A recent redesign project of the Gwirvol website presented a great opportunity to reassess how they were using web technology to help them promote and drive forward youth volunteering in Wales. Initial discussion with the Gwirvol team, who we’ve worked with for over 3 years, revealed they wanted to add new functionality to the site as well as cost effectively cater to mobile and tablet users.
One of the major updates for the site was utilising responsive web design so the site displays efficiently across all devices.
The second major update was the introduction of 'My Gwirvol', a member profile system providing a range of functionality to volunteers, organisations and advisors. The aim of the system is to help with administration of the Millennium Volunteers Award by allowing people to:
- Upload and review case studies, news items and events.
- Add placements.
- Claim certificates.
- Upload grant information.
- Upload and view best practice documents.
Additional improvements include a reorganisation of content to better cater to the two target audiences – young people and organisations – helping people quickly access the content most relevant to them. The design was also refreshed taking into account user feedback and research into browsing statistics.
Social media plays an important part in Gwirvol’s online community development strategy. The refreshed website is interspersed with links to Gwirvol’s social media accounts as well as common social share buttons, to encourage sharing and conversation.
You can view the Gwirvol site here: www.gwirvol.org.
