AA Fellowship Site Redesign
In 2016, I was asked by a friend to help with the website for the Polish-speaking Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) in Ireland, a group dedicated to supporting individuals facing alcoholism through mutual aid and the 12-step program. The existing website faced multiple challenges: it was managed by AA members with varying technical skills, catered to users with limited internet access and online navigation skills, and needed to adhere to AA's 12 traditions, including anonymity and non-promotion. Additionally, the site was hosted on Jimdo for cost-effectiveness, which limited structural and design modifications. The mission was to disseminate information about Polish-speaking AA meetings in Ireland and AA as a whole to alcoholics who had access to the internet.
I conducted thorough research, including surveys, site analytics, and user interviews, which informed the creation of personas and user journeys. Using this data, I developed wireframes, prototypes, affinity maps, and style guides within the design constraints of AA's traditional colors and fonts. Two years after the website's launch, it received inquiries from other Polish-speaking AA groups in Europe, who used aairlandia.com as a model for their own websites, such as aaaustria.com. The new website increased fellowship members' involvement in content creation and strengthened connections with other AA groups in Ireland, leading to a consistent rise in visitor numbers each quarter.