BAAG's Responsive Design
A social club's website design bridging its users in a central hub
Brief
Bay Area Anime and Gaming (BAAG) is a social club created in 2015 on MeetUp.com. After organizational changes in 2016, it was revamped and staff started using Facebook and Discord. With 2.9K+ members, BAAG is where anime lovers and gamers meet and keep in touch with friends. With weekly events virtually and in-person throughout Silicon Valley, CA., members find a sense of community where they can share their interests.
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The three founders wanted to promote BAAG, attract new members, and build their brand by creating a website for their group.
Team
Solo UXUI Contractor
Category
Responsive Design
Branding Identity
Social Club
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Challenge
Challenge
BAAG is a volunteer based group that doesn't have the financial means for branding and designing a main website about the organization and updated events. Members scatter through three platforms to find information and are unaware of community rules. Due to this, there has been recent unsolicited direct messages on Discord, harassment, and disputes.
Constraints
BAAG has a style guide so I had to work with the colors and font provided. The founders wanted to work on the FAQ page and wanted a simple layout of the website. This involved few tabs and no drop down menus.
Understanding the Client, the Community, and their Interests
Being Disliked for Something Enjoyed
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Interviews for Client Motivations
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Three staff members were interviewed. They talked about why they like the BAAG community and the reasons why they continue their involvement as volunteer staff members:
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These interviewees wanted to pay-it-forward as former non-staff members. They'd like for the new website to show BAAG is a welcoming community and to promote the various experiences BAAG brings to enrich people's lives.
Survey for Member Needs
A survey was provided for members to share their experiences with social clubs, credibility of social clubs, thoughts on BAAG, and what they'd expect to see if a BAAG website existed. There were 21 responses with data shown below:
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38% of participants expressed shared interests as an important factor for joining a social group
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33% said friendliness and acceptance is crucial
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These two findings about go hand-in-hand with participants’ favorite part about BAAG with 48% responding with making friends​
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The survey revealed that personal experiences and experiences told by others showed the most value when determining the credibility of a social club. Followed by reviews and pictures which would be important aspects for a website to leverage.
Keeping the Community in Mind
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Through the survey and interviews, an empathy map was created to show what a new member may experience. With this, Bryan was created to help me design BAAG's website.
Planning
A Simple Site
The site map is very simple due to the client's request to keep it minimal and easy to navigate. I recommended having a member portal to replace MeetUp, Discord, and/or Facebook, but my suggestion was declined due to the thoughts of "redundancy". One of the founders wasn't interested in getting rid of the three platforms even though it meant more work for the staff.
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About Us - history of BAAG and staff bio for credibility
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Events - calendar of events for members to be up-to-date with what's happening in BAAG
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FAQ - to diminish any confusion new and current members may have
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Join Now - call-to-action with ways to join BAAG
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Donate - donations for website and MeetUp fees with possible funds for better events
Mid-Fidelity Mockups
While designing, I made sure to meet the expectations of the founders, staff, and current BAAG members. Keeping their wants and needs in mind, I laid out the four necessary pages to get BAAG started.
Final Designs
A homepage with staff's desire to focus on community and BAAG members' survey responses regarding credibility through pictures and reviews.
23% of surveyors responded
with reviews for
credibility
Staff's want for emphasis on community and BAAG experience enriching lives
19% of surveyors responded
with reviews for
credibility
To show BAAG is more than just anime and gaming
Other Pages
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Throughout various parts of the survey, participants mentioned information about staff whether if it was for credibility, a want, or what they look for when visiting a website.
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71% of survey respondents said they'd look for an event page
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43% wished for a calendar to see
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33% wanted information about events
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As per client request to solve the problem of no central BAAG site and to decrease harassment. The "Three Ways to Join" and "Member Conduct" sections were laid out on the same page for potential members to see.
Lesson Learned & Next Steps
Challenges and what I learned: Working with a client has challenges especially when there is a lack of communication. Whenever I submitted information on progress I've made or asked a question, I wouldn't get a response for a week. For future projects, I plan to have a clear communication agreement with the client and expectations for both parties.
Next Steps: A few members wanted to read about "Animes of the Week", staff recommended animes, and non-BAAG anime related events. Others have suggested members being able to submit blog posts. Letting trusted members be involved with the curation of articles would not only help increase member retention through commitment, but also member engagement through content. By learning about membership attraction and retention strategies and the benefits of engaged members BAAG will have an easier time having happier members.
Inspiration & Dedication
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E.K. (brother) who introduced me to games and spends time with me playing them.
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All the friends I made through gaming and memories made by playing together.
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I hope everyone interested in anime and/or gaming meet people who accept them for who they are and that the bullying stops.