UNFPA

The Virtual
Is Real

Best User Experience / Nominee

UNFPA

Best User Experience

Nominee

"The most important thing was that the story subjects, once they had seen the website, were glad to have shared their stories in the hopes of raising awareness towards ending digital violence or helping another survivor feel less alone and not at fault." UNFPA

Q: Can you describe your project and the concept behind it?

A: As the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health, one of our mandates is ending the human rights violation of gender-based violence. Our goal was to shed light on the devastating toll digital violence — exacerbated by lockdowns that sent more people online — exacts on survivors, underscoring that abuse is abuse wherever it is perpetrated. We told the stories of 11 girls from 11 countries to represent the borderless nature of the internet.

Q: Tell us about your initial moodboard, wireframe, or prototype. How did things change throughout the process?

A: We had a strong sense of the design from early on and most components of the original approach were consistent from inception to execution. What did change with every iteration was the complexity of the interactive animations until they became hyper real.

Q: What influenced your chosen technical approach, and how did it go beyond past methods?

A: Led by digital editor Riza Cruz and project managed by Nahema Patwari in collaboration with design agency Elkanodata, the project sought to create an immersive storytelling experience that would transport viewers to each girl’s POV. For the ten categories of digital violence identified, we needed a technical approach with enough flexibility to customize each profile's experiential animations.

When did you experience a breakthrough or an "a-ha" moment during this project?

We felt compelled to bring to life the blur between our online and offline worlds. An “a-ha” moment, or the missing experiential piece, was the cracking effect of the mobile screen — both the visual and audio components — which broke the proverbial "fourth wall" so that the experience of digital violence could tangibly break through the screen.

Q: What web technologies, tools, and resources did you use to develop this?

A: UNFPA works in over 150 countries, and digital media is the best way to widely show our work from every corner of the world. But with the technical accessibility limitations of this global digital audience, i.e. lower bandwidths, older browsers and language versions, Elkanodata had to creatively problem solve a variety of "lower-tech" solutions that worked using HTML, Javascript, Sass/CSS, Webpack and GSAP to integrate into a Drupal CMS.

Q: How did you balance your own creative ideas and technical capabilities with a fair representation of the client’s brand?

A: "The core of UNFPA’s focus was on the girls — how do we both empower and protect them? This factored into the images we chose, the terms used and the story details withheld for privacy and security. Elkanodata brought the stories together through a custom soundtrack, an elusive combination of white noise, keyboard typing, mobile alerts and dial tone, to create an ambience that allowed the viewer to then become wholly immersed. "

Q: How did the final product meet or exceed your expectations?

A: The most important thing was that the story subjects, once they had seen the website, were glad to have shared their stories in the hopes of raising awareness towards ending digital violence or helping another survivor feel less alone and not at fault. They were not revictimized or re-traumatized but rather empowered. We were able to take their original content into something that took on a new level of immersive storytelling.

Q: Why is this an exciting time to create new digital experiences? How does your team fit into this?

A: As web technologies evolve and connections between our international communities grow, we see an ever increasing opportunity for purpose-driven digital experiences to inspire the world, challenge the status quo and drive impact for women and girls.

The Virtual Is Real