Venture for America has built a national movement, propelling efforts of recent college graduates to become future leaders and entrepreneurs. They came to Niftic for a complete brand overhaul.
I reorganized content in an easy-to-understand way and applied a refreshed brand to the digital experience, boosting application numbers and driving awareness to Venture for America's mission.
Initial structure
The old site map favored depth over width. This means that users had to click or tap more times before getting to the most important content of the website, such as the cities in which Venture for America is based.
Additionally, the primary navigation titles (in blue) were wordy and redundant.
A reorganized site map
The new site map surfaces the most important content that makes up the Venture for America site. Titles of each navigation item make it obvious what will be on that page.
When designing the main navigation of a website, I create broad "buckets" of content that do not overlap, making it obvious where things are stored. In this case, the buckets were the Cities, Startups, and Community that make up Venture for America.
We also consolidated content pertaining to the actual experience of being a fellow under the aptly named "Fellow Experience" navigation item.
Although they each have their own section in the main navigation, the cities, startups, and people on the Venture for America website are not siloed. Smart cross-linking weaves together different types of content.
For example, a user on the "Baltimore" city page can reference the startups based in that location, along with the current fellows enrolled in the program. This functionality was previously unavailable on the old site.
We decided the redesign would elevate the stories of current fellows, as their stories would help convince future fellows to join them. In effect, we designed a “Fellow Stories” component that we featured on several pages throughout the site.
Context on what it's like to be a fellow enrolled in Venture for America was scattered throughout the original site. We streamlined this information into an immersive "Fellow Experience" section, supporting VFA's goal of increasing application numbers via advertising the unique journey only they map out for enrollees.
In the "Fellow Experience" section, visitors find a repository of all fellow stories, along with an FAQ page. There is also the "Fellow Roadmap", guiding potential fellows along the path to their career success.
After we decided the base structure through rounds of wireframes, we applied the new brand, illustrations, and animations to the website. Using color intentionally, we reserved yellow for accents and buttons, calling attention to the primary action of "Becoming a Fellow".
We infused the new wordmark's monoline treatment throughout the brand– weaving together the ideas, people, and places that make up Venture for America.
Not only a symbolic nod to distinctive career pathways and strong connections, the monoline is also a practical visual element that helps guide eyes through content.
