Executive+Summary


 * EXECUTIVE SUMMARY**

BK Farmyards is a collective of urban farmers “dedicated to expanding social justice and agricultural production in Brooklyn.”* It fulfills this mission in several ways, including developing partnerships with local individuals and organizations, offering urban farming training opportunities, and performing community outreach.
 * __Overview__**

BK Farmyards’ current website contains a great deal of information vital to the operation of the collective, but its access is hampered by poor organization. Our team’s challenge was to reorganize and redesign the content of the site in a way that would address both the goals of the company and the needs of their target users. In addition, we strove to create a design that would project a "look and feel" in harmony with the community-focused spirit of the organization.

A preliminary interview with the founder of BK Farmyards, Stacey Murphy, established several important company objectives. In particular, Stacey identified three strategic goals as central to the organization: In addition to these three objectives, Stacey expressed an interest in improving the brand of BK Farmyards as a “front face” for the collective and as an advocate in the food justice community. Taken together, these goals indicate the need for a website capable of promoting activity, community, and strategy building in addition to serving as an informational repository for the company.
 * __Process__**
 * //Client interview//**
 * Through partnerships, gain access to land and resources
 * Train the trainer
 * Build capacity in the community

Armed with the information from the client interview, we were able to identify a number of target users and tasks that could be represented in the form of personas and scenarios. Our team created the following personas based on the five categories of target users determined by the class: Each persona was given a name, demographic information, short personal background, motivations for using the site, scenarios (including specific tasks they might want to complete), and site features to match their needs. Throughout the process, the personas helped guide our decisions in terms of content, design, and features. For example, our main navigation sections roughly match our persona types: Get Involved (Natalia, the student volunteer); Our Farms (Dale, the farmer); Partner with us (Richard, the restaurant partner and Richard, the school administrator); and Giving and Sharing (Eleanor, the donor).
 * //Personas and Scenarios//**
 * Richard, the school administrator (partner)
 * Natalia, the student volunteer (learner/volunteer)
 * Chris, the restaurant partner (community capacity)
 * Dale, the individual farmer (collective member)
 * Eleanor, the donor (donor)

The next step was to analyze competing websites and conduct a SWOT analysis for each (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). We examined the websites of two competitors (Nextdoor Organics and Urban Farming) and three non-competitors (Hey Neighbor, Zipcar, Etsy), which the client found inspirational in terms of functionality or design. Each site was analyzed according to the following criteria: URL, Home page design, Interior page design, Search functionality, Features offered, Navigation (primary, secondary, contextual), Visual design, and Social networking.
 * //Comparative Analysis//**

Through the comparative analysis, we were able to target specific areas where the BK Farmyards site could be improved. We formulated the following conclusions and actions to address them:
 * //**The navigation needs to be more prominent with clear locational information**//. We addressed this by enlarging the main horizontal navigation tabs, keeping side local navigation limited to internal pages, and inserting a breadcrumb trail on all pages.
 * //**The labels need to be more meaningful so users could find what they were looking for**.// With the help of the card sort, our team brainstormed new labels that communicated the contents of each section in a more meaningful way. We then refined them through two rounds of paper prototyping.
 * //**The font, font size, color, and image quality need to be more consistent throughout the site**//. We decided to go with a single font, Helvetica, for the entire site and established standard point sizes for headings, subheadings, and content.
 * **//The site needs a template design with consistent main navigation, header, footer, logo, tag line, and format//.** We created a template with all of these elements to serve as the framework for every page. In addition, we created a limited number of content and landing page templates to contain the majority of the content.
 * **//A search option would be beneficial if the content is diverse and vast//.** We placed a persistent search box in the upper right corner of every page.
 * **//Features such as donate, the events calendar, and subscriber pages need to fit into the overall template design//.** Although we ended up creating a separate page for donating and did not design a subscription site, we included the events calendar in our persistent footer navigation.
 * **//A process with steps would be highly recommended for information gathering, such as subscriptions and donations//.** We created an easy step-by-step process for Volunteer, Donation, Egg CSA, and Chicken Apprenticeship applications via links to pdfs that pop out and thank the user when finished.
 * **//Interactive feedback should be provided, such as a color change when hovering over or clicking on a navigational link//**. We directly incorporated the color change feature into our design and strove to create more interactive features such as hovering and pop-outs.
 * //**The visual design needs to connect with the overall scheme/theme of the site**//. We emphasized brightly colored images throughout the site to emphasize warmth, play, community, and accessibility. Remembering Stacey's recollection of the warm sun, we chose orange as the highlight color for our text.
 * **//The layout needs to be clean, intuitive, clear, and logical//**. Because there is so much content, we tried to simplify the overall look and layout of the information by limiting the main navigation to six sections. We used pop-outs for certain content, so the main page would remain uncluttered. We also used templates to reinforce predictable, intuitive information seeking.
 * **//Social networking links need to be more defined on the site//**. We placed Facebook, Twitter, and Blogger icons in the persistent footer to give them a regular, visible presence.
 * **//Other options to look into might include dynamic images, games, and interactive features like favorites//.** We decided against highly interactive features like games and favorites due to the company's limited resources for maintenance, but we emphasized a dynamic feel through hovers, fade-outs, pop-outs, and dropdown menus.

