Case Study
Junior Achievement / juniorachievement.org sites
Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. Our relationship with Junior Achievement USA started when Munish Sangar and David Moore, President and CEO of Junior Achievement Washington, lived in the same building back in 2001. At the time, Munish and David didn’t know that such a chance meeting would flourish into an amazing partnership capable of growing outreach through collaborative and responsive web design.
Initially, all Junior Achievement offices across the country carried a nested website which was managed for them by their national office in Colorado Springs, CO. Ultimately they didn’t have control of their content, and their user experience was below par. We started by building a simple website for them, and it was a hit. Based on our proactive design and development, Twelve23 landed contracts with fifteen Junior Achievement offices throughout the country who wanted the same user interface and experience.
Our Approach
Over the course of a decade, as the internet changed substantially, Twelve23 continued to work proactively. What we initially built in the early 2000’s became outdated, so we gave the sites a refresh in 2006, which quickly became outdated again. Now, circa 2012, forward thinking required us to build a single platform website that could run multiple sites for each area office while allowing the respective admins to manage their own content. We also needed a customer facing website that could handle responsive layouts to make sure that these websites looked polished across all screen sizes, since user demographics for these sites vary greatly.
Our Solution
Twelve23 developed a platform that is both fully customizable and easily changeable. One of the key functions Junior Achievement needed in a website was the ability to publish content themselves. We delivered just that. In order to get Junior Achievement on their feet, we stepped up their social media appearance as well as offered creative counseling to ensure that they are able to hold their own.
User Interface
Twelve23 designed a minimalist interface that was aimed to appeal to both students and adults alike with increased font sizes that were used to enhance legibility. We also used a bold, modern color scheme for an inviting, yet professional, look. The inner pages were designed with functionality in mind, since we knew that this would be a content heavy website.
Top and sidebar navigation help guide the user through the site, as well as call-to-action buttons with links to donate and volunteer on every page. When signing up to volunteer, users are greeted with a beautifully presented form that is both clean and easy to navigate. Donations are accepted through a form sharing the same design to create a sense of cohesiveness throughout the Junior Achievement site.
User Experience
Since relaunching several of the Junior Achievement websites, we have seen a dramatic increase in conversions, as we added functionality to take donations online, a feature Junior Achievement had not utilized in the past. Additionally, users can now sign up to volunteer online, which was a function requested by both users and Junior Achievement alike.
results
Over a decade later, Junior Achievement has become one of our well-established relationships. We continue to update each of the fifteen offices we have on our platform and are always building towards the next iteration of web success.