Level the Curve - Website Redesign
I designed and developed an app called Grass, which is a screen time app that incorporates social accountability to the conventional time restriction model. This app discovers ways where multiple people can have a stake in a user’s screen usage.
Timeline:
Oct 2024 - Present
Role:
Lead Digital Designer
Organization:
Level the Curve
Evaluating the need for redesign
Level the Curve was in need of an improved digital presence, which reflected their values of accessibility and equity. I aimed to redesign the website to not only be more accessible but also more aesthetically pleasing to increase traffic.
Before: Website opens up with video that is cut off by the frame
After: Hero header that hooks users into browsing the website
Change 1: Sold Products
I decreased the flow length for the user to get to the shop section of the website. Before, the user was directed to a landing page before accessing the shop. I changed it so that the user would be able to directly access the shop from the homepage.
Before: The website navigated the user to another tab before leading them to the shop
After: Direct navigation to the shop, along with a picture preview of products
Change 2: Storytelling
I emphasized the storytelling and values of the company, since a big inspiration behind the company came from the founders’ personal experiences. This way, the website experience is more impactful and transparent by letting users understand why Level the Curve is designing and manufacturing certain products.
Before: The website only had a couple sentences to represent their story and values
After: A dedicated page to showing the company’s values. The video also sits here, accompanied with a transcript to accommodate screen reader users and other visitors unable to interact with the video audio
New Features
Along with changing features that existed before, I added new features that would help round out the website -- to increase user traffic and improve transparency/storytelling. Two main features we newly implemented are banners for special events and a project descriptions page.
Special banner added on the homepage, below the hero header, to increase traffic to events page (increase event attendance)
Projects page outlining each of our main projects, which is used to attract potential investors and government officials to help sponsor engineers
Accessibility Considerations
When redesigning the website, I made sure to include alt text and heading indicators so that the website can be read by a screen reader. I also was sure that the designs were responsive based on screen size and that there was enough color contrast throughout the website for optimal readability.
However, given the limitations of the website hosting platform we were using, I could not design the website to be entirely compliant with WCAG standards.
Results from the WAVE (web accessibility) evaluation tool - based on WCAG 2.2 standards
Results from accessiblitychecker.org - based on WCAG 2.2 and the success criteria (A, AA, AAA)
Results from Skynet Technologies accessibility checker - based on WCAG 2.2, as well as past WCAG versions, and the success criteria (A, AA, AAA)
In the future, I plan to transfer all of the website’s contents on to a custom-coded platform, using languages such as HTML and CSS to better ensure that all of the features are compliant.
Visit the website here: