For all us Saskatchewanians, when people utter the name SARCAN, it means one thing: they’re the nice folks that, after months and months of you piling up boxes and black garbage bags stuffed with empty cans and bottles (if you’re anything like me I’m sure you’re very familiar with the process), give you money for your empties. Isn’t that awesome? But, whoa! Wait a minute. If SARCAN Recycling is for, well, recycling, then what (or who) is SARC?
History
Established in 1968, SARC (formally SASWAC or the Saskatchewan Association of Sheltered Workshops and Activity Centres) was formed by a group of managers from eight sheltered workshops within the province. Their goal was to enable managers to share information, learn from one another, and provide work and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
Over the course of the next decade the association grew, began staff training programs, coordinated large province-wide contracts, and brought common concerns and needs to the attention of the provincial rehabilitation advisor. A name change in 1973 saw SASWAC replaced with SARC (Saskatchewan Association of Rehabilitation Centres) and as of now, SARC is an association with 80 member agencies that provides services in the areas of residential supports, employment supports, and community/recreation activities for thousands of persons with disabilities.
Website Redesign
The primary goals for the redesign of the SARC and SARCAN Recycling website was 2-fold: firstly, help educate the province on who SARC and SARCAN is and how they are more than just a recycling depot; secondly, create a brand new website to target their target specific audiences (the public, members, caregivers, stakeholders). So, what was our solution? Well, first of all we had to analyze the existing website…
The results pretty much summed up what we had to do.
The existing single website had already tried to differentiate between SARC and SARCAN, but due to its limited functions, the information presented to the target audiences was too cluttered and extremely difficult to locate. Therefore it was essential that 2 websites were needed to achieve the desired goals. And that’s what we did. Although we did it with a twist…
SARC and SARCAN Recycling Website Design
Powered by a custom built multi-site CMS, so website admin can easily manage and update both websites via the CMS, each website has its own unique functions. SARC was developed with an Intranet so their board, managers and staff have access to non-public information as well as a discussion forum; a product catalog and ecommerce shopping cart; and a custom Blog.
For SARCAN Recycling, the website was designed to be targeted at the general public and to contain information regarding their recycling depot locations, what you can recycle, a custom Blog, and information regarding the environment and what actually happens to your empties.
I know what you’re thinking. What’s the “twist” that I mentioned earlier? Well, for each of the SARC and SARCAN Recycling websites, they were developed with responsive design. Go on, take a look. Either grab the bottom right-hand corner of your browser and resize it or use this nifty tool: ismysiteresponsive.com. Isn’t that awesome? Hmm, well maybe not as awesome as getting money for your empties, but it’s definitely up there don’t you think?
In-depth case studies on the SARC and SARCAN Recycling website projects can be found on our Portfolio page.