Earth Tones Lab Website
Co-founders of LILI Media & Design Lab and sisters Aliya & Aliza (an environmental journalism and landscape architecture duo). are science communicators hoping to reach a mainstream audience by taking their passions for cultural heritage and environmentalism and distilling it into Earth Tones to general public through relatable mediums such as travel, story, organic and ethical products.
For that, they created Earth Tones Labs as a platform to tell not only their stories but also our stories globally.
Earth Tones is a digital media and resource hub that gives a look inside global cultural landscapes, exploring the intersection of cultural heritage & environmentalism aimed at decolonizing the history of our landscapes. It will focus on creating conversations and content about the climate crisis centered on, and led by, the most impacted by it: BIPOC communities.
Client
- Lili Media Design Lab
Team Member
- Amadea Setiabudhi
- Betty Chiu
- Rachelle Zabala
What We Did
- UX Research
- UI Design
- Wordpress Development
- Logo Development
Challenge
The most challenge part was to present those serious and academic topics into friendly, easy to understand formats. Also, how to organize: articles, community, e-store, and podcast into a easy navigation platform.
“How might we present this topic in a way that is accessible and engaging to the mainstream audience from different industries and life experiences?”
Objective
- Design a global cultural, intersection of cultural heritage & environmentalism a platform to communicate with general public.
- Build a Earth Tones Lab community for people speaking out their minds.
- Support Earth Tones Lab and BIPOC products
UX Researching
Research Goals
The goal of this research is to gain some insights from the perspective of the target audience on what makes a website memorable beyond the surface level of pretty graphics and words.
What is the “wow factor” or “so what” factor that encourages the target audience to revisit a website. We want to know what makes a website successful and strategies that will attract and retain the target audience.
Interviewing Users
Through a series of stakeholder interviews and survey responses, we were able to gain an understanding of how to attract and retain the target audience.
It is also important to learn different strategies on how to increase recurring site traffic and how to get people to share their experience on Earth Tones to the rest of the world. At the end of the research, we want to know what is the “so what” or “wow” factor for Earth Tones?
We targeted: BIPOC or woke women globally ages 25 to 45. We did one-to-one interviews and online survey to our target audiences.
ASSUMPTIONS TO TEST
- To help an uninformed reader understand a new framework/concept, provide a simple, jargon-free definition and a relatable example.
- People are naturally curious, they like to know about things that themselves do not experience.
- People are more likely to be engaged when a story is authentic – vulnerable, raw and shows emotions through words.
- To attract an audience’s attention online, you need a short and powerful message and captivating imagery. The average attention time span of a human should be considered when advertising through the web or social media.
- People are drawn to stories about food and travel (wanderlusting) especially now that we’re in a pandemic.
KEY FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
- Authentic storytelling and providing a space to participate/share keeps the audience engaged
- Success stories, positivity and inclusivity increases a brand’s credibility
- Providing ways and allowing your audience to customise how they engage with your site is empowering
- When dealing with big words or novel concepts, it’s best to simplify it to allow better understanding and engagement from the audience
- For a site that will have a lot of educational and informative materials, it is important to organize, prioritize and simplify to provide easy to find contents
Visual Design
Sketching Site Maps
Based on our UX research, our site map focused on dividing topic as “storytelling” and emphasized more on “support community”. We designed 3 concepts that organized the content differently. One divided important topics as tabs; One was simplified the menu tabs and using sub-title; the last focus more in building a community. After discussing with the client, we came out with the final version that fit with client’s need and followed our UX research.
Sketches
Each of team member designed one sketches. After discussing with the client, we combine the elements on each wireframe and revised the final version then developed to the final prototype.
Branding & Visual Design
While designing the product’s logo, branding, and user interactions, I focused on creating a visually friendly and inviting feeling to welcome audience to speak out and read more.
The logo represents a dialogue between people. We aim to create a connection with people from all walks of life. At Earth Tones Lab, we want to listen and share your stories.
Prototype & Testing
PROTOTYPE
We created a series of tasks that users had to perform. We also included open ended questions to record their feedback and to get their overall feel of the user experience. In the testing, we focused on 3 actions:
1. Find article and save in the bookmark
2. Buy an item on the store
3. Sign up for newsletter
SUMMARY & TAKEAWAYS
Overall, we think the testers did well. One area that performed poorly on paper was the first task of “Find information about the founders”. When we looked at the heat maps and the click patterns, the testers seemed to be focused on checking out the aesthetics of the landing page and not really focusing on the task. You can see the heat maps appearing at random spots on the page from top to bottom.
Once they understood what was being asked of them, they aced the test and landed at the correct page.
A pattern that was common with all the testers is that they like to click the main menu title. For example, if the task is asking them to find out more about the Founders, they click the About button first before realizing that the About button is not clickable.
As shown in this test, perhaps our action item for the final design is to make the menu titles clickable so they open up to its own landing pages or one of the existing pages of the same category.