Overview
UX & Brand DESIGN
Pivot Point Consulting is a Florida based consulting agency that specialized in helping nonprofit organizations in the Jacksonville area build their capacity, strengthen Board relations and operationalize programs. Founded by Cathy Discroll and Mary Strickland, Pivot Point Consulting set out with the goal of helping the community by bringing expertise in the areas of grant writing and research, board development, funding challenges, and strategic planning to local nonprofits looking to take their next step. , or many other nonprofit topic
TEAM & TOOLS
• Maxwell Graj
• Webflow | Figma | Adobe CC
DELIVERABLES
• Color Palette, Brand Style Guide, Logo Design & Business Cards.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Pivot Point needed help researching, defining and designing the look and feel of their brand. The aim of this project is to help develop the brand and establish an online presence for Pivot Point Consulting. The scope consists of helping Pivot Point define its brand image and identity through in depth research, analysis and various design iterations. Defining appropriate color and font choices, designing the brand logo, business cards, and website were also needed to successfully help Pivot Point reach the correct audience and maximize their reach. Establishing a website domain and hosting service was included and all appropriate files were handed off to the clients at the end of this contract.
The goal of this particular project was to provide valuable qualitative research and design a high-fidelity and functioning website. Throughout this project I was tasked with: defining Pivot Points brand identity, developing a color scheme, font options (style guide) and brand logo, creating deliverables for Marketing, creating business card designs and creating an online presence by developing a website for Pivot Point.
The goal of this particular project was to provide valuable qualitative research and design a high-fidelity and functioning website. Throughout this project I was tasked with: defining Pivot Points brand identity, developing a color scheme, font options (style guide) and brand logo, creating deliverables for Marketing, creating business card designs and creating an online presence by developing a website for Pivot Point.
Project Plan of Work
Research
Brand and market research will help both myself and Pivot Point gain a better and more clear understanding of the competitive landscape of similar consulting brands. This will also be helpful to guide the direction of brand aesthetics and design decisions based on patterns within this industry.
• Competitive Analysis - By examining a range of products and services offered by our competitors, we're able to then improve our design solutions as well as product offerings.
• Task analysis - Identifies the steps a user must take to achieve a goal while using a product or service. Can identify potential roadblocks as well as shortcuts in the competitor’s product.
• Feature inventory - A list of features or offerings available across all your competitors. Useful for comparing several competitor offerings
Design
Creating a basic style guide will help keep consistency throughout the development of the Pivot Point brand and design process. Fonts, colors, design patterns and other visual inspirations will be documented to help define and differentiate Pivot Point as well as maintain a professional image across all mediums.
Understanding our users and the flows within your website is important to creating a successful design. Some questions I will consider are: how will navigation items be grouped? What should certain navigation labels be called? How do users move through this and how do users search for something? The preliminary research will also help influence these design choices.
Creating a site map and basic wireframes will be key in the early stages of design. Myself and Pivot Point will be able to quickly iterate and revise the design based off of research and the stakeholders visions & goals.
Development
After review of colors, fonts, and logo options I will begin incorporating the Pivot Point brand into the website and bring basic page layouts to the next stage. Branding elements should be finalized at this point and revised on the website. Detailed drafts of copy for the various pages will be written and included. Image drafts will be selected and included as placeholders until finalized.
At this point the website will be at the final stage of design and development. Copy will be finalized, testimonials and client stories will be added and other assets within the website will be completed.
Research & Analysis
For competitive and comparative research, I started by researching other organizations similar to the Pivot Point brand - more specifically ones that were centered on grant writing and non-profit consulting. Of the organizations I reviewed and included in the feature inventory breakdown, ZIM Consulting seemed to be closest to what I felt was direct competition. ZIM Consulting has been working with nonprofit organizations across the country to help build their capacity and increase their impact. ZIM Consulting focuses on creating plans and establishing the tools and benchmarks needed to implement new projects. The two other organizations included are The Bridgespan Group - a leading organization for social impact consulting and advising to nonprofits and NGOs, philanthropists, and investors - and DH Leonard Consulting - who assists nonprofit organizations with competitively applying, receiving, and managing grant funding to best serve their clients and have a significant impact in their communities.
The goal with the feature inventory was to compare and identify common features and pages included among the various websites, as well as to visually analyze what features and pages seem to be the most important and prominent.
I also wanted to see what Pivot Point could be missing as far as key desired features go, and how to best add those features in my design process. From this research, I can make well-informed design decisions and better understand what features to prioritize moving forward.
comparative Feature breakdown
Feature Inventory List
Here is a list of all of the potential features I felt would be important to include, features our stakeholders had in mind, and most importantly features that direct competitors had available. Below is a summarization in table format of the potential features.
Developing the Designs
As I began both the research and design process I kept in mind the following questions as well as making sure my client was involved in this process.
• Who is our primary audience?
• What is that audience hoping to achieve while using this website?
• How will this website / service primarily be used?
• When will the website / service be most useful?
• User interface vision / Device feature prioritization. How do we maximize usability and functionality?
Pivot Point Site Map
& Information architecture
Low Fidelity Sketches & Wireframes
As part of my design process with this client, I wanted to take the information from various conversations with the client and comparative research and turn it into basic wireframes. A few sketches were drawn up and shared with the client. I moved quickly after this step into higher fidelity wireframes and website mockups. Influenced by research and various website template builders I was able to create a successful design, inclusive of the brands colors and styles, that Pivot Point was happy with.
High Fidelity Wireframes & Prototypes
HiFi Wireframe
HiFi Wireframe
HiFi Wireframe
Home Page
About Page
Services Page
The design process moved quickly and efficiently. Working as a team of one - in addition to my clients - I was able to design, iterate and advance the progress of my work in a timely manor. Various design challenges arose throughout the process, but with consistent and honest communication, solutions were always available.
Brand & Website Solution
Designed in Figma, Illustrator and Webflow Pivot Point's brand and website started from a creative idea and grew into a reality of solutions. The project goal to define Pivot Points brand identity, design the brands basic needs and help develop an online presence influenced by market research was achieved through many iterations and consistent communication.
Pivot Points colors, fonts, logo and overall feel was successfully defined to create a smart, sophisticated, and comforting look without loosing sight of the clients early visions. A website was designed to help Pivot Point reach their goals of gaining access to a bigger audience, having a place to share client success stories and a place to keep all of their information and services up-to-date. Designed for both desktop and mobile, Pivot Point now has a brand and website they are happy to call their own.
Takeaways & Next Steps
Working independently with a group of very talented women entrepreneurs was a pleasure. The ideas and excitement provided from my client allowed for great collaboration and development of new solutions. Being the only designer, researcher and point person - I was faced with various design and communication challenges throughout the project. However, all of which had a lesson to be learned and helped both myself and client grow as a team. I gathered a few next steps that I shared with Pivot Point that I think would be helpful moving forward.
• Perform user testing to identify additional pain points and improve the overall user experience.
• Interview clients specifically about the use of the new website.
• Interview clients specifically about the brand design.
• Continue to stay active, updating client stories and developing the online presence of Pivot Point.
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