TheBlackManCan – Website Redesign & Brand Enhancement

Brief: TheBlackManCan is an organization dedicated to celebrating and empowering Black men and boys. Their online presence was previously split across two websites: a .com site for e-commerce and success stories, and a .org site focused on the foundation’s core mission.

Client Goal: To consolidate the two platforms into a single, cohesive .org website that clearly communicates the foundation’s mission, integrates success stories effectively, improves user engagement, and presents a modern, professional brand image.

Role: Lead Designer (UX/UI & Brand Strategy)

Responsibilities: User research (including competitive analysis), information architecture, user journey mapping, wireframing, prototyping, visual design, and creating UI components/styles in Figma for developer handoff.

Collaboration: Worked closely with developer Tirzah Johnson, who expertly handled the website implementation based on the Figma designs.

The previous split-site structure created several key challenges:

• Fragmented User Experience: Visitors struggled to get a complete picture, needing to navigate between two distinct sites.
• Brand Dilution: Maintaining consistency in messaging and visuals across two platforms proved difficult.
• Content Silos: Inspiring success stories were disconnected from the core foundation information, lessening their impact.
• Operational Inefficiency: Managing two separate websites demanded duplicated effort.

The primary challenge was to merge these platforms strategically, creating a unified digital presence focused on the foundation’s mission while enhancing the user journey for key personas.

My design process focused on understanding the user, the competitive landscape, and the strategic goals before moving into visual execution.

• Persona Definition: We focused on personas like “Marcus,” a young Black man (18-25) seeking inspiration and connection, to guide design decisions. His primary goal: finding relatable stories of achievement and positive identity.

• Competitive Analysis: To understand the landscape, I analyzed competitors like Blavity, AndScape, CassiusLife, etc.

• Key Insights:
  • Opportunity for Clarity: Many competitors suffered from busy layouts or unclear navigation, highlighting a need for TheBlackManCan to prioritize a simplified, clean user experience.
  • Visual Polish Matters: Sites like AndScape and The Players Tribune demonstrated the impact of strong visual design, setting a benchmark for the redesign.
  • Content Focus: The analysis reinforced the decision to focus the merged site on the foundation’s core mission and impact stories, differentiating it from broader lifestyle or publishing platforms.

• User Journey Mapping (Comparative): Based on the persona and goal, I mapped the user journey for finding inspiring content on both the old fragmented sites and envisioned the improved journey for the new consolidated site.

• Key Pain Points (Old): Confusing navigation between sites, difficulty finding specific profile/story content, inconsistent visual experience, unclear calls to action.
• Key Improvements (New): Unified navigation, clearer content categories/cards, improved readability, dedicated sections for engagement (“Get Involved”).

The research phase led to a strategy focused on:

• Unified Information Architecture: Creating a single, intuitive navigation structure for the merged site.
• Content Prioritization: Emphasizing the foundation’s mission, impact, and programs.
• Streamlined User Flows: Making it easier for users like Marcus to find inspiring stories and ways to engage. (Include 1-2 key wireframe examples if available, showing the structural changes)

• Brand Enhancement: Refined and modernized the existing visual identity, establishing a clean, professional aesthetic with strong typography and imagery, suitable for the foundation’s mission.
• UI Design: Designed key page templates and components in Figma, focusing on readability, accessibility, and brand consistency.
• Component Library: Created reusable components (buttons, cards, navigation elements) and defined styles (colors, typography) in Figma to ensure consistency and facilitate efficient developer handoff.

• Provided detailed Figma prototypes and design specifications to the developer, Tirzah, ensuring a smooth transition from design to live site. Maintained close communication throughout the build process.

The redesigned TheBlackManCan.org successfully integrates the content and purpose of two previous sites into a single, impactful platform.

• Consolidated Experience: All content (News, Programs, Impact Stories, Get Involved, Partnerships) now lives under one roof with clear navigation.
• Mission-Focused: The design prioritizes the foundation’s work, impact, and ways for the community to connect.
• Improved UX: A cleaner layout, card-based content presentation, and refined information architecture make the site easier to scan, read, and navigate, directly addressing pain points identified in the user journey.
• Modernized Brand: The updated visual design presents a more professional and engaging face for the organization.

• The Power of Consolidation: Merging the two sites significantly clarified the brand message and improved the user journey, demonstrating the importance of strategic information architecture.
• User Journey Mapping Value: Comparing the “before” and “after” user journeys clearly highlighted the UX improvements achieved through the redesign.
• Design-Dev Collaboration: Close partnership with the developer was crucial for successfully translating the Figma designs into a functional website.