Gifts from God Ministry Website
Client
Gifts from God Ministry Church
Service
UX & Graphic Design, Website Development
Date
March 2024 — June 2024
Team
Amar Pattabiraman, Dante Corsetti, Benjamin Bless, Kyara Munzani
Tools
WordPress (CMS), Bluehost (Hosting), Namecheap (Domain), Figma (Wireframing & Prototyping), Adobe Illustrator (Visual Identity)
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Gifts from God Ministry is a "Hope and Help Center" that is based in the Englewood community of Chicago, and has been in service for over three decades. This 10-week digital transformation project focused on moving the ministry from a fragmented online presence to a centralized WordPress platform. Our objective was to create a digital platform that provided general church information, spirtual resources, human services, and community outreach tools for a multi-generational congregation.
WORK COMPLETED
UX Research: Led a comprehensive Needs Analysis, client interviews, and developed four distinct user personas to ensure the interface accommodated the specific needs of the site's audience.
Information Architecture: Organized resources into a drop-down navigation system.
UI Design: Created custom logo and vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator to develop a strong visual identity for the church.
Site Development: Built a responsive site on WordPress, configured Bluehost hosting, implemented plugins for community outreach and donations.
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THE CHALLENGE
The ministry lacked a dedicated informational hub, making it difficult for parishioners to access church information, youth programs, and community services. The existing digital touchpoints were cluttered and lacked a streamlined way for people to engage or donate to the church.
THE GOAL
Our goal was the build a responsive WordPress website that serves as a "Circle of Goodness" by fostering community engagement, as an information hub, and a platform to secure donations through a clean, user-friendly interface.
RESEARCH METHODS
Our team conducted a comprehensive Needs Analysis, which included stakeholder interviews with Pastor Gay and Apostle St. John Chisum. We developed four distinct user personas including Youth Parishioners, Senior Citizens, Business Partners, and Families. We also completed a competitive analysis of model sites like Fellowship Chicago and TD Jakes for our ideation.
RESEARCH INSIGHTS
We identified a critical need for interactivity over information. Our stakeholders emphasized that the site must be a living resource rather than just a stagnant bulletin board or PDF. Senior parishioners require high-contrast visuals and simplified navigation, while younger members prioritized mobile accessibility and quick links to human resources such as youth counseling and food pantry updates.
USER STORIES
Youth Parishioners: I want to stay engaged and connected with my church community, even when I cannot be physically present
Senior Citizen Parishioners: As a senior citizen parishioner attending Gifts From God Ministry for over four decades, I find immense solace and strength at my church. I want to be able to easily navigate the church's website to access sermons, teachings, and information about church events. I want this website to be a hub to maintain my sense of belonging, even in the comfort of my home.
Community Partners: As a parishioner in the business world, I want to stay connected with a community that can feel like a second family to me.
Family (Parents): As a parishioner with multiple children, my husband and I want to be able to continue our own studies and follow the faith with the church community while also allowing our children to experience and learn faith in a nurturing environment.
USER PERSONAS
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IDEATION
We collaborated with our clients via weekly Zoom meetings to determine an efficient site map. We focused on a drop-down model to organize all of the church's information. This resulted in a five-core category navigation system including a welcome page, events, sermons, services, and contact us. We also integrated a link to their Facebook page so parishioners can access the daily "Words of Inspiration" posted on their Facebook Live.
WIREFRAME
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LOGIC/ARCHITECTURE
The site's architecture is built on WordPress and hosted via Bluehost for its 100% uptime and integrated CDN. We also implemented a plugin-based logic to handle complex features without any maintenance cost. This included integrating WPForms for community outreach, GiveWP and PayPal for secure financial processing, andd an established Firewall and Security Scanner system. We additionally developed a detailed training handbook for our clients so they can make blog posts, manage comments, and create updates independently.
LOGIC MAP
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PROCESS DESCRIPTION
Within our 10-week project life cycle, we began with weekly Zoom meetings with Pastor Gay and Apostle St. John Chisum to define the mission of the website and the resources the site needed for the community. To ensure the site served all involved with the church, we developed four distinct personas. THis led us to prioritize high contrast UI and mobile-first responsiveness. We formalized a requirements document that balanced functional and nonfunctional requirements. WE then mapped out a five-core category navigation system to reduce visual clutter, and built mid-fidelity wireframes in Figma to visualize the above-the-fold content and site identity. Additionally, logos and vector graphics were designed in Adobe Illustrator to represent the church identity. The site was built on WordPress and hosted via Bluehost, and we managed a tight feedback loop by incorporating client critiques at each stage. We then provided a detailed hand-off with a training and documentation manual for our clients to ensure the project's long-term sustainability.
DESIGN CHANGES
The design evolved significantly based on the client's non-functional requirements. We pivoted to a dominant purple color palette, using gold and silver as secondary accents to evoke a sense of spiritual royalty and warmth, and also match the color theme used within the church. We also moved the Donation button to a fixed position above the fold in the header to ensure accessibility from every page. We also simplified the navigation to remove any unnecessary tabs and clutter identified.
FINAL FEATURES
We created a unified donation portal integrating PayPal and CashApp for streamlined community and "help center" support. Additionally, we developed a fully responsive design for parishioners who primarily access the web via smartphones. There is an integrated resource library of food pantry updates, senior services, and youth program schedules. We also provided our stakeholders with a complete Training & Documentation handbook (12+ pages) covering credentials, security measures, and plugin management for the client.
IMPACT
This website centralized 30 years of community service into one digital platform for multigenerational parishioners to access spiritual and human resources 24/7. We validated our design choices through user personas and engaging with our client to create a high-contrast and beginner UI. This empowered a non-technical church community to manage their own digital presence, with the addition of a manual to prevent any long-term dependence on external developers.
