ALPHABET WORKERS UNION
Project Overview
In 2023, I had the opportunity to contribute to the redesign of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) website. The union, which represents Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) workers, sought a site that more clearly communicated their values, achievements, and goals. With the union’s transition to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), they needed a fresh, modern identity and an intuitive website that better served their diverse membership, including full-time employees and contractors (TVCs).
In 2023, I had the opportunity to contribute to the redesign of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) website. The union, which represents Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) workers, sought a site that more clearly communicated their values, achievements, and goals. With the union’s transition to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), they needed a fresh, modern identity and an intuitive website that better served their diverse membership, including full-time employees and contractors (TVCs).
Challenge
The client’s outdated branding and difficult-to-maintain website were hindering their ability to reach a broader audience, establish credibility, and attract and engage new members.
The client’s outdated branding and difficult-to-maintain website were hindering their ability to reach a broader audience, establish credibility, and attract and engage new members.
Goals
1. Showcase the diversity of the union
AWU-CWA is made up of a diverse group of full-time Alphabet employees (FTEs) and a wide network of contractors known as TVCs. In order to build solidarity, their organization needs to welcome workers across all employment types. To address this, we needed to make sure their website celebrated TVC membership and their wins across Press Coverage and throughout their FAQs.
2. Build credibility and attract new members
During user interviews, members stated they’d like the website to better attract and engage members. To do this, we worked to improve the user experience both visually and through better information hierarchy. First, our team developed a refreshed brand identity, including a new logo, color palette, and typographic system. Our UX research identified the need to showcase AWU’s wins and how new and existing members can get involved. To further the organization’s credibility, we also highlighted the strength of the organization through its diverse membership and its history.
3. Improve user experience
The AWU website is a primary hub for onboarding new members as well as pitching the organization to new recruits. To accomplish this task well, their site needs to be informative, easy to navigate, and engaging. We interviewed FTEs, TVcs across various membership roles to learn the existing pain points and identify priorities for the new site. This included creating a clear strategy of user flows and goals, developing copywriting strategy, creating site maps, wireframes, and prototypes for all 17 pages.
4. Improve long term maintenance
The existing AWU site had been manually developed and maintained by AWU’s software engineers through Github. To update the site, organizers would need to submit changes to the engineers for anything from Press Releases, Wins, or Press Coverage and more. To solve this problem, we built them a fully customized Webflow site including a customized CMS system with easily maintainable structures. The result is that anyone on the team can update the website, reducing the bottleneck that existed previously.
1. Showcase the diversity of the union
AWU-CWA is made up of a diverse group of full-time Alphabet employees (FTEs) and a wide network of contractors known as TVCs. In order to build solidarity, their organization needs to welcome workers across all employment types. To address this, we needed to make sure their website celebrated TVC membership and their wins across Press Coverage and throughout their FAQs.
2. Build credibility and attract new members
During user interviews, members stated they’d like the website to better attract and engage members. To do this, we worked to improve the user experience both visually and through better information hierarchy. First, our team developed a refreshed brand identity, including a new logo, color palette, and typographic system. Our UX research identified the need to showcase AWU’s wins and how new and existing members can get involved. To further the organization’s credibility, we also highlighted the strength of the organization through its diverse membership and its history.
3. Improve user experience
The AWU website is a primary hub for onboarding new members as well as pitching the organization to new recruits. To accomplish this task well, their site needs to be informative, easy to navigate, and engaging. We interviewed FTEs, TVcs across various membership roles to learn the existing pain points and identify priorities for the new site. This included creating a clear strategy of user flows and goals, developing copywriting strategy, creating site maps, wireframes, and prototypes for all 17 pages.
4. Improve long term maintenance
The existing AWU site had been manually developed and maintained by AWU’s software engineers through Github. To update the site, organizers would need to submit changes to the engineers for anything from Press Releases, Wins, or Press Coverage and more. To solve this problem, we built them a fully customized Webflow site including a customized CMS system with easily maintainable structures. The result is that anyone on the team can update the website, reducing the bottleneck that existed previously.
