The Hawaii Association of the Blind (HAB) is the state affiliate of the American Council of the Blind, providing support for individuals who are blind in Hawaii through advocacy and social activities. While their website was regularly maintained, the design had not been updated for many years and needed to be made visually accessible for caseworkers and others assisting the blind. I redesigned the site using Adobe XD and built it with Next.js.
I began by creating a style guide in Adobe XD, focusing on accessibility. Based on recommendations for visually impaired users, I chose Poppins as the primary fonts for the site due to its readability. The color scheme was inspired by the American Council of the Blind's national site, using dark blue as the primary color and yellow as a high-contrast accent.
Given HAB's emphasis on history and organizational values, I structured the content to highlight the organization’s background and mission. Tthe site featured a comprehensive "About Us" page, which I streamlined to make the information more accessible. Additionally, there were plans to include recordings and image galleries showcasing the past 50 annual conventions, so I created dedicated sections for these future additions, ensuring that the site could easily accommodate this rich historical content.
The original site was built and maintained using Microsoft FrontPage, which required a significant update. I chose Next.js for the rebuild, prioritizing speed and maintainability. Although a CMS like WordPress was considered, Next.js allowed for a quicker setup with React components, making it a more efficient choice for the largely static, information-based site.
Throughout the design process, I encountered challenges working with the other members. Getting the content I needed from multiple people was difficult as this is a volunteer organization, and many members had conflicting opinions about how the site should be designed and built. We resolved this by creating a website committee with only three people: one person to provide content, one to discuss design, and myself. Once the committee was downsized, the site was completed much faster. This experience taught me the importance of having a single point of contact when working with clients.
One of the main challenges was ensuring the site could be maintained after my involvement ended. Shortly after completing the project, I received a new job offer and was unable to continue supporting HAB. As a result, they hired a new designer to create a more maintainable site. Reflecting on this experience, I realized that using a WordPress page builder like Oxygen Builder might have provided a better long-term solution, making it easier for future designers to manage the site.
The redesigned site improved both visual accessibility and usability, ensuring that caseworkers and other visitors could easily find the information they needed. Although I no longer work with HAB, this project taught me valuable lessons about balancing accessibility with design and the importance of creating maintainable solutions for nonprofits.