Summary
Operation Smile is a global organization that has been providing safe healthcare for cleft conditions in low and medium-income countries for over 40 years. As part of their fundraising efforts, they keep and expand their presence in developed countries as well, so they can bring light about cleft conditions and what can people to do help.
As part of these efforts, the Organization reignited its presence in Switzerland. This required revamping the Swiss chapter website, so it serves as a presentation card for potential corporate and institutional investors that may be interested in Operation Smile mission worldwide.
The Challenge
- The target audience for the site was representatives from different companies, corporations, or organizations from Switzerland considering a partnership with Operation Smile. SEO was not a priority for the client.
- Switzerland has four official languages, and Operation Smile Europe communicates in English. There are five languages to consider.
- The client wanted to be able to change content on their own down the road.
- Keeping the site simple was paramount, it needed to be deployed quickly and future content maintenance tasks must be kept simple as well, considering the language multiplicity.
- No blog will be needed at this stage.
Some of the patterns found in the old site.
Preliminary discussions with the client
Tech stack
The site was in WordPress & WPBakery as a page builder. Keeping WordPress made sense for the client since they were familiar with the CMS, but letting go WPBakery was advised. We agreed to create a custom template for the site using WordPress’ builder, Gutenberg, and React as the main framework.
Languages
We aimed to strike a balance between ease of maintenance and language availability. We decided to publish the main site in English and create translations for German, French, and Italian using DeepL model, and publish after approval from the OS Europe team to make sure they comply with the Organization’s content guidelines.
Design phases
First, we needed to create a new to createstructure for the site. Once approved, we went ahead with wireframes and a moodboard to set the project visuals right from the beginning. After getting this phase approved from the client, a high-fidelity prototype was crafted and presented to the client, and handed-off to the development team.
Phase I: Content structure
We needed to know which kind of information was looked for potential corporate partners. For this, desktop research and competitive analysis was made in order to craft a content structure that makes sense with the Organization’s message and needs.
Given that the main audience this site will be aimed to was potential corporate and institutional partners, the storytelling of the website gravitated around inspiring trust in visitors, by sharing the great impact the Organization has in every country it operates, the number of lives changed by their work, and the about 40 years they have been around.
Wireframes
With the content structure ready, we worked on wireframes and visual references for the site.
For the visual style of the site, a mix of the US-based International site and other European chapters’ websites was aimed. The Organization is still figuring out how to unify its global identity, so a clean aesthetic was prioritized to make it easier to replace once rebranding efforts are concluded.
Hi-Fi Prototype
The homepage was specifically crafted for potential corporate and institutional partnerships. Although secondary, the website also provides information on how to proceed with individual donations.
Operation Smile has about 40 years of history and achievements wherever it has been. We had more than enough information to showcase and make visitors trust in the Organization.
Operation Smile has about 40 years of history and achievements wherever it has been. We had more than enough information to showcase and make visitors trust in the Organization.
In the About page, we highlighted the impact the Organization has all over the world in providing comprehensive healthcare to cleft patients.
In the About page, we highlighted the impact the Organization has all over the world in providing comprehensive healthcare to cleft patients.
We have a contact form for potential partners to quickly reach out the OS Europe Team for further guidance.
Hand-off to Development
Once the design was approved by the client, a hand-off instance was held off with the developer in charge. As I was in charge of the project as well, I kept supporting the developer and the client until implementation of the site.
What went right
- The whole site went from ideation to deployment in 8 weeks.
- The new site ranks A in GTmetrix, with a 95% mark in performance and 97% in structure.
- Metrics tools were enabled to monitor the site performance for future iterations.
What went wrong
- Client-side Team was changed over the end of the project, so the generated DeepL translations weren’t reviewed. Site was deployed in English only, which still serves the Organization purpose.
