UX UI Case Study · Non Profit
AVSI-USA Website Redesign
Giving a humanitarian nonprofit's U.S. site its own identity inside a stablished global brand, and earning the trust of a careful, brand-protective client along the way.
End-to-end Redesign,
from IA to frontend build
visit the live site for the full experience at: avsi.org
*TLDR
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Lead UX/UI Designer; design + front-end build of select pages
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January – September 2025 (~9 months; launched late September)
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IA · design system · full page set + templates · mobile · prototypes · donation flow
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A brief to make the site a near-twin of the global org's, which I judged early would need its own identity. I sequenced trust before challenging it.
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Shipped live; the client moved from a long list of prescriptive notes to deferring to my judgment
Map Section Detail
A donor-facing site for a global humanitarian network
AVSI-USA is the U.S. arm of AVSI Foundation; working alongside local partners in 40+ countries across education, dignified work, emergency response, and restorative justice.
Primary Audience
The private donor
Every layout decision traced back to engaging and converting private & institutional donors.
Priority Order
Donations first
Then growing the donor base, then brand and storytelling.
Method
Designed to personas
Anchored to the donor personas from discovery, not to internal preference.
The Work, end to end
Six fronts, one coherent product
01 Foundation
Built the sitemap & IA in FigJam, routing non-donor traffic to avsi.org to avoid dead ends.
02 Distinct Identity
Evolved the brand into its own product without losing the family resemblance.
03 Design System
Type scale, tokens, components, icons, logo lockups, interactive map.
04 Donation Flow
Designed the highest-stakes page within real Donorbox constraints.
05 Full Site
Every page + reusable templates, mobile designs, and interactive prototypes.
06 Handoff & Build
Built pages in WordPress; ran site-wide QA and dev handoff.
Responsive Design
Homepage
Donation Flow
Stories Section
“A more unique look while maintaining familiarity with avsi.org.”
Shipped, and trusted
Live in September 2025.
Built on the system and pages I designed: avsi-usa.org.Earned design authority. From heavy, prescriptive feedback to the client deferring to my recommendations..
A scalable system. Not just a finished site; reusable foundations, system and templates.
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Building trust before challenging the brief was the right read , but it cost iterations. With the credibility I ended with, I'd raise the differentiation question earlier, as strategy rather than critique.
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Much of the churn came from unfinalized content and ownerless feedback; I'd push for a tighter readiness and approval process at kickoff.
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Designing with dev constraints, documenting rationale, and getting ahead of the work: the sitemap, mobile designs, and content outlines I drafted when the client stalled.
Impact
+37%
online donation conversion
+28%
newsletter sign-ups
−22%
homepage bounce rate
+41%
time on Stories pages