Lazarev. won Red Dot for Ukrainian charity volunteer project

Before we begin

You know how people talk about the whole white stripe followed by a black one thing? Well, at Lazarev.agency, we're not really superstitious types. In fact, we're all about smashing dogmas, shattering those walls of stereotypes, and shaking up the whole design industry and business scene.

That's why, after totally nailing it at The Webby Awards in the spring of 2023 (crazy how time zooms by), we didn't brace for a downturn. On the contrary, we had this gut feeling that another jaw-dropping moment was lurking right nearby. And that happened! One of our beloved projects, the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, won The Red Dot Awards in the "Brands and Communication Design" category! 

But let's make it clear that our victory wasn't mere luck; it stemmed from the dedicated hard work of true professionals. The ongoing commitment and relentless efforts led us to triumph at the Red Dot Awards for the second year in a row (yeah, we keep that winning streak alive). 

Find out more about the award-winning project and the folks who made it happen in the upcoming article.

What is Red Dot and why we are so happy to get it

If you've been hanging out with us for a while or simply keeping an eye on industry buzz, chances are you're familiar with The Red Dot Awards. But hey, if you don’t know, that's perfectly fine too. Consider this your friendly reminder.

Red Dot is one of the world's most reputable design awards creatives can win for outstanding quality and exceptional achievements in design. Think industry titans like Apple, Google, Sony, Xiaomi – they've all snagged this prestigious honor. Lazarev.agency has joined the ranks of these distinguished players for the second time, proudly claiming our own red dot.

And Red Dot goes to…

… the Serhiy Prytula Charitable Foundation 👏

Serhiy Prytula and his team have been providing support to Ukrainians since 2014 when Russia started the war in the east of Ukraine, particularly intensifying their efforts following the full-scale invasion on February, 24, 2022. With a dual focus on humanitarian assistance and military aid, the foundation helps civilians affected by the war and the military people dedicated to removing Russian occupiers from Ukrainian territory.

We’re incredibly happy to snatch the accolade for such a special project. However, it’s vital to highlight that this year's win is more than just a testament to our design expertise. It's a great chance to make Ukrainian voices heard all around the world, utilizing the reach of Red Dot's web resources and the International Yearbook. So we're absolutely thrilled and proud that we grabbed that opportunity and managed to shine the spotlight on Ukraine's biggest charitable organization.

We wanted to spread awareness about the foundation's activities and its underlying mission, and I believe we nailed it.

{{Volodymyr Khliupin}}

Our design team took on the project voluntarily, completely revamping the website of the Prytula Foundation in 5 months. Collaborating with the Brights Development Team, we worked together to create a seamless and dynamic site, designed to facilitate easy charitable contributions within Ukraine and beyond. Additionally, it serves as a convenient hub for seeking assistance, whether it's for a medical facility at the rear or a military unit on the front line.

So, the key tasks for Lazarev. and Brights included:

• Developing a website that serves as the central hub for people to access crucial info about the fund, its operations, news updates, reports, and purchases.
• Streamlining the process of volunteers completing the help request form and its subsequent handling by the fund's team, ultimately cutting down on time spent.
• Conveying the fund's mission, procedures, and beneficiaries effectively to minimize the influx of irrelevant help requests.
• Transforming the website into an informative hub, thus easing the burden on the fund's hotline.
• Merging the military and humanitarian aid sections into a single platform.
• Amplifying engagement with the foundation's website, motivating people to contribute generously both within Ukraine and beyond its borders.

Let’s talk about design, shall we?

First and foremost, the brand-new Prytula Foundation website is now a platform that unites the fund’s two core areas of work — military and humanitarian aid.

The homepage welcomes users with a 3D model of a drone people donated for, bold CTA buttons to donate or apply for aid, and the organization’s ongoing charity projects visitors can support.

One of the challenges the foundations' team dealt with in the previous website version was people struggling to find payment details to donate in currencies like USD or EUR.

Therefore, those living abroad often made contributions to Ukrainian hryvnia cards. Because of this, the foundation lost part of the donations during the currency conversion. Our solution was to design a switch that allows users to transfer money to the fund's international bank accounts.

The website now offers the flexibility to contribute in multiple currencies (USD, UAH, EUR) using various payment methods tailored to the user's location. The Brights developers have incorporated the LiqPay payment system to ensure hassle-free and uninterrupted transactions on the site. Donors can also donate through Paypal, support the fund on Patreon, or make donations in cryptocurrency.

The star of the donation webpage is an interactive widget designed to streamline the payment process and encourage people to support the foundation’s charity initiatives. What’s so special about it? The widget responds with the organization founder, Serhiy Prytula’s phrases every time a user enters any sum of money in the donation field.

Such a solution proved to be efficient. At the end of February, the website was launched, and two weeks later, the foundation’s team started getting more donations via the widget rather than bank transfers. To be precise, the number of donations increased by 50% and the average check grew by 22%.

As we delved into the design process, our goal was to thoroughly analyze the foundation's prior website and create a fresh version that ensures every user's experience with the platform is effective, user-friendly, and crystal clear, catering to all those who wish to support Ukrainian defenders. Because, let's face it, we understand that every donated hryvnia has the power to make a life-saving impact.

{{Oleksandr Golovko}}

Comprehensive knowledge base

One of the core goals of this project was to make the website a transparent information hub. Now, users can learn all about the foundation’s work process and projects, both ongoing and archived, and view detailed reporting.

