VZW De Kleine Vos is an organization in Antwerp for child care and family support. For more than a hundred years, this non-profit organization has been an open place for all kinds of families and vulnerable people in this society. Their aim is to offer help and improve the quality of life for families with children aged 0 to 12 years.
A few years ago, the current website of De Kleine Vos was built using WordPress. Meanwhile, the design is a bit old-fashioned and, as a user, it's difficult to get information from the website. VZW De Kleine Vos also struggles with uploading content themselves. When they did, the whole layout changed. So it was time for a change.
What we did
We redesigned the entire front-end of the website with React and back-end with Node.js. We also implemented a completely new Content Management System (CMS) on the website, allowing the client to upload content to the website afterward.
Internship project
At icapps, we consider it very important that our interns get a valuable internship project. And knowing that De Kleine Vos was struggling with an outdated website and had some problems with returning bugs, we thought it would be an ideal project. Our interns: Matyas (UX, UI design), Nicolas (backend developer), and Matthias (frontend developer) got a project that is used effectively and De Kleine Vos received a new website. In our blog post, we tell you more about how our interns experienced this project.
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I can feel that the interns are genuinely engaged with the website and want to make it into something beautiful.
Raf De Dauw
Operational Director
at
vzw De Kleine Vos
What was on the agenda?
The project began with an introduction to the client. Our interns and their mentor Dries went to visit De Kleine Vos. They received a tour around the property and got more background information on the organization. This is important to get a better grasp of the subject matter. By visiting them, our interns got a clear picture of who their client is, and why they are working on this project. Getting to know who your target audience is, is crucial if you want to build a website. Our interns also got a chance to take pictures that they could use for the website.
On the rebuild website, you can search for information on three different categories. You go to the website as a parent, a child, or as a social worker. You can find information that is relevant to your situation. If you want to reach more people, you need a well-engineered website, one that looks good too.
Nowadays it's harder to find social workers, so it’s important that job applications go smoothly. The CMS that our interns built allows De Kleine Vos to put their vacancies online themselves. With a good-looking website, it's easier to do employer branding.
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It's very important that both parents, children, and social workers can find correct information on our website.
Raf De Dauw
Operational Director
at
vzw De Kleine Vos
The collaboration
The communication went smoothly in general. Weekly, our interns, and their mentor sat down with Raf to discuss the next steps. At icapps, we always work in two-week sprints. This is something we also do with our interns to teach them about that scrum and agile way of working. It's also an interesting way for customers to give quick feedback and to follow up a project from A to Z.
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The design really looks very good. I also noticed that when I gave them feedback, they took it into account and started working on it. The website truly looks to our expectations.
Raf De Dauw
Operational Director
at
vzw De Kleine Vos
The impact
Our interns have provided De Kleine Vos with a completely new website. People can now successfully find their way to the organization.
This project was a win-win situation for both us and De Kleine Vos. Our interns got to really do their part for society and work on something that will be used in real life. This charity project also fits perfectly within our strategy pillar 'Our World'.
