golden State, One Story at a Time

Once Oomph was done, the Visit California site looked the same, but the load times were significantly faster, making the site more easily accessible to users. By devising a strategy to pull the same data using completely different methods, Oomph created a streamlined deployment process that was night and day for the Visit California team. 

The massive initiative involved 75,000 lines of code, 23 front-end templates, and plenty of collaboration, but the results were worth it: a noticeably faster site, a markedly less frustrating authoring experience, and page performance that would make any Californian proud.

Custom Tools Leveraging Site Factory

A key goal was being able to quickly provision sites to new or existing agencies. Using Drupal 9 (and updated to Drupal 10) and Acquia’s Site Factory, we gave the state the ability to stand up a new site in just minutes. Batch commands create the site and add it to necessary syndication services; authors can then log in and start creating their own content.

We also created a set of custom tools for the state agencies, to facilitate content migration and distribution. An asynchronous hub-and-spoke syndication system allows sites to share content in a hierarchical manner (from parent to child sites), while a migration helper scrapes existing sites to ensure content is properly migrated from a database source.

Introducing Quahog: A RI.gov Design System

For organizations needing agility and efficiency, composable technology makes it easier to quickly adapt digital platforms as needs and conditions change. We focused on building a comprehensive, component-based visual design system using a strategy of common typography, predefined color themes and built-in user preferences to reinforce accessibility and inclusivity.

The Purpose of the Design System

The new, bespoke design system had to support four key factors: accessibility, user preferences, variation within a family of themes, and speedy performance.

Efficient and Effective Paths to Communication

The first sites to launch on the new system, including covid.ri.gov, went live four and a half months after the first line of code was written. A total of 15 new sites were launched within just 8 months, all showing a 3-4x improvement in speed and performance compared with previous versions.

Every site now meets accessibility guidelines when authors adhere to training and best practices, with Lighthouse accessibility and best practice scores consistently above 95%. This means the content is available to a larger, more diverse audience. In addition, a WAF/CDN provider increases content delivery speeds and prevents downtime or slowdowns due to attacks or event-driven traffic spikes.

State agencies have been universally pleased with the new system, especially because it provides authors with an improved framework for content creation. By working with a finite set of tested design patterns, authors can visualize, preview, and deploy timely and consistent content more efficiently and effectively.

While One Percent for America (OPA) had an admirable goal of helping eligible immigrants become U.S. citizens, the project faced a major stumbling block. Many immigrants had already been misled by various lending institutions, payday loans, or high-interest credit cards. As a result, the OPA platform would need a sense of trustworthiness and authority to shine through.

The platform also had to handle a broad array of tasks through a complex set of workflows, backstops, and software integrations. These tasks included delivering content, signing up users, verifying eligibility, connecting to financial institutions, managing loan data and investment balances, and electronically sending funds to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Given the challenges, our work began with a month-long discovery process, probing deeper into the audience, competitive landscape, customer journeys, and technological requirements for the platform. Here’s what we learned.

The Borrower Experience

Among those deep in the citizenship process and close to finishing the paperwork, many are simply waiting to have the funds to conclude their journey. For them, we designed as simple a workflow as possible to create an account, pass a security check, and apply for a loan.

Other users who are just starting the process need to understand whether they’re eligible for citizenship and what the process entails. We knew this would require smart, in-depth content to answer their questions and provide guidance — which was also a crucial component in earning their trust. Giving away genuinely helpful information, combined with carefully chosen language and photography, helped lend authenticity to OPA’s stated mission.

The Investor Experience

OPA sought to crowdfund capital from small investors, not institutions, creating a community-led funding source that could scale to meet borrowers’ needs. A key innovation is that funders can choose between two options: making tax-deductible donations or short-term loans.

If an investor makes a loan, at the end of the term they can decide to reinvest for another term, turn the money into a donation, or withdraw the funds. To reinforce the circular nature of the platform, we designed the experience so that borrowers could become investors themselves. The platform makes it easy for borrowers to change their intent and access different tools. Maturity dates are prominently displayed alongside “Lend Again” and “Donate” actions. Testimonials from borrowers on the dashboard reinforce the kinds of people who are helped by an investment.

The Mobile Experience

Our research made it clear the mobile experience had to be best in class, as many users would either prefer using a phone or didn’t have regular access to a tablet or computer. But, that didn’t mean creating a mobile app in addition to a desktop website. Instead, by designing a universal web app, we built a more robust experience — more powerful than most mobile apps — that can be used anywhere, on any device.

However, tasks like signing up for an account or applying for a loan need to be as easy on a mobile device as on a desktop. Key UX elements like step-by-step workflows, large touch targets, generous spacing on form fields, soft colors, and easy-to-read fonts produced a highly user-friendly interface.

