WHY a community website?
I have been involved in Venice Youth Council (VYC) for 19 years and they have had the same website for as long as I can remember. With the future generations heavily reliant on the internet and mobile devices, I felt that it was necessary to pitch a website update to VYC. I have been coaching a basketball team for this organization over the last three years and have witnessed the need for an easier form of communication between all community members, more updates on community events and gym usage, and a way to track down lost items.
USER Research
Three primary user groups identified through research were:
1. Coaches who need to have all certifications completed and need to be in touch with other coaches and commissioners on a regular basis
2. Parents who need to keep track of their child(ren)’s basketball schedule and find missing items that their child may have lost
3. VYC alumni who want to come back to their community to participate in events or to play basketball again.
Basketball Coach
Sydney
Sydney is a basketball coach of the Venice Monarchs who needs an efficient and stress-free way of communicating with other coaches and parent reps because she is very busy and doesn’t have time to play phone tag with multiple people every weekend.
Parent
LArry
Larry is a father of two VYC players who needs an easy way to manage all of his kids’ VYC activities because he has a hard time keeping track of everything when information is scattered throughout too many different platforms.
VYC Alum
Taylor
Taylor is a VYC alumni who needs to find out how she can use the gym at the community center because she wants to continue to play basketball but currently doesn’t have a place to play at.
Our Services
User research - MAin Problems
1
Difficult to get into contact with people
Coaches and parents have difficulty contacting other members of their community due to the fact that they don’t have everyone’s phone numbers or emails. The new VYC website will have a messaging feature.
2
Too many platforms
Members have to juggle between the current VYC website, emails, phone calls, TeamSnap, and Sports Engine. The new design will incorporate all these features into one place.
3
Inability to find lost items
Parents have a difficult time locating their child’s lost items. There is a bin outside of the community center but there is no guarantee that the lost item is in there. This website will have a “Lost & Found” section.
4
Lack of information about gym usage
Oftentimes, the only time a parent/coach knows the gym is occupied is when their team has practice at that time. The new website will have a “Gym Schedule” section so people can check when the gym is available.
SOLUTIons
Mockups of my design
Homepage
- everything relating to the organization is located all in one app
- easy navigation so that even users who aren't as familiar with digital applications can understand what information is available to them
Gym schedule page
- all members of the community are able to view when the gym is being used
- not only does this allow parents to be informed about their children's practice time, but it allows alumni to see when the gym is vacant for them to come in and play
Messaging page
- messaging takes place on the same platform that everything else does
- community members don't have to go searching around for each other's phone numbers and emails and can easily message straight from their sole community website
Lost and found page
- community members can easily browse through the lost and found instead of having to physically return to the community center to look for their lost item
- users can easily message the person who found the item from this page to coordinate with them on how to retrieve their item
team page
- this page is useful for players, coaches, and parents so that all parties are informed on rosters, upcoming events, and important information relating to the team
- most communication currently happens through text and email and it's the coaches job to inform the players about important information -- players would now have access to it on their own
announcements page
- this page allows commissioners of the community center to post their important announcements
- currently, commissioners send their announcements to the entire organization via mass emails, but oftentimes, they get flooded by other personal or community-related emails
IMPACT
Venice Youth Council has been operating for over 50 years and their most recent website update took place in 2010, when their website was initially created. Now that almost every one has a smartphone (even the children!), it is important that the community receives a much needed update to their website and current system.
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As a coach of this organization, I've noticed a lot of areas that could benefit from improvement. One of those areas is definitely the communication between community members. With so much important information being sent our way daily, it is imperative that we are able to stay informed, but it becomes difficult when there are multiple platforms that this information is coming to us through.
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I recently showed the website design to other community members and they felt that it would solve a lot of the similar issues that they have with the way VYC currently operates. I am currently working with VYC on updating their website.