Totem UX call for proposals

Totem is an online learning service focused on digital security training for activists and journalists. Launched in 2016 by Free Press Unlimited and Greenhost, it currently has more than 30 courses in five languages. Totem is composed of the learning service itself, based on Open edX, and a bespoke landing site - totem-project.org - that helps visitors, learners and trainers find the courses they need.

As the platform keeps growing with new courses, new and returning learners, and new partners designing and delivering their courses, we wish to improve our UX, in order to make discovery and usage simpler and more future-proof for our target audiences. This mainly requires rethinking the role of the landing site in smartly presenting content, grouping relevant information, and guiding users to the courses themselves.

We are looking for a UX expert to help with those improvements. In a nutshell, this is what we want to accomplish:

  • Assessment of the state of the current system
  • Tightening our definitions of target audiences
  • User interviews to identify needs, usage patterns, and preferences
  • Identifying new features; sorting and prioritising old and new features
  • Creating user journeys through those features, based on target audience definitions
  • UX design

The deliverable we expect is a full set of UX and visual design boards that completely describe the user journeys in a format that can be easily translated into code (Figma mockups, for example).

If you are interested, please send your expression of interest to info@totem-project.org. expression of interest should include a reason why you believe you’re the right partner for us; examples of relevant previous work; and a rough budget (or a list of questions you’d like us to answer before you can provide us with a quote).

This is an open call without a firm deadline; it will stay online until we find the right partner.