Together with our technology partners, Craftsman, Motionpoint, and Platform.sh, we built an innovative digital platform that meets its users exactly where they are, from both a technological and cultural standpoint.

This groundbreaking work earned us a Gold Medal from the inaugural 2022 Anthem Awards, in the Innovation in Human and Civil Rights category. The award recognizes new techniques and services that advance communities and boost contributory funds.

In our ongoing partnership with OPA, Oomph will continue working to expand the business model with new features. We’re proud to have helped build this impactful resource to support the community of new Americans.

Connecting People and Planet

NEEF’s website is the gateway that connects its audiences to a vast array of learning experiences – but its existing platform was falling short. The organization needed more visually interesting resources and content, but it also knew its legacy Drupal site couldn’t keep up.

NEEF wanted to build a more powerful platform that could seamlessly:

Strategy is the foundation for effective digital experiences and the intuitive designs they require. Oomph first honed in on NEEF’s key goals, then implemented a plan to meet them: leveraging existing features that work, adding critical front- and back-end capabilities, and packaging it all in an engaging, user-centric new website.

Information architecture is at the core of user experience (UX). We focused on organizing NEEF’s information to make it more accessible and appealing to its core audiences: educators, conservationists, nonprofits, and partners. Our designers then transformed that strategy into strategic wireframes and dynamic designs, all of which we developed into a custom Drupal site.

The New NEEF: User-Centered Design

A Custom Site To Fuel Connection

NEEF needed a digital platform as unique as its organization, which is why Oomph ultimately delivered a suite of custom components designed to accommodate a variety of content needs.

Engaging and thoughtful design

NEEF’s new user experience is simple and streamlined. Visual cues aid in wayfinding (all Explore pages follow the same hero structure, for example), while imagery, micro-interactions (such as hover effects) and a bold color palette draw the user in. The UX also emphasizes accessibility and inclusivity; the high contrast between the font colors and the background make the website more readable for people with visual impairments, while people with different skin tones can now see themselves represented in NEEF’s new library of 100 custom icons.

Topic-based browsing

From water conservation to climate change, visitors often come to the NEEF site to learn about a specific subject. We overhauled NEEF’s existing site map to include topic-based browsing, with pages that roll resources, storytelling, and NEEF’s impact into one cohesive package. Additional links in the footer also make it easier for specific audiences to find information, such as nonprofits seeking grants or teachers looking for educational materials.

NPLD-hosted resources and event locator

Oomph refreshed existing components and added new ones to support one of NEEF’s flagship programs, National Public Lands Day (NPLD). People interested in hosting an event could use the new components to easily set one up, have their own dashboard to manage, and add their event to NEEF’s event locator. Once the event has passed, it’s automatically unlisted from the locator — but archived so hosts can duplicate and relaunch the event in future years.

Protecting the Planet, One User at a Time

Oomph helped NEEF launch its beautiful, engaging, and interactive site in May 2023. Within three months, NEEF’s team had built more than 100 new landing pages using the new component library, furthering its goal to build deeper connections with its audiences.

As NEEF’s digital presence continues to grow, so will its impact — all with the new custom site as its foundation.

Rapid Discovery with a Cohort Analysis

Oomph hit the ground running, bringing our human-centered design expertise and passion for environmental causes to strategize a solution. We knew that balancing rigor and speed would be critical – how could we design a site positioned for success without over-investing in features that might need to change later? Through market and user research, rapid prototyping, and close collaboration with Rare and development partner Adapt, we swiftly moved from vision to reality.

Surveying the Landscape

While purchasing carbon credits is similar to making a nonprofit donation in some ways, it also blends elements of investing and crowdfunding in a distinct experience. Oomph first conducted a cohort analysis of more than 20 platforms, from other emerging carbon credit marketplaces to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Kiva. The process uncovered some promising initial approaches, but also underscored the lack of best practices in the space. Ultimately, we determined that Catch Carbon needed to emphasize real-world impact: giving like-minded supporters a place to rally behind a shared cause and directly see the positive effects of their dollars.

Creating Connection and Credibility with Users

Building on Rare’s insights into its audience – climate-concerned citizens eager to be part of the solution – we knew that Catch Carbon would primarily draw users interested in taking personal action to reduce carbon impacts. User journey mapping allowed us to anticipate the visitor’s thoughts and feelings at every stage – curious as they enter the site, inspired as they browse projects, proud after deciding to purchase – and make design choices to guide them along the way. Our strategy included:

A Collaborative Design Process

With a solid strategy in place, Oomph dove in to bring the design to life. We led Rare through a 20-second design “gut check” workshop to develop a shared design language, then used style tiles to quickly hone in on the design aesthetic. As we moved into full page designs, we worked hand in hand with Adapt and Rare to test an internal API system that would populate project data, refining the design in real-time as we determined which information was possible to include.