Hmong Cultural Center Site Redesign

Hmong Cultural Center Site Redesign

The Hmong Cultural Center is a hub in Saint Paul, MN that serves many purposes. Its target audience is the Hmong population in the Twin Cities, mainly those looking to engage with their local community. The HCC's physical location consists of a museum and a set of classrooms. The website allows users to purchase cultural items and sign up for English language and citizenship courses. The logic behind our design was to present these elements much more prominently.

"I want to learn English somewhere with a sense of community. Where I know I belong. Where I am welcome."

- Mai Yer Xiong, 29.

Immigrant from Laos, speaks English as a 3rd language

01 Empathize

Feature Analysis

The initial part of this process involved looking at what already existed on the HCC site and performing a Heuristic Analysis regarding its functionality, aesthetics, and accessibility. In other similar site redesigns, a competitor analysis would be in order, but the HCC has no direct competitors, so we also tracked sites with similar markets and goals. You can view that analysis here.

Survey

Next in our Empathize step was to create and distribute a survey aimed at users who may approach either any 501c3 non-profit site, or users who might seek community engagement from others of their own culture. Along with this, we also had users view the original HCC site and respond to various interview questions. From both of these user-centered sessions, we were able to begin forming a skeletal version of what would truly beget success in the experience of a new user.

One particularly strong piece of feedback was the idea that English language classes were difficult to find and sign up for; with a visitor base largely made of English language learners, we sought immediately to put both English language classes and US Citizenship classes front and center.

Other feedback included the somewhat bland and generic layout of the current site. At first glance, it could be a site about anything. We wanted to heavily feature Hmong cultural symbols and colors.

How can we bring the offering of English language and citizenship classes to more obvious attention?

02 Define

Persona

Visitors to the HCC website fall into some very specific groups, so after analyzing our survey data, we defined our user persona.

Meet Mai Yer Xiong, a 29-year-old 1st generation immigrant from Laos. She made the crossing to Saint Paul, MN when she was 18. Since then, she has become a stay-at-home mom of three children while her husband works. She is in the process of gaining US citizenship and learning English.

Empathy Map

When further defining Mai Yer, we identified points we as designers need to empathize with when creating a site that works for her.

What do I see?
- Too much text on the site
- I don't easily see how I can sign up for citizenship or English classes
- I want to see a sense of community (other Hmong) right away
What do I do?
- My children act as translators for me when I meet with their teachers
- I want to get a better job, and my green card and low English are standing in my way
- I want to connect with other Hmong nearby
What do I think and feel?
- I feel embarrassed when my English isn't strong and my kids' skills are
- I think I'd feel more comfortable in Saint Paul if I were a US citizen
What do I hear?
- I hear a lot of English that is too fast and too complicated for me to understand
- I hear my kids speaking in English better than I can
Pains
- Feeling embarrassed to ask my kids to translate
- Feeling isolated from my community of Hmong, but not feeling like I belong in the rest of the Saint Paul community either
Gains
- Become more confident and able to advocate for myself
- Get a job outside my home
- Make more friends

Mai Yer wants to learn English and gain her US citizenship. One roadblock is that she doesn't know where to start; she has no sense of local community and feels isolated from her fellow Hmong friends.

Customer Journey Map

We established a customer journey map and storyboard to illustrate an ideal experience for Mai Yer -- one that results in her accomplishing her main goals.

Problem Statement

After the research phase, we concluded the Mai Yer Xiong and other users like her need a site that is more visually-based (utilizes iconography), front-and-center access to English language and US citizenship classes, and a sense of welcoming and community.

How might we redesign this site so English language learners don't feel overwhelmed when they visit?
How might we bring the offering of English language and US citizenship classes to more obvious attention?
How might we integrate Hmong cultural elements into the aesthetic of the site?

The original version of the HCC site alienated the users. In the redesign of the site, we sought to integrate key visual aspects of Hmong culture. Bright, almost fluorescent colors -- especially emerald green and fuchsia pink -- dominate the palette. Hmong culture is energetic, positive, and welcoming; the site should reflect all of those things visually.

The user journey to get from the beginning of the original site to signing up for English classes has too many steps.

Old vs. new HCC site maps

03 Ideate

Information Architecture

The old site map presented one of the largest problems for Mai Yer and our other primary users: too much information! Many links were redundant, confusing, or just plain unnecessary. And some of the most important and useful parts of the site were buried several clicks deep -- a very frustrating user journey for English language learners.

Sketches

Paper prototypes and mid-fidelity prototypes were next, focusing again on streamlining the design and making it more accessible for English language learners.

Our main question from Mai Yer Xiong reigned: How do I sign up for language classes?

You'll see in these excerpts that one of the main foci of our user journey plans was to map out this path quickly and easily and with as little visual noise as possible.

“Seeing elements of my own culture makes me feel like this really is my place. I belong at this site.”

04 Prototype

After English, Hmong is the third most popular language spoken in Minnesota.

-- Acutrans.com

05 Future Development

Community Connection

Part of the initial development of Mai Yer Xiong's persona involved her desire to connect with other Hmong in the area. In the future, we could leverage the site to include more social media, particularly social and career networking. Refugees and immigrants need a lot more resources from their peers than from just another resident of their new city, but it is very difficult to find those resources. The site could also offer networking event dates, conversation hours, parent connect groups, and more.

Translation

Since many users of the Hmong Cultural Center website may speak English as a second (or in Mai Yer's case: third) language, a translation feature would be a positively-received feature. We also heard this from our user feedback and continued testing.