When you are the largest group of nonprofit public charter schools with the largest enrollment of students in the state of Texas, you’re big. And because you encompass Texas, you’re constantly seeking funds from parents, potential donors, supporters, legislators, and more. Such is the case with Texans Can!

The Texans Can! website is a vehicle for getting donations, updating the public on upcoming events, providing information about schools, enrollment, and more, explains VP of Communications for Texans Can! Cheryl Rios. She says an updated site needs to “show people our kids are great, they just need a second chance. It should be clean, easy to read, engaging,” unlike the original, which she feels is “blah, boring, lifeless.”

Landing on the home page, designer Janie Kelley found the Texans Can! site cluttered with too many buttons, long menus, and too much copy. Her first suggestion for change focuses on photos. She believes using fewer group photos and tighter closeups of actual students actively engaged in activities will work best to gain the emotional appeal needed for garnering donations. “There is a lot of emotional value in being able to use real photos here instead of stock,” she says.

For Kelley, “Probably the biggest challenge was restructuring the content. I decided to redo the menu and consolidate. Most importantly, it’s imperative to have the main menu and the submenu for each category available at all times to simplify navigation.”

The designer stuck with the original blue scheme, but deepened and brightened it, pairing blue with red-orange and lime throughout the site and in her changes to the logo. Kelley replaced the many fonts of the original site with Limerick, a clean and contemporary font with a wide variety of weights. With a better vehicle for driving donations, the Texans Can! schools can continue to improve the education of their students. Says Kelley, “You’re asking for donations, and you’re succeeding in changing people’s lives as a result.”

1. Original site Cheryl Rios, VP of Communications for Texans Can!, says the current website is “a cookie-cutter design with bland colors.”
2. New logo Designer Janie Kelley modified the existing logo slightly, making it bolder with a heavier sans serif font and brighter colors.
3. Fonts The designer feels the original site used too many fonts so she chose just one to use consistently: Limerick, a large, contemporary font family with a variety of weights.
4. Colors Kelley kept the original blue scheme—in a slightly darker shade—and complemented it with red-orange and lime for contrast, giving it a brighter, more vibrant appearance.
5. Closeups Use closeups of actual students to emotionally engage the audience. If it’s necessary to use stock photos, choose ones that look genuine (or authentic) and less like models. Image 23161921, Brand X Pictures, all images from www.jupiterimages.com 6. Menu A main menu and submenu should be available at all times to simplify navigation.
7. Consolidate info Kelley grouped all general information about the schools in one area, the individual schools in another, how to help, news and events, and then sponsors and contact us. She says, “It helps to have all the schools accessible from one spot—all with the same format, with little or no repetition of content.”
8. Submenu Less is more. Kelley removed a number of buttons from the original site and consolidated information.
9. Professional Kelley suggests keeping cartoons or animations to a minimum as they make the site look amateurish. Keep the site design clean and professional.