Building purposeful experiences
The user experience (UX) design process at Pixeled Eggs.
At Pixeled Eggs, we support charities, B Corps, and purpose-driven organisations by designing and building meaningful website experiences. For this, our Creative Director Kris, alongside our team of UX researchers and designers, has developed an effective user experience (UX) process.
This blog explores the foundations of our user-centred design process. A system derived from Design Thinking, it allows us to keep a structured, considered approach, whilst enabling us to reimagine and personalise each website for our clients and user needs. We hope that it provides you with relevant insights and supports future briefs.
Discovery and user research
Discovery isn’t just about data – it’s about understanding the heart and soul of our clients’ missions. We immerse ourselves in research, explore what is already known, generate new insights where needed, and define a proposition that will lead us to desired results.
Our goal is to understand our client and their users. This can often be gathered from previous research outputs and strategy documents that help us better understand the organisation’s purpose and target audience.
“Our aim is to fuse the knowledge of site visitors, business needs, and our experience with purpose-driven organisations.”
Kris, Creative Director at Pixeled Eggs
Defining the audience
At this stage, we tend to run workshops with the relevant stakeholders to understand the users’ needs and goals. We create personas that will guide us for the rest of our journey.
“designing for anyone is like packing for a trip to anywhere”
Creating the website proposition
Every website should have an articulated purpose, a proposition to its audience. Sites without clear goals are often unfocused and hard to navigate. It is a very important step, as a well-defined proposition will influence the overall user experience and be crucial for effective visual design.
Here are some propositions we are proud of:
Missing People – Runaway helpline
- Whatever you tell us at Runaway Helpline we’ll listen and offer support. Not judge or tell you what to do. It’s your call.
The Earthshot Prize: “The website must:
- Drive awareness of both the organisation and the problem
- Demonstrate impact through the actions of Earthshot Prize Finalists and Partners
- Engage with all: positively engage with all audiences, from casual followers to potential innovators and partners
As you can see from the propositions above, these internal statements act as guiding principles for the website. They assist both website owners and designers grasp the website’s purpose and will influence and shape the visual designs and written content. Ultimately, these propositions aim to ensure our websites perform effectively, achieve organisational goals, and keep the audience’s needs central.
Content audit and information architecture
Our clients aren’t just website owners; they’re storytellers sharing important messages and making a positive impact in the world. Through content audits and information architecture, we build digital platforms that amplify our client’s voices. Every page, every click, is an opportunity to make connections and drive impact.
“Having a clear understanding of your content is key to creating a structure that works for both communications and visitors’ needs”
Kris, Creative Director at Pixeled Eggs
The information architecture (IA) is like a blueprint for the website. Just as we plan the layout of a house by deciding on the number of rooms, window placements, and door styles, the IA outlines the website’s structure and navigation.
A solid information architecture ensures that the site’s structure meets both the organisation’s and users’ needs. At this stage, we find patterns (page types) that will influence later stages of the UX process.
Engaging clients in IA development 💡
Collaboration is central to how we operate. When we present our IA, we’re not just providing blueprints—we’re building connections that reflect our purpose at Pixeled Eggs. Our workshops encourage clients to actively participate in shaping their projects. This collaborative approach ensures clients fully understand the IA results, laying a solid foundation for effective website management in the content management system (CMS).
User testing
At Pixeled Eggs, we do user testing because we believe in a human-centred approach. The IA user testing takes the form of Tree Testing and Card Sorting exercises, using platforms such as Useberry and prototype testing in Figma.
Wireframing and user journeys
Guided by insights from our discovery phase, we sketch wireframes that prioritise accessibility and inclusivity. The UX designers interpret research results and turn them into practical visual elements using Figma. We minimise the use of PDFs, videos, and full-width images to make sure our websites support Pixeled Eggs’ commitment to sustainability and accessibility. We also create reusable, intuitive design blocks that help clients manage content on their own once the website goes live, complete with annotated instructions to make the process easy to follow.
“We need to help the client see our vision and evaluate if it is the right direction before we develop high fidelity designs“
Kris, Creative Director at Pixeled Eggs
In this stage, we present black-and-white low-fidelity designs that allow clients to understand the general layout and the direction we are taking. Depending on the client’s needs, we create only the key pages as reference or propose a content structure with good storytelling.
Based on the user personas developed in the research stage, we create user journeys that help us meet all user needs.
“User journeys are best for capturing activities dispersed over multiple channels”
Engaging clients in wireframing development
Because we believe in collaboration, we work closely with our clients, gathering feedback, making adjustments, and iterating until we reach a solution that aligns with our mission and the client’s expectations,
Constantly evolving
At Pixeled Eggs, we are committed to ethical design and integrating innovative tools into our workflow. We continually review and refine our processes to ensure we remain efficient and effective in meeting our clients’ needs. This mindset allows us to stay ahead of industry trends and deliver solutions that enhance user experiences and also align with our values of sustainability and social impact. By embracing new technologies, we aim to improve our design practices and create websites that genuinely serve the communities and causes our clients represent.
In an eggshell: the UX design process
- Discovery and user research: Immersing ourselves in understanding our clients’ missions and their users’ needs. Capturing user needs through understanding current pain points with interviews, field visits and surveys. Validating our design with your audience through user testing throughout our process.
- Defining the audience: Running workshops and creating personas to guide our design process.
Creating the Web Proposition: Articulating clear website goals to drive the overall user experience. - Content audit and information architecture: Designing an information architecture for your website that answers user needs, creates a clear navigation system, inspires users to engage and explore content, and allows you to grow and develop over time..
- Engaging clients in information architecture development: Foster partnerships through collaborative workshops and presentations.
- User testing: We iteratively improve and enhance designs based on real world user feedback.
- From research to actionable design: Translating research insights into mid-fidelity wireframes for key pages in the navigation of your website.
- Engaging clients in wireframing development: Emphasising collaboration and refinement throughout the design process.
- From mid-fidelity to Hi-Fi: Using the findings in the discovery and user experience phase, we work with clients to understand their brand, personality and the audience perception of the brand. By doing this, we can build on the experience and storytelling metrics developed in UX, to something which ‘feels’ right to both the brand, and its audience. In doing this, we encourage recognition, empathy and tone which works for the organisation, and the viewer.
