Circles, Circuits & Cycles

The redesign of ywam.org started with creating a new search and discovery path for visitors.

YWAM has hundreds of locations, and engages in many types of activities and projects. The vastness of this movement was a big challenge.

The starting point was to identify common values and vision that could be translated into the design of the site.

While contemplating how a visitor might discover their place in this massive movement 3 words stood out that were communicated by Loren Cunningham (founder of YWAM): Circles, Circuits and Cycles.

I used the 3C's as principles to build out the search and explore sections.

Circles corresponds (but not limited to) with people's interests, what people are passionate about. Internally known as Spheres. 'Circles' were translated as 'Passions' to make it easily understood for young visitors.

Circuits corresponds (but not limited to) with geographical locations. Circuits were transliterated as regions, the different continents of the earth. (Internally YWAM has regions also known as ACT's but these can't be easily understood by visitors since they do not correlate with continents)

Cycles correspond (but not limited to) with seasons of time and seasons of life. In YWAM people can get involved from 2 weeks in a volunteer position or outreach to a few months as a student or a lifetime as YWAM staff. So I expressed cycles on the site as the different opportunities one can get involved in YWAM.