• Growth marketing
  • Integration
  • UI/UX
  • Usability research
  • Websites and web services

Kone Foundation – User-centred and accessible web service

The Kone Foundation improves the world by creating conditions for free science and art.

The Kone Foundation supports scientific research, culture, and art, and promotes public understanding of science through grants. It also maintains the Saaren Manor artist and researcher residency in Mynämäki. The foundation aims to be a vigilant funder of science and art policy, actively seeking and offering alternatives to mainstream approaches.

Reference

koneensaatio.fi

Clear and accessible

The primary target groups for Kone Foundation’s website are grant and residency applicants and recipients, as well as other stakeholders in the science and art fields.

The goal of the website redesign was to provide comprehensive sections for grant applicants and recipients so that necessary information could be found online, reducing the need for phone inquiries about the same matters.

In addition to listing grant recipients, the new website aimed to offer active information and case descriptions of current funded projects.

Residency applicants were to be better served by creating an extensive information section specifically for the Saaren Manor residency, with particular attention to international applicants.

A major focus of the redesign was accessibility. The service was aimed to be accessible to ensure it serves special groups as well as possible. The final website meets AA-level accessibility standards.

Open project reporting as part of the service

The concept of the service was to create a user-friendly system, which was ensured through early user testing.

It was decided that project reporting would be made possible by the grant recipients themselves, involving external parties to the Kone Foundation as users of the site.

Grant approvals were to be integrated directly from a separate grant service to the website, reducing manual content entry work for the Kone Foundation.

Service tested with real target groups

The design of the service began with several concept workshops, where the target groups, user paths, and key goals for different user segments were defined. The workshops were conducted remotely using the Miro tool.

After finalising the concept, user interface models for different sections of the site were designed. During the UI and visual design phase, clickable prototypes were also created.

The visual prototype of the service used real content and closely resembled the final implementation. This prototype was tested with six individuals. The testers were researchers or artists, four of whom had applied for grants or residencies from the Kone Foundation or other sources.

Remote-facilitated user testing provided valuable feedback on the terminology used on the site, information hierarchy, and colour scheme, which had been updated alongside the brand refresh.

Based on the results, the site’s colour theming and terminology were adjusted, and a few new highlight elements were added for important content. Anchor links were also added to longer text sections to facilitate quick browsing.

The testing also yielded extensive open feedback on the site’s navigation, structure, illustrative images, and overall appearance.

Making projects visible

The communication about grants was crowdsourced by creating a custom user role in WordPress for grant recipients. With this role, grant recipients can maintain their own blog on the site and report on the progress of their projects. This approach increases transparency regarding funded projects and better showcases the Kone Foundation’s activities to the public.

To facilitate the visibility of grant approvals on the site, an integration with the separate Koppa grant service was implemented, reducing manual work. This integration also included importing previous grant approvals so they can be searched and sorted on the site.

Technically, the Kone Foundation’s website was developed as a modular solution using WordPress Gutenberg blocks.

What we achieved

The revamped service effectively communicates the Kone Foundation’s brand and brings projects closer to users. The redesign has also significantly reduced manual content management work for the Kone Foundation.

Although analytics have been measured only a few months after the launch, the site’s bounce rate has decreased by over 40% compared to before.

  • Lauri Alaviitala

    Communications Expert

We have been working with Redandblue for many years, so it was easy to start the website renewal project with a team that understands our operations and needs. The project progressed smoothly from the first planning meetings to the final touches during the launch week. With a well-planned schedule, everything was completed efficiently yet flexibly, without unnecessary stress. Redandblue’s team was helpful and skilled, with clear roles and responsibilities. Special thanks to everyone for their quick responses to problems and for their flexible and creative solutions!

  • Lauri Alaviitala

    Communications Expert

Contact us

Petteri Laamo

Petteri Laamo

Senior Designer, Client Director, Co-Founder

Petteri is one of redandblue's founders and an experienced designer

Phone: +358 40 194 4421