Case Kierrätyskeskus

Kierrätyskeskus operates several secondhand stores in the Helsinki metropolitan area, as well as a web shop for pre-owned products.

We redesigned the kierrätyskeskus.fi website with an emphasis on user experience, new brand look and accessibility.

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Client

Kierrätyskeskus

Industry

Retail

Platform

Web

Services

Service Design, UX/UI Design

Stores
13
Donation points
23
Donation pickups
17K
Corporate and community customers
150
Avoided carbon dioxide emissions (kg)
13,1 M
Natural resources saved (kg)
~65 M

Starting point

Kierrätyskeskus wanted to create a modern website that would offer an easy, clear and user friendly experience.

The main challenge was the old website's complex structure. Over time, it had accumulated a lot of content, making it difficult to navigate and find information. Additionally, a new visual identity created during a brand revival project had proved to be impossible to implement to the old website. As a result, content producers at Kierrätyskeskus were lacking the means to utilise the new brand visuals in practice.

When designing the new user experience, it was important to consider all the different user groups: private, corporate, educational institution and municipal customers. In addition, Environmental school Polku, a platform for teachers and education professionals, was to be separated into its own service while still providing a user experience similar to the main website.

Kierrätyskeskus website

Donating

Purchasing second hand goods

Volunteering & jobs

Environmental impact calculation and audits

Trainings and lectures

Sustainable growth education

Strategy

Co-Design

Collaborating on the design with the customer played an important role in the project.

User personas, customer segments, and the most common use cases were defined in collaborative workshops. These definitions were then used to map customer journeys.

This groundwork helped us make it easier for the various user groups (private users, businesses & organisations, educational institutions) to locate the relevant information and services on the website.

Private users

Educational institutions

Businesses and social enterprises

Goals for the website

The workshops resulted in the following goals for the website experience:

  • Offering a smooth service for all customer groups and providing clearly structured information
  • Sharing sustainability-related information with an emphasis on expertise and responsibility
  • Updating the service to be accessible and aligned with sustainable development principles
  • Considering loyal customers & newsletter subscribers – and expanding the subscriber base
  • Improving analytics and tracking leads in compliance with GDPR
  • Updating the visual design to align with the new brand
  • Providing local information using geospatial data

Solution

During the co-design workshops and site analysis, the following themes emerged as the guiding principles for the design:

  1. Improving navigation and the user experience of the site
  2. Presenting information at the right stages of the customer journey
  3. Creating coherent, reusable content elements

Furthermore, Kierrätyskeskus has a number of general objectives that serve as the backbone of all their operations: reducing the consumption of natural resources, increasing environmental awareness and inclusivity and expanding work opportunities.

Redefining the website content

To achieve a better experience for the website users, reducing the amount of content was crucial.

Kierrätyskeskus both rewrote most of the original content, finding ways to communicate the most important information in clear and concise ways. A key part of this process was making the complex goods & donation section more user-friendly. The same philosophy was applied to the revised version of Environmental school Polku.

The redefinition of content also applied to the website's structure. The entire navigation and menu logic was streamlined to provide an inviting and uncomplicated service.

UX design, content elements and components

When designing content elements and UX components, modular and reusable components were emphasised. This ensured a coherent user experience and made navigating the site easier.

The most frequently utilised elements from the original website were used as a base for the final components. Thoughtfully selected and reusable components also reduced development time – the site was ready to be released earlier than originally planned.

UI design, brand and accessibility

For the user interface, the new brand identity was brought in by adding lighter colours to Kierrätyskeskus’ original green colour palette. The lighter colour scheme both creates a sense of trustworthiness and is easier on the eyes.

The typography was made more clear by increasing the font sizes to adhere to current accessibility standards. Large subheadings structure the pages visually and make them easier to read for the visitors that use assistive technologies.

Implementation

The design phase resulted in a reusable content element library that has made the daily life of the content producers much easier. It also assures that accessibility, ease of use and visual appearance remain cohesive on the site whenever new content is added.

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Results

Our work was validated via user research – and the results speak for themselves. The ratings for the new site have been stellar regarding both usability and the new visual appearance.

Average rating for usability
kierrätyskeskus.fi
8,5

"Easy to understand, logical, easily understandable language, concise and simple."

Average rating for usability
polkuedu.fi
8,9

"Extremely functional and clear."

How can we help?

No matter where you are on your digitalisation journey, we encourage you to get in touch.

Contact us

Vilma Merikanto

General inquiries

vilma.merikanto@taiste.com
+358 44 556 8459