BoxCrush BoxCrush

Kiwanis.Org

Sitefinity Website Development & Design

Kiwanis.Org
Web design for the Kiwanis International Worldwide Project Homepage design for Kiwanis Builders Club eCommerce website design for the Kiwanis Store

Overview

BoxCrush created four custom sites for Kiwanis: the main site, Kiwanis.org; the Builder’s Club children’s site, the Worldwide Service custom club locator, and the Kiwanis International eCommerce site.

Quick Facts

  • Ability to support multiple languages (German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Japanese, and Chinese)
  • A CMS navigable for various technical skill levels
  • Support for a workflow including authors, approvers, and administrators
  • Ability to accommodate standards-compliant custom design with valid Tableless HTML and CSS
  • Ability to handle complementary microsites
  • Ability to create custom modules (Club Locator and Custom Polls)
  • Customized social media modules
  • Flash usability
Tags :
  • Design
  • Development
  • eCommerce
  • Nonprofit
  • Sitefinity CMS

BACKGROUND

Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world through service to children and communities with a membership of nearly 600,000 in more than 16,000 clubs in 80 countries and geographic areas. 

Four years before BoxCrush came into the picture, Kiwanis.org. was designed with a free open source content management system that was neither user-friendly nor intuitive. The client found it difficult to use, and staff had to be trained and retrained in its system processes. With multiple microsites and the need for increased flexibility in site management, Kiwanis wanted a much more user-friendly CMS for its redesigned site.

After working with Kiwanis for several years, the BoxCrush team had the benefit of understanding their organizational structure, the need for multiple efficient, complementary microsites, and the desire for a CMS that offered flexibility and ease of use. Kiwanis turned to BoxCrush for the redevelopment of the site. 

CHALLENGE

Kiwanis needed a parent site and several microsites that were easy to navigate, with a content management system that provided flexibility, design and development options, and user-friendly management. It was important that this site fulfill Kiwanis’ need for website management shared by staff with varying technical skill levels while offering the capability to launch multiple microsites complementing the Kiwanis design and brand. The site also needed to offer a diverse menu of interactivity and social media modules with options for simple modifications.

SOLUTION

Box Crush created the new Kiwanis site in 60 days, taking the rough design sketches, developing templates, setting up the language localization and workflow integration, and customizing a club locator. The site was developed in ASP.NET, SQL Server, and Sitefinity CMS.

For the Worldwide Service Project microsite, BoxCrush created the custom design. Following the Kiwanis brand standards complementing the main design, Worldwide Service Project stands alone as an independent website within a website. Offered in eight languages, the site automatically appears in the end user’s default language and presents only translated pages out of the English version’s site map. The translation is seamless from one language to another, including taglines, headlines and subheads, tooltips, and hovers. With customized comment polls in all eight official Kiwanis-supported languages, the Worldwide Service Project website had an accelerated timeline and actually launched prior to the Kiwanis.org site.

The Builder’s Club site is a fun, energetic website designed to engage middle-school-aged children. The design presents a lot of information while maintaining a sense of whimsy and bold use of color. The site is fully integrated with the Sitefinity content management system and allows the Builders Club team to update their announcements and news as they happen. 

For the Kiwanis eCommerce store, BoxCrush chose an established platform that was VISA PABP Certified and designed a look flexible enough to work for seven different color schemes and not steal attention from the products. We identified several products that would not conform to standard product classes. For instance, Kiwanis sold plaques that could be engraved and charged by the letter. By purchasing the source from the cart vendor and working with the existing format, we were able to deliver custom features at a reasonable price in a tight timeframe. 

Last, we provided the product photography, cropped and web-optimized photos, and inserted all product descriptions in-house. The only thing Kiwanis had to do was review and approve.

Read the full case study to learn more about what we were able to accomplish for Kiwanis.