Civil Liberties Union for Europe
Brand strategy, UX design and creative direction for a Berlin-based NGO's news site about civil liberties and rights.
Project team:
- Alex Minkaczbrand strategy, UX design, creative direction
- David Szebenyiart direction, graphic design
- György Folkproduct co-owner, editor-in-chief
- Gergő Szőcsproduct co-owner
The challenge
Civil Liberties Union for Europe is an NGO that fights for your civil rights while you sleep.
This story takes place in a period of political turmoil in Poland which depressed and angered many Polish citizens, me included.
At the same time CLUE placed an ad on Facebook searching for a UX designer to help them redesign their website. My inner activist had finally found a meaningful mission. We instantly hit it off and got to work.
Their organisation works on many fronts, but the most prominent one is the website. It’s where they reach out to people, publicise scandals, gather donations and mobilise their readers to act.
The problem was that the website didn’t work very well. People didn’t seem to get engaged with the content very much. The audience wasn’t growing. The team itself didn’t like the website either. Something had to be done.
The solution
Research and consulting
Through a series of workshops, we extracted, studied and processed everything there is to the organisation. We worked on the brand itself, the website as a product/service and the team as a key asset. I analysed user behaviour through traffic analytics and session recordings. I talked to practically everyone that deals with the website on a daily basis.
Interestingly, one of the main problems wasn’t audience engagement, but a lack of brand personality. Because the team didn’t have a visual identity they could be proud of, they weren’t as motivated to do their best.
We agreed that the whole brand needs to be updated, not only the website. And we did it.
Modeling & wireframing
Making use of the research results and the strategy work, I designed lo-fi wireframes for the whole user journey.
UI design: look like you mean it
The team invited David, a very talented graphic designer, to take part in the project. He designed some incredible visuals. I was responsible for the creative direction, which means making sure that the design output matches the whole team’s input (which they expressed at workshops). I also made sure that the visuals accurately convey the brand concept. And, as you can probably see, the concept is so much different. Now it’s about being bold, fresh and cool. It’s about creating an alternative to boring old NGOs.
I think we nailed it. User traffic seems to confirm this, too!
Would you like to learn more about this project?
I’ll be happy to share the whole story – get in touch.
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“He is a very precise, highly professional expert. He adapted very swiftly to our needs and proposed well structured solutions.”
Gyorgy Folk
Editor-in-chief
Civil Liberties Union for Europe
“Simply one of the best, most rounded and helpful designers I’ve had the privilege of working with.”
Phil Lewis
Managing Director
Corporate Punk
“Alex was a pleasure to work with. He is pro‑active, creative, passionate and thorough in his design approach.”
James Lahren
CEO
PerformX
“He’s a fantastic listener and communicator. He really understood our needs and documented them all out for us to see.”
Hunter Bailey
CEO
Siren