Enabling Technology for Good with TechSoup

Right at the outset, it emerged during our in-depth discussions with the TechSoup team that the User Experience (UX) of the platform would have to be as inclusive, intuitive, and easy to navigate as possible. This was especially important since the target user groups for the platform were highly diverse and scattered across the globe.

During the Discovery Phase which lasted for more than a month, we spent long hours identifying the specific user needs and brainstorming the UX requirements to address those needs. These were further refined, researched, and translated into UX features in the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) phase that lasted for around 4 months.

The key UX requirements that we arrived at, based on our extensive UX research are as follows.

As mentioned earlier, getting the UX architecture right was a key priority for the success of this project. Understanding users and creating accurate user personas and UX flows were extremely critical for the later stages of product development to unfold.

80-85% of TechSoup’s nonprofit partners belong to the small-and-medium-size category. However, that doesn’t mean that we could bucket them all into one homogenous user group. We spent a significant amount of time on in-depth one-to-one interviews to get a granular picture of the entire spectrum of users.

Paying minute attention to detail was not limited to the research phase alone.

Whether it was creating a wireframe, generating a mock-up, or inserting the content, we went back to our test group of users every time to ensure that we are on the right track. Even though the TechSoup team had hired a copywriter for the platform content, we worked closely with the writer to refine the language for better understandability, keeping in mind the grasping ability of the users to consume and digest tech-based content.

The layout, flow, and duration of the platform content changed significantly across the different phases of delivering multiple deliverables to the client. Our team made sure that every suggestion from the client and from the end-users was factored into the design.

Even while developing and finalizing the product, research was constantly taking place in the background, and the outcomes of the research were being simultaneously incorporated into the platform design. Making the platform user-ready for a global audience was no cakewalk, but Digicorp’s hands-on and systematic approach helped to minimize the time taken and cost incurred while ensuring maximum alignment with the users’ needs.

Apart from the UX Discovery, we also did extensive and detailed discovery and research for the platform infrastructure and architecture. We conducted an extensive technical discovery process along with the client for about a month to understand the business requirements and propose solutions.

We visited the client in San Francisco and performed a detailed brainstorming to capture their technical limitations and requirements. During our discovery, we found that the tool needs to interact with their existing internal systems to fetch/store important information to avoid duplication and redundancy of data. We discussed the possible solutions with the client’s internal teams to understand how this can be worked out in a seamless manner and based on their inputs and our research, we designed the tech specifications of the final solution.

Although the user needs were central to our process, various technological considerations and assumptions also came into play. These included aspects like:

At Digicorp, we pay special attention to the post-launch phase as well where many organizations struggle with spreading the word and popularizing their product or platform. In the case of TechSoup’s Digital Assessment Tool, for example, we devised a strategy for marketing the platform to maximize its reach and usage.

To operationalize the strategy, our creative team designed the visual language for the promotion of the platform and created numerous marketing graphics that were used by TechSoup team in their promotional tools like blog posts, email campaigns, white papers, and other marketing collateral. This helped to create awareness around the platform among nonprofit organizations across 36 countries. We also invested time and resources in mobilizing the various target audiences to visit the platform and undergo the assessment. Since we already had extensive and in-depth UX research in place which greatly aided us in connecting with the various user groups, we were able to help the TechSoup team in streamlining their marketing activities and overall promotion of the platform.

Want to build a product or a website that engages with your target audience and maximizes your impact? Need a trusted, reliable, and competent team of designers, developers, and engineers who truly understand how UI-UX works? Contact us today to get started on your journey!