When working on this project, our team aimed to clear up any potential confusion or questions, ensuring that people have a clear grasp of how the fund operates, where the money goes, how they can seek help, and more.

{{Oleksandr Golovko}}

News

But we didn’t stop there. Together with the foundation team, we decided to add a news section with press releases and updates. Such a move helps inform people about the organization's activities and maintains the transparency of the foundation’s work.

To make these content updates a breeze and structure the information for the users, the Brights developers integrated CMS Strapi and added a blog with news, press releases, and videos with the tagging option for each publication.

Partnership webpage revamp to amplify the foundation’s support

We updated the Partnership webpage design to encourage businesses to collaborate with the foundation and support its charity projects. Both companies and individuals are free to discover the types of partnerships available within the organization, the ways to start collaborating, and the materials they need for it.

FAQs

As already mentioned, the foundation’s visitors may often have a lot of questions. Completing the aid request isn't always straightforward, requiring precision and proper documentation. 

In the past, when people couldn’t find the needed information or get answers to their questions through the website content, they contacted the support center, reached out on social media, or even directly contacted the founder. Certainly, the fund’s team spent much time assisting those facing difficulties.

Our key objectives included reducing calls to the support center, speeding up application processing, and minimizing errors in submissions. To address these, we've introduced a digital library on the website, offering a wealth of information for people to explore. Additionally, our team has created dedicated webpages for each question, connecting users with relevant topics and contact details for further assistance.

What about the UI part?

We built our approach to visual website design on accessibility and simplicity. And it means that the content should balance between being structured, readable, and visually satisfying. We think we totally nailed it as the drop off rate decreased by 18% after the redesign.

Also, it was vital to ensure the website loads as fast as possible at various Internet quality and on any device. It's crucial since people who need to contact the foundation are military personnel and volunteers who may be in areas with a poor connection.

So we included only the necessary content rather than rich images, animations, and other elements that could overload the website.

But it doesn't mean we added none. Our team designed customized 3D models for website sections like military and humanitarian aid, partnerships, reporting, etc.

When working on the 3D models, we aimed to enhance the website with aesthetics without overwhelming it.

{{Anna Demianenko}}

Grid

And last but not least — the website’s grid layout. We built it with 3-4 columns so that people see right from the first screen a module with a call to donate which will accompany them throughout the webpage. Such a solution helps boost the conversion rate, which in our case, is a donation.

Once the design was finalized, we handed over the reins to our trusted partners – the Brights Development Team. They skillfully translated our design solutions into reality, harnessing the power of technologies like Vue.js, Nuxt, Node.js, and the versatile CMS Strapi.

What the foundation says

Every task that we perform at the Foundation, from purchasing armored vehicles to posting on social media, is aimed at helping the Defense Forces of Ukraine, as well as civilians in the de-occupied and front-line territories. For this, it's necessary to maintain the level of trust in the organization, accumulate donations, and attract partners. The website should also work for it. Lazarev. and Brights teams have done a tremendous job analyzing the Foundation's specific challenges and developing solutions that help us report to donors and fundraise for our next purchases. We’re grateful to both companies for their work on the updated website of the Serhiy Prytula Foundation. And an additional thank you for doing it pro bono. This helped us save a significant portion of the fund's separate operating budget.

{{Anna Hvozdiar}}

The team that did it

As we already mentioned at the start of this article, winning at Red Dot isn't about luck at all. It's the result of hard work put in by many individuals who always strive to take ideas to the next level and create cutting-edge products.

The team behind the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation website revamp includes:

Lazarev.agency 

Kyrylo Lazariev — Strategy

Anna Demianenko — Design Lead & Interaction Designer 

Valeriia Mashyro — Project Manager 

Kseniia Shyshkova — Project Manager

Volodymyr Khliupin — UX Lead 

Oleksandr Holovko — UX Designer 

Andrii Kidenko — UI/UX Designer 

Ivanna Polishchuk — UI/UX Designer 

Albina Sobol — UI/UX Designer  

Artem Shcherbak — UI/UX Designer  

Yehor Herasymenko — UI/UX Designer

Oleksandra Merchanska — UI/UX Designer 

Kyrylo Lopushynskyi — 3D Designer

Brights

Vladyslav Olieshchuk — Frontend Lead

Dinara Mamatkazina — Frontend Developer

Sergii Pavlenko — Frontend Developer

Andrii Krasnychuk — Backend Developer

Andrii Barabash — DevOps Engineer

Kostiantyn Serohin — QA Engineer

Igor Gnutov — QA Engineer

Tetiana Krupchenko — Project Manager

Iryna Biloshytska — Project Manager

Nata Shved — COO

Dmytro Umen — CTO

One last thing

While winning the Red Dot award for the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation project is undoubtedly a remarkable result, the best result for us would be a victory for Ukraine in the war initiated by Russia. To that end, we exert every effort within our control, and often go above and beyond.

This year's Red Dot award holds a significance that surpasses mere recognition of our design prowess. It is first and foremost an opportunity to rally global support for Ukraine. With this in mind, we urge you to explore the thoughtfully redesigned and highly user-friendly Prytula Foundation website and donate to move the victory day closer. Your contributions, whether given once, twice, or repeatedly, can genuinely make a difference.