SADA (Social Association Development Alternative)
Purpose
To create a website in less than 5 hours for SADA, a Bangladeshi LGBTQ+ organization while being mindful of Bangladesh's anti-LGBTQ sociopolitical environment
My Role
Web Designer
My Team
Out in Tech's Digital Corps - an LGBTQ+ in tech organization's volunteer program
My Teammates
Digital Corps SADA Web Design team (2 Designers, 2 developers)
SADA's executive board
Discovering The Problem
SADA is an organization that provides LGBTQ+ services and education to rural Bangladeshis of all ages & genders. Due to both lack of funds and anti-LGBTQ+ stigma in Bangladesh, SADA reached out to Out in Tech's Digital Corps to create their website during the Digital Corps hackathon for free. Prior to us meeting, SADA chose their template on Wordpress.
Understanding our users
SADA was looking to create 5 pages: home, about, contact, services, & donate. We connected with SADA's leaders who gave us some key points to minimize risk while designing their site:
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Leaders should not have any spotlight mentions to protect identity
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If mentioned/pictured at all, leaders should have blurred faces
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The site must must not mention the term "LGBTQ" nor have stereotypical LGBTQ branding (i.e. rainbows)
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The site must still have inclusive language that alludes to promote LGBTQ+ health and education
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We had about 5 hours to design and develop a full website
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PayPal, the original preferred method of donation, was banned in Bangladesh
🚩 Other Challenges Faced
🏆 How we faced them
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The SADA team provided us with all content and imagery to use and our team split to tackle different pages
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My team and I focused on out-of-the-box templates as a base to expedite our processes
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BCash, a local money transferring application, was used as an alternative to PayPal
Where am I in all this: My role was to design the home page & donate page using Wordpress.
Decisions I made
Using the resources (template, images, copy) the leaders provided, I made a few decisions on how to design the home & donation pages
Home Page:
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Kept the home page layout short and simple
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With the time I had, I had highlighted their mission and vision as must reads
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Highlighted images of landscapes and children
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To move attention away from it's founders
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Using pieces of the copy provided to highlight LGBTQ+ services for the community without explicitly saying "LBGTQ+"
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Mentioning those who identify as Hijra, transgender folks that are officially recognized as a third gender throughout countries in the Indian subcontinent
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Donation Page:
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Added a link to donate through their WhatsApp
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WhatsApp is the main source of communication throughout Bangladesh so it also would be the most accessible
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The founders believed it to be secure and direct
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Added a second donation option through BKash
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This local money monetary transfer service was suggested by the founders as an alternative to PayPal
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Highlighted an image of a volunteer instructor with children in the program
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To evoke emotion
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Reflection & Next Steps
It has since been handed off and updated by the founders, adding events and eventually adding themselves.
Reflection: Though this is my shortest project with the least amount of time, this one is one of my favorites because of it's unique ask and direct impact to a global community.
Though we were focused on web, If I could, I would love to learn more about their mobile usage, as mobile is the predominant browser in Bangladesh. With that knowledge, we can expand on methods to make information on events and ways to join more accessible on the go.
SADA-BD.ORG is now live!