Special Olympics Canada
UX Designer
2023
Project Summary
Special Olympics Canada (SOC) is a national organization that fosters self-esteem and interpersonal skills in individuals with intellectual disabilities through year-round competitions.
I worked with SOC to improve their Online Registration Portal, aiming to simplify the process for the Athlete Registrants and the Admin Staff processing their enrollments.
Results
The redesigned portal features an clean and organized layout, making it easier for users to register for events.
For admin users, the updated design meant that they could efficiently validate information
The improved Registration Portal resulted in 70% positive feedback
50%
Decrease in loading times
70%
Users report positive feedback
2
Additional Chapters adopt Portal
What is the Registration Portal?
Special Olympics Canada uses online registration to organize recreational and competitive events. However, the registration portal is complex, making it difficult for registrants to navigate the multiple steps involved. Likewise, the administrative staff responsible for evaluating registrants also find the workflow to be complicated and overwhelming.
Understanding our users
Our registration portal would affect two types of users:
Athletes and volunteers seeking to register for events
Admin Staff evaluating and verifying these registrations
Athlete Registration Flow
Administrative Staff Enrollment Validation
My team and I conducted interviews for both user types to better understand where we could improve.
Admin staff struggled to validate large volumes of users, as the current portal limited them to manually opening and closing individual sections, causing them to lose track of their progress
Athlete registrants and volunteers struggled with the sheer amount of registration fields and layout of the pages, causing them to avoid registration all together.
Registration methods also varied across SOC Chapters, with some using online systems and others relying on paper forms, each with different mandatory registration fields.
The Process
Minimum Viable Record
I created a Minimum Viable Record (MVR), which documented all common and unique registration fields used by each Chapter. We interviewed all Chapters again and reached a consensus, narrowing the mandatory registration fields to a much smaller list.
Improving Validation
Our interviews with Admin staff uncovered their frustration with validating registration. Currently, admins had to scroll a long one page form containing all registration fields. This proved frustrating when trying to keep track of thousands of registrants. We came up with the idea of a sticky navigation, allowing them to quickly navigate from each section, reducing cognitive load.
Restructuring the Portal
Based on MVR results, we could now plan a structure for our updated registration portal. Due to time and budget limitations, the majority of improvements had to be front-end facing. Our solutions had to preserve the structure of the portal, but we had the freedom to rearrange some elements of individual sections.
Solution
Enhanced Validation
By restructuring layout to include a sticky navigation, we solve the issue of having a long single page list of fields. Staff can now keep track of their progress, move between sections and approve registrations at a faster rate
Improved Layout
Reorganized layout and visual layout for an easier viewing experience. Sections are now grouped into like-categories, allowing us to reduce the perceived bulk of content.