Bayou Peeps Website Redesign
Volunteer Internship Project
Timeline: October 2022 - December 2022
4 Designers + 1 Lead Designer
Role: Researcher and Designer
Tools: Google Forms, Figma, Axure, UserInterviews.com
Constraints: None
Project Overview
To encourage people to purchase NFTs for a good cause, non-profit Cajun Navy Ground Force wanted a redesign of their NFT launch website, Bayou Peeps.
Problem Space
Cajun Navy Ground Force (also called Cajun Navy) is a disaster relief non profit that organizes volunteers in response to natural disasters across the US. Over the years, the organization has provided aid to 15 disasters across five states and delivered $36 million in time and donations.
In an effort to increase donations, Cajun Navy created Bayou Peeps, a collection of NFTs where 75% of the proceeds goes towards disaster relief. As a part of my volunteer internship, I was tasked with working on a team of four interns and a design lead to deliver a redesign of their initial NFT launch website.
UX Audit
UX Audit Findings
Cajun Navy had created an initial launch website for Bayou Peeps, so our team conducted a UX Audit of the site. Some of my notable pain points found in this audit were:
How Much Does a NFT Cost?: In a login out state, users couldn’t readily see the cost of an NFT which may discourage users as it makes them take additional steps to view the prices.
(NFT Description Page)
Confusing Information Hierarchy: The homepage contains a lot of information and the way it's presented to users could be confusing and time consuming to read. For example, the connection between Bayou Peeps and Cajun Navy isn’t clear.
(Homepage)
Louisiana Lingo Page: Other than being a fun feature and showcasing Cajun culture on the website, does it need to be a page? Are there better ways to incorporate this information on the main pages?
Who is the Audience: The site attempts to explain what a NFT is, but there isn’t any direction on how to purchase one on the site. Clarifying the audience will inform us on how to move forward on this project.
(Homepage)
UX Audit Learnings
As a team, we organize and categorize all of our findings and questions we had for our client. We learned that the primary audience are prospective donors are familiar with NFTs and the Louisiana Lingo page was their way of sharing Cajun culture on the site.
Conducting a UX Audit was helpful in creating clarifying questions for our client and generating ideas for questions to ask users during the user research phase.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive Analysis Findings
To understand best practices for a nonprofit NFT website, we conducted a competitive analysis. Since I had the most experience out of all designers in this area, I led the team through this process. I defined the criteria for what types of companies will be highlighted in the analysis. The criteria was nonprofits that are currently selling NFTs and proceeds are donated or sites where donors can donate with crypto. This was the selected criteria because we want to observe how direct competitors (selling NFTs) and indirect competitors (donating in crypto) are enticing prospective donors to donate in a new way.
Through facilitating the competitor selection and discussion, we noted what our competition does well and ways we could emulate that success on Bayou Peeps. Some notable finding were:
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Comprehensive breakdown of how the purchase of a NFT or donation will be used
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Using a FAQ Section to ask common questions
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Mentioned other ways to donate
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Explains what is a NFT is, how to access it and information in crypto
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Uses pictures and videos to show the impact of a donation
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Links to NFTs on marketplaces (Open Sea)
(Competitive Analysis Graphic)
Conducting a competitive analysis gave us insight on ways we can visually and systematically improve the Bayou Peeps website and possible solutions to pain points that might be brought up in user research.
User Research
User Research Findings
From the UX Audit and competitive analysis, we created a range of questions to help us understand users' donation habits when it comes to NFTs and crypto, their thoughts on Louisiana and Cajun culture. Answers to these questions help us decide the visual and functional direction of this product as well as recommendations on copy. Each member on the team interviewed 2-3 potential users on UserInterviews.com (10 users interviewed in total) and sent out a Google Form (47 respondents). Some notable findings were:
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66% of survey respondents had an idea of what an NFT is, but most have not donated cryptocurrency.
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When asked if there were reasons you wouldn’t purchase any NFTs for charity, 26.9% indicated there wasn’t a reason, 26.9% were uncertain of what NFTs are, and 15.3% preferred other donation methods (check, cash, etc.)
The Impact of the UX Audit and User Research
Insights from the UX Audit and user research helped us figure out what to feature on each page and user flows for various tasks. I was responsible for the Shop the Collection page and website header features and user flows. If Cajun Navy decided to sell their NFTs on a NFT marketplace in addition to their website, there could be a CTA on the Shop the Collection page. There should be a filter to help users sort through the hundreds of NFT options, and they will be able to see the price without logging into a crypto wallet.
Wireframes
Low Fidelity Wireframes
As a team, we did Crazy 8s for each of the 5 pages on the site. Using my own drawings, I created low-fi wireframes of four pages: Homepage, Shop the Collection, NFT Description popup, and About. The team liked my wireframes and we moved forward with my wireframes as the blueprint to be iterated on.
Homepage
NFT Description Popup
About
Shop the Collection
Final Prototype
High Fidelity Wireframes
The other designers worked together to develop the final high fidelity prototype which included the addition of an interactive map to learn more about Cajun/Louisiana culture and the impact of the Cajun Navy.
Implementation
After reviewing the work, the clients were impressed and the new site is in development with a prospective launch of Spring 2024.
Key Takeaways
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Give others the opportunity to shine and grow: Some of the designers created stronger mid/high wireframes so I supported their vision for the site rather than continue iterating on mines.
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Make opportunities to drive design decisions: Stepping up and leading the competitive analysis and spending extra time on the low-fi wireframes allowed me to have a more meaningful and visible impact on the team than previous projects. I will continue to seek out leadership moments and take initiative on future projects.