SheStarts is a program designed to turbocharge female leadership in innovation. This means that the website needed to not only inspire women to get involved, but to also act as a hub for people to join the conversation and follow the journeys of our 10 founders.
I was given the challenge to figure out how to visually communicate all the values and ideas of the program whilst presenting the information in an easily digestible and pleasing way.
After figuring out the requirements for this project with our product manager James Gilray and SheStarts Director Nicola Hazell, one of the first steps in tackling this challenge was to create the wireframes. A wireframe in web design is like a blueprint for a machine, or a skeleton for a human. It is the foundation that will determine the hierarchy and relationships of all the content and elements on the web pages.
This was especially important as the content and structure on SheStarts will continue to evolve. The website had to be flexible enough to accommodate all of the changes that came with each of its phases. We went through so many iterations and constant streams of feedback within all the various teams because it was critical that nothing was left out and everyone understood how it was going to work.
Next came the design, the visual and experiential aspect of the website. The design elements were all carefully considered in order to make it inspirational and emotionally engaging.
Using the bold brush strokes of Selima for headings and pairing it with the crisp, professional aesthetic of Avenir, helps evoke the feelings instilled within the SheStarts brand. It also assists in guiding our audience through the site by establishing a clear hierarchy in the content sections.
We definitely did not shy away from colour in this project. We used bold colour blocks and lots of contrast to create a high impact and a vibrant aesthetic that also doubled up as a way for us to highlight the different content sections.
People often say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and it is easy to see why. The use of bright, emotive and powerful photos of women isn’t just for brand consistency. We wanted the website to have a more human and relatable connection to our audience, in order to allow women to see themselves in positions of leadership within the tech startup industry.
It has been an absolute pleasure to work on such an incredible project with some of the most hard working and talented people around. I think that we created a pretty stunning website as a result and I hope that it will help SheStarts inspire women to get up and start their journeys, to believe in themselves and show the world that they can launch and lead global tech startups.
Richy Setiadi is a brilliant UX designer at BlueChilli. He is a creative that is passionate about simple and effective design, as well as social causes.