CHAI BALTIMORE
Full Redesign
Content Inventory, Search Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Card Sorting/Tree Testing, Journey Mapping, Accessibility Review and Wireframes
(2026)
Project Overview
This project was completed for my graduate level Information Architecture (IDIA 630) course at the University of Baltimore and focused on redesigning the website for CHAI (Comprehensive Housing Assistance, Inc.) Baltimore, a nonprofit that provides housing, financial, and community support services. The goal was to improve how residents and community members find and understand available programs and services online.
The University of Baltimore partners directly with CHAI, allowing students to work with a real client organization.
Project scope included:
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Conducting a full content inventory to understand the existing site structure and identify gaps, redundancies, and navigation challenges
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Developing personas to represent key user groups seeking housing assistance and community services
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Performing a search analysis to understand how users search for housing assistance and related services online and highlight possible improvements to CHAI's search system.
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Performing comprehensive strategy and branding-focused competitive research to understand how similar organizations structure and present services online
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Running a hybrid card sorting and tree test to evaluate and validate improvements to the site’s navigation and information architecture
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Creating user journey maps to understand how people move through the process of finding and applying for services
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Designing wireframes for a redesigned site structure to improve clarity, accessibility, and discoverability of CHAI’s programs
The final deliverables propose a restructured information architecture and website design, which will be shared with CHAI for feedback and potential future implementation.
Final deliverables will be present on this portfolio page by late June 2026.
Content Inventory
First, we reviewed all content on the site and noted the following for each page:
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Hierarchy level
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Page name
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Navigation label
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URL of page
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Summary of page content
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Purpose of page content
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Suggested keywords for page
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Page layout developed in Miro
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List of downloadable content/files on page
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List of external links on page
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Questions, suggestions, notes
Each top-level navigation item had a tab in the Google Sheets document, and each internal page within the site had a separate column with the above details listed. External pages were excluded from having their own separate columns, but were included in the "list of external links on page" column.
Example of Content Inventory Page
Personas
Next, proto-personas for the various types of users to the CHAI site were developed. These personas were not developed based on primary research, but rather an understanding of what types of users would use the CHAI site.
Example of Miro Synthesis
Homeowner in fear of foreclosure
Mother looking for affordable housing
Disabled older adult looking for community housing
Older adult looking for support to make home repairs to age in place
Adult with mental illness looking for housing and fear of eviction
Search Analysis
These personas informed the next stages of the project, including a full search analysis. The search analysis included included a review of the search system on CHAI's site, with industry citations and a special focus on the following topics:
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Indexing, including search zones
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Pattern-matching algorithms, including stemming and recall vs. precision
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Search functionality and search bar design
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Search results page design
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No search results page design
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Supporting revision
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Key recommendations for updates
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Persona demos
Industry citations included Information Architecture (Arango, Rosenfeld and Morville, 2015), Nielsen Norman Group and others.
Key slides from the search analysis presentation are below:
Competitive Analysis
The project also included an extensive competitive analysis of three competitors and CHAI. This competitive analysis included:
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Overview of site purpose and goals
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Branding - mission, color, audiences and color theory insights
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Functionality highlights
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Examples of key features
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SWOT analysis
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Suggested improvements
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Persona walkthroughs
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Competitor comparison
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CHAI site recommendations
Key highlights from the review of CHAI and one competitor, CHN Housing Partners are below:
CHAI OVERVIEW - select slides only
CHN HOUSING PARTNERS - select slides only
This project is a work-in-progress and will be completed by the end of May. Remaining work (card sorting, tree testing, journey maps, accessibility review and wireframes) will be added upon completion.
Stay tuned!