Western National Parks Association
Year
2021
Role
UX Designer
Awards & Mentions
- Information Architecture
- User Personas & Flows
- Wireframes
- Video Banner Edit
- Collaboration: UI Design
- Development Handoff
How can we redesign WNPA’s website to enhance user engagement and support for lesser-known national parks while creating an intuitive and organized information structure?
Faced with a demanding timeline and ambitious objectives, I led the UX and visual design overhaul of WNPA’s website. From July to September 2021, I guided the design team through Elevation’s first agile work environment, focusing on crafting the pivotal features for the revamped website. This platform catered to educators, publishers, researchers, and park enthusiasts alike, with a primary aim of introducing visitors to new parks and deepening their connection to the land’s history. The overarching goal was to spark curiosity and attract fresh support for the lesser-known national parks.
Find Your Perfect Park
WNPA’s distinctive advantage lay in its intimate knowledge of smaller, less-visited parks. Users exhibited a genuine eagerness to engage with these parks through the WNPA website. Our challenge was to understand how nature enthusiasts seek out new parks, what piques their curiosity, and which user segments would embrace this product. We aimed to create an engaging and lasting user experience.
The previous website primarily listed WNPA partner parks, but we recognized the need for something more dynamic. We began by assessing available content and delving into user contexts. The United States boasts numerous parks, monuments, and historical sites, and many users arrived without a specific park in mind. Their excitement lay in exploring and discovering lesser-known parks, and they desired the ability to plan trips based on various park attributes such as tours, history, hikes, and family-friendliness. So, we explored the concept of a “create-your-adventure” feature.
This is the initial plan I ideated:
The Solution
The final design ended up being very similar, although simplified for the sake of time. This is an area that WNPA can focus on expanding and growing while they work on maintaining their website.
Here is the final design:
Information Architecture
WNPA’s previous information structure was disorganized. Navigation would occasionally direct users to interior pages, at other times to anchor links, and sometimes even off the website entirely. It was evident why WNPA had a high bounce rate and struggled with SEO. A comprehensive overhaul of the information was imperative. Initially, the client aimed for streamlined pathways with minimal options to create a straightforward navigation experience. However, as numerous pathways and objectives from stakeholders became apparent, the challenge became navigating these transitions while adhering to the project’s scope. We initially conducted stakeholder interviews to define audience groups and assess site content. Common user pathways emerged: “Explore” (parks, land, resources), “About” (WNPA’s mission), and “Support” (volunteer, donate, join). This led to the “Learn and Explore,” “About WNPA,” and “Support 3.0” navigation items. Upon sitemap review, stakeholders expanded the structure, incorporating “About Us,” “What We Do,” “Visit Us,” and “Bring the Parks Home.” The original pathways were retained, and a “Funds At Work” section was added to transparently communicate donation and membership expenditures. The larger sitemap ultimately met the organization’s needs, garnering full support from the WNPA Board for implementation.
