Case Study: Dad Guild

Primary Project Goals:

  • Declutter & reorganize content

  • Make site user-friendly

  • Unify brand voice

  • Clarify key statements

  • Reduce page count

  • Improve site flow

Dad Guild was doing excellent work on the ground and had made a dramatic impact in its community in a short period of time. But because of the amount of work Dad Guild would take on, the website became cluttered and confusing to navigate.

This is a classic nonprofit situation. One thing that Dad Guild had to its advantage was a founder with a clear personality, and therefore a clear brand voice and persona. They were witty, sarcastic, playful, but also very genuine and compassionate. Because the organization has multiple audiences (also a nonprofit-specific conundrum) they struggled with vacillating tone from serious and scholarly to friend at the bar.

Job number one was to clean up their site’s wireframe. Reduce the total number of pages, clean up the main navigation and create a clear user flow for community members that want to participate in events, and a separate one for potential donors and program officers.

Then we looked at the tone of the writing. The majority of the site is in “friend at the bar” voice. The tone is friendly, humble, and humorous. But when they are talking to donors, there is an added edge of “underdog”. They were out to change the way things worked and they were fighting an uphill battle.

“Going into this project, we knew that our website was one of the most important ways we have of connecting with our audience and growing our organization. It’s our first opportunity to show people who we are and what we can do. But even knowing that, it’s so daunting because we are all busy doing “the work” and thinking about the website is just so overwhelming.

John and Ramona made it so easy. They did dynamite work and they are really fantastic at collaborating with us to make sure the end product is really what we want. They are both wonderful compassionate human beings who have a deep understanding of all the complexities nonprofits face. And their process has been super clear and straightforward. I would happily recommend anyone to work with Wonder Web Creative.”

-Keegan Albaugh, Executive Director of Dad Guild