//**Content Inventory**// Our content inventory of the current BK Farmyards website enabled us to determine the nature and extent of the information to be incorporated in the redesign. In addition to listing its contents, we gave each page an ID, Sub-ID, Name, and URL, and assigned it to one of three categories: Home Page, Interior Page, or Content Page.

Open card sorting is an effective method for analyzing how people categorize and label information. Using the content inventory as a basis, we created thirty-seven index cards with existing content plus fourteen cards of new content. We asked ten people to separate the fifty-one cards into categories and then label the piles. The patterns we observed in the ways that our test subjects grouped information helped us to begin laying out our design. We came up with the following conclusions and means of addressing them:
 * //Card Sorting//**
 * **//People were divided between putting Chicken Workshops and Apprenticeships in a volunteer category and a chicken category//**. We put links to the content in both the "Get Involved" section and the "Chicken Programs" subsection of "What We Offer."
 * **//Everyone created categories relating to Internships/Volunteerships/Apprenticeships and Farms/Farm Profiles/Farmers//**. These categories formed the basis of two of our main navigation tabs: "Get Involved" and "Our Farms."
 * **//People were divided between putting Media in its own category and under an "About" section//**. We initially chose to put media in the "About Us" section, but the paper prototype indicated that we needed more access points.
 * **//There was little consensus on the location of the wishlist//.** We decided to create a separate category named "Giving and Sharing" in which wishlists fit comfortably.
 * //**Almost everyone put "Farmers' Markets" in the Farms category**//. This was a little surprising but we followed suit.
 * //**Three people created categories relating to services and programs**//. We liked this label and initially created "Services and Programs" as one of our main navigation tabs, but the paper prototyping revealed problems with the language.

Paper prototyping gave us the opportunity to test our navigation, labeling, and design at an early stage of the project. Through the reactions of four different testers, we were able to observe and address the following recurring issues, most of which dealt with labeling:
 * //Paper Prototyping and Wireframing//**
 * **//There was ambiguity between "Training" and "Services and Programs" when individuals were asked to find internships and workshops//**. We changed the labels to "Get Involved" and "What We Offer."
 * **//"Training" was a misleading label for volunteerships, internships, apprenticeships, and workshops because it implies long-term education//**. Changing the label to "Get Involved" made this category more flexible and inclusive.
 * //"**Services and Programs" sounds too corporate**//. This contradicted our findings in the card sort, but since the paper prototype testers were our target audience, we changed the label to the more friendly sounding "What We Offer."
 * //**There should be more details about individual farms at the farm type landing page level**//. We created icons for each farm on the farm type landing page that indicate what kind of farm it is (produce, chickens & eggs, flowers, bees & honey), whether it offers volunteerships, and whether it participates in farmers' markets. We also specified that hours and addresses should be included in the snippet of descriptive text that appears on the landing page.
 * **//Crop plans should not be publicly accessible unless desired by the farm//.** We removed the link to crop plans entirely.
 * **//Promotional information should be more visible or have more access points//.** We created a link to the media page in the persistent footer as an alternative access point to the "About Us" page.
 * **//When asked to find information on the Egg CSA, most people went to “Farms and Farmers” rather than “Services and Programs.”//** Changing the label from "Services and Programs" to "What We Offer" led to a successful second-round paper prototyping test with the class instructor.
 * //**People did not click on “Collaborations” when asked to find information on becoming a partner**.// We changed the label to "Become a Partner."

We created our first round of wireframes in Omnigraffle in conjunction with the paper prototyping. Once we had feedback from the two rounds of paper prototyping, we adjusted our wireframes to reflect the final design. We annotated each wireframe to describe the contents and functionality of the page. Working from the same template enabled us to achieve a consistent design for each page.

The paper prototyping and wireframing process demonstrated that some of the features we had originally planned for in our personas and scenarios no longer seemed best for an optimal user experience on the site, and we realized that our goals could be more easily accomplished through simpler, cleaner, more streamlined elements. Other features were rejected due to the unavailability of time and resources for maintaining them. The features we decided not to incorporate included: an FAQ section, a multimedia section highlighting community involvement, crop plans and market plans, a Virtual Marketplace and Sharing area, farmer user profiles, a message board, an upload function for donation items, and a print option. Upon meeting with the BK Farmyards team during our paper prototyping test session, our decisions were confirmed as favorable and more in line with our target audience.


 * The new mission statement quoted by Stacey Murphy during client interview (9/22/2011).