The Canada Council for the Arts website has issues like unclear buttons/call to actions, too much information on the homepage, and color problems that make it hard for users to find what they need, especially when they're trying to get funding for their art projects.
Redesign and simplify the website to engage users and ease their ability to research and apply for funding.
The goal was to understand specific information users wanted when looking for funding opportunities and support for their artistic pursuits to help ensure that the website provided clear and relevant information to its users as well as gave users a pleasant experience while navigating the CCftA site.
Parts of the website need clarity like Portal access page and the featured homepage section
Navigation needs to be streamlined and it's hard to get back to the homepage
There is inconsistent icon and button treatment
No relevance to hero and card images
The Canada Council for the Arts website currently has a split complementary color palette. Unfortunately, after further inspection it is found that the 3 secondary colors do not fully pass AAA standards with regular text and the secondary blue doesn't pass regular, large or the graphic components test.
Recommendation: Adjust the colors to allow for better readability for all viewers including the visually impaired. Also bring in Canadian color palette to tie into canada government branding so users understand it is government funding.
Art
Participating in Workshops
Traveling
Museums Exploration
Festivals
Access to financial Aid
Information on gallery opportunities
To be able to live off her work
Money for supplies to make her pieces
Difficulty making a stable income from selling her pieces on her own
Issues getting her name more widely spread and recognized. Finding a reliable community and networking would help her find more opportunities so promote her pieces.
Her work is expensive to make between the canvases, paints, etc., additional funding would really help her.
Artists would typically want to go to the Canada Council for the Arts (CCftA) website to find funding opportunities, grants, and resources that can help fund their artistic career and to achieve higher visibility in the art world.
The task for this user is to find funding options offered by CCftA and then apply for a grant.
Users get frustrated and confused with the numerous levels within the navigation. They did not want the levels to go past 2.
The mobile tests has the most issues as it seems the website loses some of its information when its converted. Breadcrumbs go away, banners that tell the user where they are, etc.
Users got lost in the site as well. Although the website does have some breadcrumbs, it still doesn't highlight what page the user is on.
After conducting the Navigation Usability Sessions, I streamlined the navigation to just one level because multiple levels confused users. Also, some of the tabs didn't have drop downs which made users think the navigation was broken. In doing this, I also combined some pages such as Spotlight & Press and moved Priorities to the About Us section named Strategic Plans.
Priorities
Public Accountability
Strategic Plans
Grants
Prizes
Strategic Funds
Research Library
Stats & Stories
User's at first still had a hard time telling what the page was about at first glance. “Bringing the arts to life” headline was not helping users get context. They could tell it was about art and funding but not about if it was asking for donations or geared towards artists who actually needed funding options.
Key Changes: Changed the tagline to state clearly what the main point of the site is for: funding artists and promoting the study and enjoyment of art. Then I adjusted the paragraph below to represent the same and changed the “View Grants” button to “Discover Funding Options.” Users following change all understood the purpose of the site. I, also, found that users didn't want so many options still in the navigation header so I moved “Strategic Plans” into the “About Us” tab to give more breathing room. Users were able to clearly get around the site and “loved the easy, clean design” with clear call to actions.
After analyzing the feedback I received from my user tests, I was able to go back and make updates to all the high and low priority pain points for the users and Canada Council for the Arts making the site a better experience for all involved.
All users tested loved the new design of the site and were able to grasp the purpose immediately.
Canada Council for the Arts empowers artists to pursue their dreams and share their work with the public. CCftA strives to inspire and encourage artists and their community to grow and further their development with the arts.
