The Melanin Village
Content Design
Client
The Melanin Village​
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My Role
Lead Content Designer /
UX Writer
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Team
Developers, Product Strategists, Project Managers,
UX Researchers, UX Designers, UX Writers
Duration
8 weeks
Organization Background
The Melanin Village (TMV) aims to empower Black and Brown families via homeschooling initiatives. Apprenticeship agency Tech Fleet had already completed 1 project phase with TMV.
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Problem
How can we alleviate TMV users' main challenges: manual administrative tasks, locating information, and navigating the unresponsive platform?
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Solution
We made writing guidelines and platform recommendations to support an easier online experience for TMV users.
Determining TMV's Voice
Content Audit
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We conducted a content audit to analyze TMV's website. The writing team collaborated with the design team to consolidate our evaluations of the website.
We noticed inconsistencies in the copy's voice and typography, broken links, outdated information, and repetitive information that can be consolidated.
We also noticed these accessibility issues: the website's non-responsiveness, inconsistently small font sizes, and low text-to-background contrast.
Content audit for MelaninVillage.org
Brand Archetypes
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We examined TMV's personas and our client's brand voice slider scale response to determine TMV's brand archetypes.
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After speaking with our client, we determined that TMV's brand is a mix of sage, hero, and everyman.
The Melanin Village seeks to provide high-quality, culturally-affirming educational opportunities and outcomes for Black and Brown youth via professional development, support, and community for their homeschooling moms.
UX writing team workspace: brand archetypes determination
Content Style Guide
We developed TMV's content style guide based on our content audit, TMV's brand archetypes, and TMV's email newsletter.
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We focused on four segments: voice and tone, usage, accessibility, and glossary of terms.
TMV's content style guide
Platform Migration Research
To help our client determine viable platforms for TMV's site migration, the writing team met with the strategy and design teams to determine essential platform customization features for a better UX.
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With the design team, we developed platform evaluation criteria from the UXer's perspective. Then, we rated the developer team's recommended community-based platforms using those criteria.
UX writing and UX design team's platform evaluation sheet
We concluded that live demos with representatives from each platform would offer better insight into how much creative freedom is feasible during site development.
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To prepare for the demos, we met with the strategy, developer, and design teams to discuss logistics and our questions. After holding demo meetings with Hivebrite and Honeycommb, we agreed to recommend Hivebrite to our client as the best platform for TMV's future migration.
Future Impact
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TMV’s homeschool families can have content that’s consistently inclusive, relevant, and empowering for them.
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This strengthens families’ sense of inclusion, community, self-awareness, and trust in the brand.
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TMV’s administrators and families can have more user-friendly interfaces, responsiveness, and support.
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This increases accessibility.
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More automated tasks decrease human error and increase efficiency.
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My version of TMV's redesigned tablet landing page
What I Learned
Here are my takeaways from this project:
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UX writing isn't common knowledge. From day one, I established a strong UX writing foundation for my team. We reviewed and discussed relevant terms and practices to successfully achieve our goals.
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Communication is key. My team made every effort to align with the design team and shadow and share about our fellow project team meetings. As a result, we established our seat at the table and made informed and timely decisions. ​​​​​
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The writing and research teams could have collaborated more closely to ensure that research data informed content decisions effectively and that the UX best aligns with user needs
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Expectations don't always match reality. The design and writing teams hoped to develop responsive website designs in this phase, but that's not something our client needed. We didn't recommend TMV's future platform until the end of this phase, so new designs will come later.
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My version of TMV's redesigned mobile landing page