BEFORE & AFTER: Back40 Design Group
Love Without Boundaries is an Edmond-based nonprofit that helps orphaned children in China by providing medical assistance, nutrition, education, foster care and adoption facilitation. Amy Eldridge, founder and executive director, contacted Back40 in February 2011 after seeing the design group’s online portfolio of nonprofit web design work.
Eldridge had a lot of ideas and after visiting with Back40’s project managers and programmers, they were able to formulate a way for web visitors to donate to individual needs for individual children. “We had worked with multiple web companies over the years, and redesigning our website was always such a long process with multiple revisions,” she said. “The designers at Back40 really took the time to listen to exactly what we needed. Dave really wanted my feedback on what was important so that he could go to the team and let them know what was necessary.”
“I’ve worked on hundreds of projects over the past 12 years, but I can’t think of many which are as important in purpose as the Love Without Boundaries project we completed earlier this year,” said Dave Miller, president of Back40 Design Group. “If you’re going to redesign your website, it’s important to focus on the functionality of the site in addition to the design.”
With the project under way, the next couple of weeks were filled with meetings, coding and creating visuals for the site. Earthtone elements were selected, and images taken by Love Without Boundaries staff along with indigenous items were used to embellish the website. The nonprofit’s wish for children’s lives to be changed for good was the driving force behind the design.
“As launch day approached, custom applications were tested, content was spell-checked, messaging was tweaked and the Love Without Boundaries staff was trained on Back40’s proprietary content management system, Javelin CMS, so they could create and edit any content on their website at any hour of the day,” explains Miller.
The new website launched in January and the mobile version soon followed. “When we first saw the new design, it was everything we had hoped for,” said Eldridge.
It was easy for Eldridge to see the improvements in the site, but tangible success central to her mission was something she could have only imagined. “When we were redesigning our site, we wanted to make sure that people could immediately know how to get involved with our charity,” she explains. “Back40 came up with a very user-friendly design for us, and almost immediately the number of children finding sponsors increased.”
“We appreciate our relationship with Love Without Boundaries,” said Miller. “We hope that we have contributed in some small way to furthering their mission.”
Eldrige returns Miller’s sentiment. “It is so wonderful to work with a company who takes the time to get to know the companies they help,” she said. “When we contact them about new features we would like to see, it is like speaking to a friend, and I know they really want to help us succeed.”
If you’re interested in redesigning your website with purpose, call Lori Cathey or JR Ross at 478-4080. To see more before and after web design projects from Back40 visit, back40design.com/web-design/portfolio/before-after.