Calgary Chinatown Gateway

A digital hub connecting Calgary's Chinatown community

Overview

The Calgary Chinatown Gateway Digital Hub, led by the NGO, ACCESS (The Alliance of Calgary Community Ethnic Support Society), aims to create a user-friendly online directory connecting users to restaurants, organizations, businesses, and more, all located in Calgary’s Chinatown. Using the CMS WordPress, this project seeks to provide a valuable resource in a very meaningful way that fosters the growth and engagement of this small but vibrant community in Canada.

Goal

To design and to create (in collaboration with a partner) the initial prototype of a user-friendly directory website.

Role

Web designer and the development team lead

Primary Audience

Chinese residents of Calgary with language barriers
Elderly people with limited tech literacy

Interviews

I conducted qualitative interviews with stakeholders and members of the target audience, primarily Chinese elderly individuals. The interviews focused on their information-seeking habits, experiences in accessing Chinatown resources, encountered challenges, and preferences for a centralized online platform connecting them to Chinese organizations, businesses, and services in Calgary.

Pain Points & Gaps to Address

Lack of such a centralized and comprehensive platform
Difficulty for tech-unsavvy users to access information
Language barriers pose challenges in accessing services and information
Limited awareness about available resources and events

Competitive Audit

We conducted a comprehensive competitive audit to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of similar online platforms in North America. This assessment included direct and indirect competitors, such as websites like Chinatown Vegas, Toronto Chinatown BIA, and Indoor Fitness & Leisure Centres in Calgary.

Here are some key takeaways I've identified as 'improvement opportunities' after evaluating the audit, elements we believe are best to implement for our project.

Add an engaging catchphrase to the homepage
Featured photo layout splash page
Create dedicated pages for each institution item
Include maps for each item to aid in locating them
Ensure maps have clear, user-friendly indications.
Create specific categories like "Merchants," "Dining," "Entertainment," "Institutions and Education," and "Services."
Design item pages with a business card style layout.
Prioritize visuals over text
Include a translator button for multiple languages.
Display price ranges for businesses and services.
Optimize space and leverage negative space for a clean and accessible design.
Use clear, CTA "Visit Website" button where applicable.

Persona

Affinity Diagram

An affinity diagram was created to identify and distill patterns and themes from the research data.

Initial Concepts/ Design Strategy

We opted for WordPress as our development platform other than other web builders due to its advanced features, which provide the potential for future designers and developers to enhance the website with advanced templates and extended functionality through programming.

Low Fidelity Design using Balsamiq

View Lo-Fi Wireframes

Final Polished Design

Calgary Chinatown Gateway.mp4

View The Website

Takeaway

Following UX Design Principles

I applied UX design principles as closely as possible, given our limited resources and time. Prioritization has hence become a valuable lesson. Also, clear communication and initial planning are vital for any product design project.

Working with WordPress

While using WordPress, we recognized its limitations, such as the need for templates and plugins instead of coding everything from scratch. Some ambitious ideas during the initial ideation phase after user research, like interactive maps and the search function, had to be reconsidered/abandoned.

Design-Centric Approach

In this project, the emphasis was on design rather than inputting information, which is relatively straightforward. The challenge was integrating vast amounts of data seamlessly into the structure and ensuring a smooth user experience. I have learned that this design-focused aspect is critical, and it’s what I should spend my most effort on.

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