Case Study: Home Depot's Homer Fund
Design Process
History: The Homer Fund is funded by Home Depot associates to help fellow Home Depot associates in need during times of hardship. Since 1999, the Fund has provided more than $190 million to more than 146,000 associates in need of shelter, food, clothing and funeral expenses. Our team was tasked with increasing donations.
Research
- Online Survey
- In-person Interviews
- Heuristic Analysis
- Task Analysis of Current State Website
Donation Amounts of Those Surveyed
Ease of Making Donations
Frequency of THF Website Use
Insight: While our group initially thought it would be focused strictly on The Homer Fund website, we realized not only do 54% of associates not visit the website, but many who did visit only went once a year during the annual spring fundraising drive. It was as if we were focused on remodeling a house when most users were hanging out on the lawn by the mailbox. (Or email box.)
Synthesis
Affinity Map of User Interviews
Users Wanted the Following Types of Communication:
Problem: The Homer Fund has a positive image among Home Depot associates with a 95% participation rate. However, our research shows that associates don’t have a full understanding of The Homer Fund's impact.
Solution: We will know we have succeeded when Home Depot associates have a better understanding of The Homer Fund and its donation offerings and impact. We are proposing a three-part solution called “The Toolbox” that focuses on information architecture, emphasizes the Homer Fund’s impact, and poses recommendations for internal communication.
In person interviews, combined with a heuristic analysis and current state task analysis lead us to the following user wants which gave birth to the three solutions in our "toolbox."
Solution: We will know we have succeeded when Home Depot associates have a better understanding of The Homer Fund and its donation offerings and impact. We are proposing a three-part solution called “The Toolbox” that focuses on information architecture, emphasizes the Homer Fund’s impact, and poses recommendations for internal communication.
In person interviews, combined with a heuristic analysis and current state task analysis lead us to the following user wants which gave birth to the three solutions in our "toolbox."
Meet Our Persona Based On Our Interviewees:
Sadie Butler, 31 years old, started at The Home Depot four years ago as a contractor. She is now in the UX department working in finance.
She has participated in the Spring push, but isn’t motivated to donate year-round because she doesn’t know the impact of her donations.
She wants to learn more about the charity and its offerings through the Homer Fund website.
She has participated in the Spring push, but isn’t motivated to donate year-round because she doesn’t know the impact of her donations.
She wants to learn more about the charity and its offerings through the Homer Fund website.
Design & Solutions
Current User Flow Needed Simplification
Recommended Simplified User Flow:
My Role: My first role in the design phase was to remove friction from the current website's donation page. The current donation page required the user to scroll. Here are my sketches using a tab system the user could click through without scrolling.
Switching Gears: Further iterations were made on the donation page and its tabs. However, due to an "aha!" moment while brainstorming, I switched from the "Information Architecture" area of the designs to the "Impact" tool in our toolbox for the rest of the project.
My Role Part Two: During a brainstorming session about showing the impact of donations in a more emotional way, two icons I had sketched for the home page, morphed into the Impact Calculator.
It's an interactive info. graphic that shows users what would happen if everyone donating through payroll donations gave a certain amount of money. They select an amount on the calculator and each leaf shows how many families could be helped in different scenarios. My idea to use scenarios "sprouted" out of wanting to display numbers in an emotionally compelling way.
It's an interactive info. graphic that shows users what would happen if everyone donating through payroll donations gave a certain amount of money. They select an amount on the calculator and each leaf shows how many families could be helped in different scenarios. My idea to use scenarios "sprouted" out of wanting to display numbers in an emotionally compelling way.
"Growing" the Calculator:
- I created a master list of scenarios from the current Homer Fund website
- The calculator would display numbers based on your IP address location
- Atlanta was used for this example
- I researched location dependent amounts (ie: average rent in Atlanta)
- I took the total, divided it by three and came up with a scenario for each leaf
- Repeated steps as needed for each watering can button
The Homer Fund Research + Atlanta Research + Math = The Impact Calculator
First Iteration:
Second Iteration:
Because research told us 54% of users do not visit the website, the calculator is designed to be used both as a component of our team's proposed home page and as a standalone component that could be sent out as a widget via Slack or email.
Future Recommendations: Our team's stakeholders told us we might spend all our time in the research phase and might only deliver a list of recommendations due to the limited time frame of the project. In addition to the impact calculator we proposed:
- Simplification of the current information architecture
- Home page redesign with a more obvious donate button and emphasis on impact
- A stories section where people who donate can upload a photo and quote "Why I donate" that would be displayed in a gallery
- Slack integrations to donate before a fundraising event to shorten lines and streamline donating
- Quarterly email updates from the Homer Fund
- Sharing success stories with consent from associates receiving assistance
Meet the Team
Top left to right: Kate Mitchell, Yezie Koo, Adam George, Meghan Joyce
Bottom left to right: Me (Julie Fay), Christina Hixon
Bottom left to right: Me (Julie Fay), Christina Hixon
* Image attribution: Money icons by tezar tantular from the Noun Project
