Redesigned SolarSPELL website – a solar-powered offline digital library to deliver a more intuitive and accessible user experience for remote communities accessing localized educational, health, and agricultural resources.
— Overview
SolarSPELL is a solar-powered offline digital library that delivers localized educational, health, and agricultural resources to remote communities around the world.
During my time, I led the UX audit and redesign of key pages, starting with the homepage, to improve clarity, user flow, and accessibility. My design solutions aimed to better reflect SolarSPELL’s mission, simplify navigation, and support content discoverability for diverse audiences.
Team
UX Designer (myself),
Managers: Abby Johnson, Cassie Barrett
— Background
Bridging the Digital Divide with Solar-Powered Educational Resources
SolarSPELL is a solar-powered offline digital library that provides educational content to communities with limited internet access.
While the website plays a critical role in bridging the digital divide, its website was falling short in usability and efficiency, making it harder for users to find and access content.
— Business Challenge: Why was a redesign needed ?
SolarSPELL’s mission to deliver offline educational content to remote communities was not reflected in its digital presence.
Despite its global impact, the website suffered from usability and accessibility issues, making it difficult for users to understand the initiative, explore resources, or engage with the content.
With thousands of users spanning regions like the Pacific Islands, Sub-Saharan Africa, and refugee communities, the site needed a user-first overhaul.
— The Redesign: A User-First Approach
Clear Navigation
Restructured the menu into clear, predictable categories (About, Libraries, Get Involved, Resources), and prioritized user flows based on analytics.
Clarified Value Proposition on Homepage
Rewrote and repositioned the homepage hero section to immediately communicate SolarSPELL’s mission, impact, and how it works. Added quick access to “How It Works” and “Where We Work.”
Decluttered Page Layouts
Consolidated scattered information into focused sections using consistent spacing, card-based layouts, and digestible content blocks.
Established Visual Hierarchy
Used type scale, contrast, and consistent component styles to make key actions (like Donate, Learn More, or Partner With Us) stand out and easily scannable.
Improved Accessibility Across Devices
Ensured all designs followed WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines, improved contrast ratios, designed for mobile-first, and added alt-text guidelines for content.
— Research : Behind the Scenes
Discovery: Understanding the Problems and User Needs
When I joined the SolarSPELL web team, there was growing recognition of the platform’s usability challenges, but no structured path toward solving them. I initiated and led the discovery phase by aligning stakeholders and grounding our decisions in both qualitative and quantitative data.
How was the current site performing?
To understand the landscape, I began with a Heuristic Evaluation using Nielsen’s 10 usability principles.
This revealed significant gaps in navigation structure, content organization, and accessibility, directly impacting user engagement.
I also deployed a System Usability Scale (SUS) survey to quantify how users perceived the site’s ease of use.
The results fell below the industry benchmark, confirming the need for a redesign.
User Research (Wants ≠ Needs)
A successful redesign isn’t built on assumptions it must align with real user behaviors and needs. To gain a deeper understanding of how educators, students, and field volunteers interacted with SolarSPELL, I conducted a multi-method user research study.
Discovery Part 3: Usability Testing – Validating Issues and Gaps
To further validate the heuristic evaluation and user research findings, I conducted usability testing with users from diverse backgrounds, including educators, students, and volunteers.
The goal was to observe how users interacted with the existing website and identify key usability pain points.
What this told us ?
The research revealed a disconnect between user expectations and actual behavior. While users expressed a desire for more content, the core issue lay in how that content was structured and surfaced.
The product vision focused on closing this gap by redefining the way information was presented and accessed.
— Design & Iterations
Refreshed Structure Before: Unclear Content Flow & Fragmented Navigation
Modular Wireframes & Section Layouts
Explored multiple wireframe versions to test how users scanned the page and discovered content. Prioritized:
Left-to-right reading patterns
Chunked information blocks
Global CTAs like “Partner With Us” and “Explore a Library”
Refined UI for Accessibility & Clarity
I made sure that the we used consistent branding aligned with SolarSPELL’s educational mission. I increased contrast, typography scale, and spacing for readability. I also designed with WCAG 2.1 AA standards in mind.
Real-World Testing to Inform Final Adjustments
Before launch, I conducted usability testing with real users, including educators and volunteers across different regions. Their feedback directly shaped:
Menu labeling
Homepage scroll length
CTA placement and messaging
"User testing validated our design assumptions and helped reduce real-world friction before launch."
— Challenges
While the redesign and handoff process were largely successful, we encountered several challenges that provided valuable lessons for future projects:
Small Team & Limited Resources
Challenge: With only one designer, one manager, and one developer, distributing workload and maintaining velocity was difficult.
Finding the Right User Audience for Research
Challenge: Finding the Right User Audience for Research
Maintaining Design Consistency Without a Full Design System
Challenge: A full-fledged design system was not feasible due to time constraints, leading to early inconsistencies.
— Impact & Retrospective
