Appleton Coworking Website

In 2015 I helped start Appleton Coworking — a local, non-profit coworking space. It's a community focused space and a completely member run organization.

Concept

The organization had an obvious need for a website to reach people who were interested in working at the space. It needed to have organized, relevant information and, most importantly, encourage visitors to join the community.

Research

The best place to start is always research. I browsed through the websites of many other coworking spaces, taking notes on the the good and bad as well as the types of information they were sharing with their visitors. I also spent time interviewing work-from-home people, as well as folks who were already part of the space, to see what kind of information they’d want to know before considering joining a coworking space.

Planning

Armed with my research, I put together an outline of the website, then shared the outline with the relevant stakeholders for input. I got some great feedback and did some minor reorganization. The next step was to wireframe the site, as well as identify areas where imagery and iconography might be helpful.

Implement

With the necessity for rapid deployment, I chose to use Wordpress and found a template which loosely worked with my wireframes. Then, modifying the CSS and PHP, I augmented the template to further align with the organization’s identity.

Designing the icons was perhaps the most fun part of the project, but they are also a key part of the site’s strategy. They serve to direct visitors along a path, and they also help to break up the monotony of a large amount of text.

Test & Iterate

Once the website was live, the most helpful form of user feedback came in the form of site visitors contacting the space, looking for more specific info. Once Appleton Coworking was open for business, it began receiving numerous emails with questions about the space. People seemed to find it easy enough to make contact but, after going through the website, still had unanswered questions.

I used this feedback to add a few other sections to the site, most notably an FAQ page with answers to many of these general questions. Since the changes were made, the number of emails has not dwindled for interest in membership, but the number of questions certainly has.

Conclusion

This was a powerful change for an organization that is largely run by volunteers, as it significantly cut down the time it took to respond to emails. In the end, time saved is everything.

Posted May 29, 2017