Soil & Soul
Client: Soil & Soul
Roles: UX Researcher & UX Writer, Website Auditor
Methods: Heuristic Audit, Usability Testing
Tools: Figma, Keynote
The Brief:
Audit a website for a non-profit organization in Southeastern Florida focused on mindfulness and eco-healing
What I Did:
I ran a heuristic audit of the website, developed a usability testing script, ran tests, and synthesized findings for the client to help them to better meet their goals of sustained growth and participation
Introduction
Soil & Soul is a Palm Beach County, Florida based organization that aims to offer mindfulness opportunities to its local population through mindfulness circles, working in nature to help preserve a local forest, a mindfulness club and a gardening club for local high school students.
While Soil & Soul reaches about 200-300 community members per year, they have aspirations to reach more people through their programs. Currently, they work with families, children, high school students, and adults seeking stillness, the call from nature, a need for mindfulness, and a desire to get to know that more deeply.
The Soil & Soul website serves several purposes for the organization at present- it gives an overview of their programs, ways to get in touch with those who are running the organization, communicates the mission and vision of the organization, and offers ways to support their objectives. What Soil & Soul are seeking from their website is more interaction and attention from people who would be interested in supporting, attending, and leading their programs.
The Process
Heuristic Audit
Usability Testing
Design Recommendations
This process allowed for me to assess what Soil & Soul’s goals are for their website, how well the website is currently meeting those goals both from my perspective as well as the perspectives of others outside of the organization, and then to make suggestions to help redesign the site to better suit a user’s experiences and Soil & Soul’s needs.
The Research
How are users currently experiencing Soil & Soul’s website?
How can the website be utilized to drive the organization’s growth? Where are the opportunities to encourage people to join in their programs?
Research Goals
From an initial glance, my sense was that the visitors to Soil & Soul’s website would come to the site to find a way to engage with the organization’s programming. Users would need to find a way to engage in their activities. Could users currently do that? Could those who visit the site understand the intention of Soil & Soul? And if growth was important to the organization, how could the website help fuel that growth?
Heuristic Audit
Language
A visitor to the Soil & Soul page would be greeted with this beautiful, peaceful image, which transmitted the feeling of the organization very well, however, users would get lost in the language that comes with the image. Users might not be able to make sense of Soil & Soul’s mission based off of this statement.
There are other places in which the language of the site is metaphoric, and not directive. Users would better understand the purpose and direction on the website if they knew where a link might take them.
Program Schedule
From my initial analysis of the website, I couldn’t easily tell when & where Soil & Soul’s programs would meet. All of the information was there, but not easily accessible for me. I needed to do some digging in several areas to find the information. It’s clear what each program entails, but from first glance, I thought the time and location needed to be presented more prominently.
Would visitors to the website be able to piece this information together easily? How could this schedule be communicated more consistently and easily?
Testimonials
One of the great assets to Soil & Soul’s website was their testimonials. If a visitor had any trepidation about attending one of Soil & Soul’s programs, an area of testimonials from current and past members of their community would give assurance to a potential user.
Would users feel more assured by the presence of testimonials? Are potential visitors to Soil & Soul’s programs being turned off from participating due to a lack confidence in their programs?
Donations
Finally, with Soil & Soul’s aims for growth, an easy and efficient way to receive donations will be essential for the organization moving forward. Currently, there are two “give now” buttons, which give a clear call to action, but they direct users to slightly different pages.
Users can also donate to the fund of their choice. Is that something they would like to do? Are they able to make those donations quickly, confidently, and easily?
Usability Testing
Usability testing upheld quite a few things from my heuristic audit, and revealed a few new areas for growth. The users highlighted areas related to language, scheduling, testimonials, and donations, but they also illuminated a desire to connect with the people behind Soil & Soul and expressed confusion over quantified information.
Biographies
In the interviews, 2/4 users expressed a desire to get to know the people behind Soil & Soul’s programs. They felt that the connection would be more legitimizing for the organization.
One user expressed, “I think I’d be more likely to get involved if I knew more about the instructors and who’s involved.”
Another expressed, “I want to click for bios, but I’m not able to do that.”
Graphs
In the interviews, 4/4 users expressed confusion over measurable information on a few of the pages of the website. They questioned the measurability of each of the graphs.
One user expressed, “How do they get those percentages on the about page?”
The Design Iterations
Proposed Changes
For the website moving forward, there were a few general themes on how to make improvements for Soil & Soul’s users.
Language
Soil & Soul’s users were getting lost in the language of their website. The first thing users see is:
“Shelter from the Storms of Life
Stressed? Tired? Sad? A mindfulness circle can help. Our weekly circles energize the body, renew the mind, and refresh the spirit. We support holistic wellness through movement, stillness, and connection.” Users are then shown a button labeled, “Find shelter.”
Instead- users should be greeted with basic information about Soil & Soul.
“Soil & Soul is a mindfulness and eco-healing organization based in Palm Beach County, Florida. We aim to create community and heal the earth through our programs.”
Calendar
Clarity about Soil & Soul’s schedule would be helpful to bring in new community members. A consistently updated calendar of events with time, dates, and locations would help users stay updated on events. The current calendar is outdated and would benefit from consistency.
Photography
Soil & Soul’s photography really brings clarity and warmth to their site. Users wanted to see more pictures of events and programs on the website to gain an even better understanding of their programs. Currently, photos are located on an external page. Some should be brought to the main page in order for users to continue to build an understanding of what to expect from their programs.
Presentation
In March of 2023, I gave a presentation to two of Soil & Soul’s leaders to discuss these proposed changes to their website. That presentation can be found by clicking the image below.
Next Steps
Soil & Soul’s next steps will include developing their site further to accommodate for these proposed changes. I look forward to hearing more from Soil & Soul as their programs and community continues to evolve and expand through their website improvements.
