Golden Boots Uganda

THE CHALLENGE

A meaningful mission lost in a broken digital experience

Golden Boots Uganda empowers Ugandan youth—particularly those with disabilities—through sports, education, and mental health initiatives. Despite this meaningful mission, their website struggled to clearly communicate their purpose or facilitate secure, trustworthy donations.

Users couldn't figure out how to donate. The mission was buried in dense paragraphs. And potential supporters were left questioning the organization's credibility due to outdated payment methods like Western Union transfers and email requests.

How might we transform Golden Boots Uganda's digital presence to clearly communicate their mission and create a seamless, trustworthy donation experience?

WHAT WE CREATED

A redesigned experience that builds trust at every step

Working with a four-person UX consulting team, I served as Lead Designer, developing research-backed prototypes that enhanced mission clarity while streamlining the donation journey for potential supporters.

Streamlined Donations

Integrated PayPal/Stripe payment systems replacing outdated Western Union transfers with a modern, secure checkout flow.

Clear Mission Communication

Redesigned information architecture to immediately convey who Golden Boots serves and how donations make an impact.

Trust-Building Elements

Added visible impact metrics, team profiles, and financial transparency to establish credibility with potential donors.

The Golden Boots Uganda team was excited about how professional and straightforward the new donation experience feels. The redesign creates an emotional connection while maintaining the organization's authentic voice.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

What we learned about building trust through design

Trust Through Design

Trust has to be deliberately created through design choices. Every element, from payment security indicators to transparent impact reporting, contributes to building donor confidence.

Clarity Drives Donations

Clear information leads directly to more donations. When users can easily understand the mission and impact, they're more likely to take action and contribute.

Emotional Connection

Emotional connection matters deeply in nonprofit websites. Creating meaningful narratives and visual stories helps donors connect with the cause on a personal level.

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

Golden Boots Uganda is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Ugandan youth—particularly those with disabilities—through sports, education, and mental health initiatives. They provide opportunities for young people to develop skills, build confidence, and connect with their communities.

The organization sought to transition from outdated donation methods to a contemporary online platform that would help them reach more supporters and scale their impact.

PROJECT GOALS & RESEARCH

Understanding what needed to change

We established clear goals for transforming the digital experience and conducted comprehensive usability testing to understand user needs and identify friction points.

01

Uncover User Needs

Identify friction points through direct observation sessions with 8 diverse participants

02

Modernize Donations

Integrate PayPal/Stripe payment systems for seamless, secure giving experience

03

Communicate Clearly

Share the mission emotionally while enhancing transparency about finances and impact

04

Create Accessible Pathways

Build mobile-friendly routes tailored to donors, volunteers, and participants

05

Highlight Involvement

Showcase both monetary and non-monetary ways to get involved with the organization

06

Refresh the Design

Create a youth-centered, trustworthy visual identity reflecting the organization's energy

Our research methodology involved 35-50 minute one-on-one Zoom sessions with socially conscious U.S. donors, using a two-person team (moderator + observer) and screen recordings to capture detailed behavioral insights.

KEY FINDINGS & METRICS

Critical barriers preventing user engagement

Our research revealed five major friction points that prevented users from understanding the mission and completing donations. These insights directly shaped our design solutions.

Broken Donation System

Users couldn't figure out how to donate. Most clicked what looked like donation buttons only to find contact forms with no way to pay.

Unclear Mission

Many visitors couldn't tell that Golden Boots serves youth with disabilities. Important mission information was buried in dense paragraphs.

Missing Proof

Users were frustrated by having to download outdated PDFs. The lack of visual data and recent success stories made people question effectiveness.

Confusing Layout

Text was too small, pages felt cluttered, and important buttons were hard to spot. Donation links competed with popups for attention.

Competition Doing Better

When comparing to Musana, users preferred their clear donation process with built-in payments, simple design, and reassuring elements.

Through our comprehensive research and testing, we gathered quantitative metrics that validated these qualitative findings. The data showed clear patterns in user behavior and website performance, helping us prioritize which issues to address first.

If we had more time, we'd test the site with the youth who participate in their programs and make further improvements to mobile responsiveness.