american bird conservancy
Saving more birds with a site redesign
Illuminating a nonprofit's exceptional work by making its site more intuitive, engaging, accessible, and effective.
Client
American Bird Conservancy
scope
Redesign of existing site
Website
New site's planned launch: June 2025
Roles
I worked with and presented directly to an internal team and the client. At its largest, the internal team included:
Strategy & UX Design
Experience Design Dir.
Senior UX Designer
UX Designer (my role)
Design
Digital Creative Director
Art Director
Digital Designer
Development
Technical Director
Principal Developer
Project Management
Senior Producer
Process
American Bird Conservancy does substantive and far-reaching work to support birds and bird habitat conservation, and has done so for decades.
However, their web presence does not accurately reflect their significance as an organization, their reputation for effective action, nor the many and varied opportunities for supporters to enhance their impact. The current site structure negatively impacts the experience of visitors and, consequently, the organization.
As a remote/hybrid team, we communicated primarily via online tools, holding regular reviews and check-ins with various representatives of the client depending on the phase of work.
Stakeholder Interviews
Competitive Analysis
Usability Review
Evaluating the current website gave us the opportunity to identify usability issues and recommend solutions.
The review focused on pinpointing problematic features, guiding improvements, and ensuring the interface aligns with visitor expectations.
We reviewed the following:
First Impressions
Navigation
Search
Bird Library
Donation
Page Complexity & Content Strategy
User Survey
The User Survey was structured to gain a better understanding of the visitor experience of the website: what's working well, what isn't, first impressions, enticement for return visits, and more.
Despite some positive feedback, we also learned some people never visit the site at all, even as donors, so there were definitely areas for improvement. The following areas of focus emerged:
Improving the mobile experience
Clarifying information architecture and navigation
Bringing more visibility to the extensive and successful work of the organization
Information Architecture
Using all the knowledge we gained from our reviews, as well as insights from the Stakeholder Interviews, we laid out the information architecture to increase findability and ease of orientation.
We applied a logic to the structure that would be intuitive and clear to users, even those new to the site or those not landing on the homepage as their first entry-point.
User Flows
Once the Information Architecture was redesigned, we structured User Flows to determine the steps each type of user would take to achieve their goals.
We explored the differences between new and returning users, how the search option may play a role, and how different points of origin may impact the flow, adjusting it as needed to create the most intuitive and efficient paths with the least friction.
Content Strategy & Wireframes
A series of reviews with the client achieved a balance of storytelling, intuitive interface, desirable engagement, and overall thoughtful content strategy.
With the content strategy determined, we structured the wires for mobile and desktop, focusing first on key elements that could be reused throughout the site, helping to ensure consistency and identify options for simplification.
Key functionality details were noted in dev mode for developers' review. Throughout the process, regular reviews also took place with design and dev to avoid any surprises, identify any challenges in structure, and confirm the desired path was workable.
New Navigation Testing
Once the new navigation was finalized with the client, we used Lyssna (a user research platform) to run a series of usability tests to ensure success in addressing the navigation's primary goals:
Entice engagement
Clarify focus
Demonstrate interconnectivity
Enhance storytelling
Improve findability
Address accessibility
Retain success
Conclusion
The new site is anticipated to launch in early June 2025. The redesign will:
Effectively reflect the client's work and values.
Raise their profile as the top nonprofit working in bird habitat conservation.
Increase growth and community engagement (including membership and donation increases).
Improve site performance through restructured information architecture that applies SEO best-practices and appropriate conversion funnels.
Create a manageable site backend that's easy to grow, update, and maintain (including site templates and styles for flexible development).
This was an amazing project to have had the opportunity to work on, and I'm very much looking forward to the launch of the new site.
