Pioneer for Accessibility and Digital Inclusion

The site averages 15,000 visits per month and offers over 700 individual services. With approximately 11,000 employees, the CJD is one of the largest NGOs in the education and social sector in Germany.

The extensive content and complex service structure must be made digitally comprehensible, optimised and accessible in a barrier-free manner to meet the needs of the target groups, increase major donations and better support job placements. The target group clusters are consequently large and multi-layered: in terms of age, disability and intent of website use – whether looking for services for yourself, family members or as a public authority employee, whether you are or wish to become a large or small donor.

The shared credo of CJD, 21TORR and our sister and Drupal agency arocom: To be recognised as digital pioneers in the NGO and digital social economy sector, and to inspire others within the industry to place even greater emphasis on accessibility and digital inclusion.

The guiding principle of the CJD: We are committed to a future in which every person has the opportunity to develop freely and lead a self-determined life.

As one of the largest social education providers in Germany, the CJD focuses on supporting people in difficult life situations and/or with physical or cognitive impairments, providing programmes and measures to help people lead a self-determined life.

The diverse range of services includes employment and work opportunities, vocational education and rehabilitation, early childhood education and family support, assistance for children, young people and families, school education, supported living arrangements and further services.

These strong values must be reflected – in the spirit of digital accessibility and digital inclusion as the highest priority – in conception (UX), interface design (UI) and technical implementation. So that every person has the opportunity to develop freely, lead a self-determined life and – regardless of individual limitations – has easy and straightforward access to information and services.

Within the interdisciplinary team of CJD, arocom (technical implementation) and 21TORR (conceptual implementation in UX/UI), we shared a common goal: a first step towards a digital, sales-oriented and simultaneously low-barrier future for the CJD.

In just seven months of development time, the relaunch went live as part of a cross-functional, agile sprint implementation based on Scrum.

5-D Process for Maximum Needs-Orientation

Within the framework of the 5-D process – familiar from the Design Thinking methodology – the project was clustered into two consecutive work packages:

Particular emphasis was placed on accessibility and inclusivity in UX and UI, in order to consciously include – rather than unconsciously exclude – user groups. This is reflected in structure and information architecture, interaction design, accessible design system and UI design, as well as in the accessibility of content and website structure.

Accessible sales orientation
In the social economy, which operates without ‘classic products’, a conversion-oriented website is challenging. Through the conceptual and technical structure of the services, their searchability and discoverability in line with personal needs along the product vision, we deliberately designed inclusively in accordance with WCAG 2.1 and BITV 2.0 guidelines. Because accessibility means high usability and easy access. Intuitive usability, in turn, benefits all users. This removes barriers in the customer journey and enables rapid conversion to the right service.