Championing Literature and Human Rights Through Design
PEN America ~ 2022
PEN America champions free expression and celebrates the intersection of literature and human rights. With a global reputation, their website serves as a vital hub for advocacy, resources, and storytelling. However, their digital presence was outdated and failed to represent their prestige and impact effectively.
The Challenge
PEN America faced significant challenges with their digital presence:
An outdated website that did not reflect their global brand identity.
Painfully slow backend processes for content updates.
A fragmented ecosystem of microsites, which were difficult to manage and lacked brand consistency.
Methods to uncover insights
Stakeholder Sessions
Competitor Analysis
Analytics Review
User Surveys
User Testing (via Userbrain)
Tree Testing (via optimal workshop)
Content Audits
SEO Review
Key Findings from Research and User Insights
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Outdated User Experience
PEN America's websites felt dated and lacked visual appeal. Static pages and inconsistent designs negatively impacted brand cohesion and the overall experience. Research showed that 85% of people experienced banner blindness when attempting to complete tasks.
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Limited Mobile Engagement
Despite a 139% increase in mobile usage from the previous year, people were significantly less engaged when accessing PEN America's website via mobile devices, indicating critical issues with mobile usability and design.
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Homepage Underutilization
Data revealed that most people weren't entering through PEN America's homepage. Instead, they discovered the organization through search engines and landed directly on report or issues pages. The homepage accounted for only 6% of all pageviews.
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Navigation and Findability Challenges
People struggled to locate information due to cluttered navigation and confusing terminology across PEN America's sites. Survey results showed that 20% of respondents specifically requested easier ways to find information.
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Resource Accessibility Issues
Clear pathways to PEN America's resources were lacking, creating obstacles for people trying to access the organization's full range of materials. The search functionality showed friction points, with 29% of people attempting to refine their searches further.
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Limited Content Engagement
While PEN America's reports attracted high traffic, people weren't engaging deeply with the static long-form content. This prevented meaningful connections with important issues, with only 22% of content-heavy pages being consumed on average.
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Accessibility Barriers
The websites failed to fully meet WCAG's four guiding principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust). For example, the frequent use of all-caps text created barriers for the 20% of people in the USA living with some form of dyslexia.
Understanding Our People
We developed inclusive and accessible personas to represent PEN America's key audience segments, ensuring their needs guided our redesign process. Our research identified five core groups: students, educators, activists, literary professionals, and literary enthusiasts. Each persona was crafted based on extensive user research and stakeholder input.
From Research to Solutions
Based on our research findings, we developed solutions that addressed PEN America's core challenges. Through iterative design and testing, we simplified the navigation structure and terminology while implementing key improvements such as:
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Modernized for a Captivating Experience
We enhanced visual appeal, brand cohesion, and the overall experience by reimagining design elements and establishing a consistent content hierarchy across PEN America's digital presence.
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An Experience That Encouraged Action
We created a seamless and persuasive experience that encouraged active involvement and maximized support for PEN America's causes through proven UX techniques and strategic engagement points.
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Easy Access to All PEN America Resources
We’ll simplify navigation, designing a robust information architecture that establishes clear pathways allowing people to explore resources effortlessly.
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Enhance search & filter
We will make it easier for people to find what they need by optimizing how they search and filter content while embedding ARC, OFHM, and WV content within the main PEN site.
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Embracing inclusive design
By adopting inclusive design practices like optimized text-to-background color contrast and using accessible fonts, we’ll ensure everyone can access all PEN websites.
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A homepage that tells PEN’s story
People access the PEN website from various entry points. This offers an opportunity to optimize the homepage for impactful storytelling, rather than overwhelming it with excessive, unnecessary pathways.
Bringing content to life with animated elements and interactive features, captivate readers and generate interest.
The new PEN.org soft-launched in late 2024, marking the beginning of a transformative digital experience. With a modernized design and improved functionality, the site is already demonstrating its potential.
What’s Next:
While the soft launch introduced a foundation of improvements, 2025 will bring additional features and updates, including enhanced content, refined search tools, and expanded user engagement opportunities.
Early Results:
Initial KPIs show a promising uptick in both traffic and user engagement, highlighting the impact of the redesigned user experience. Feedback from stakeholders and users has been overwhelmingly positive, affirming the value of PEN America’s digital evolution.