Current Look
Proposed Look
Introduction
The Toronto Zoo has been a staple institution in the city since it first opened its doors in 1974. Visitors to the zoo have a unique opportunity to observe and connect with animals from all over the world, and the zoo’s conservation and sustainability initiatives are invaluable to the wildlife preservation community as a whole.
Motivation
This project involved the redesign of Toronto's website as a case study for school assignment. The goal was to redesign the user flow for adopting animals and making monthly donations through the website to enhance user experience and increase engagement. The project aimed to enhance user satisfaction, engagement, and conversion rates on the website.
Design Process
Discover
To gain a deeper understanding of best practices and industry standards, I conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis of various zoos and organizations that offer animal adoption programs and donation processes. This method allowed me to examine their websites and gather insights to inform the redesign of the Toronto Zoo website.A usability test was also done by inviting participants one at a time to perform a given task on the existing website while thinking aloud. Participants were encouraged to share their opinions, impressions, and any challenges encountered throughout the process.
User Persona
Using the insights from competitive analysis and usability tests, I synthesized the findings to identify common patterns, recurring themes, and user characteristics. From this synthesis, I developed a user persona named Emily, who represented the target audience for the Toronto Zoo website. Alex's frustrations were derived from the pain points identified during usability tests, such as difficulties in finding relevant adoption information or navigating through the donation process.
Define
Problem Statement
The existing user flow for animal adoption and monthly donations on the Toronto Zoo website lacks clarity, causing user frustration and a decrease in adoption rates.
Design Goal
Simplify the adoption and donation process, increase user engagement, and improve conversion rates by enhancing the user flow and providing clear calls to action.
Develop
Card Sorting
I employed the card sorting technique to inform the information architecture and navigation structure of the website.
The recruited participants were asked to organize the virtual cards into meaningful groups that made sense to them and labeled each group accordingly. They were also given the freedom to create additional categories if needed.
Through this process, I gathered insights into how users perceive and mentally group the information, which served as a foundation for the website's restructuring.
User Task Flow
After the card sorting was done, I developed a user task flow to help visualize a clear and logical sequence of steps that users will follow to complete tasks, such as adopting an animal and making a monthly donation. This helped me to identify any potential issues or areas of improvement in the user flow and allowed for iterative refinements
Paper Sketches
As part of the Develop phase for the Toronto Zoo website redesign project, I utilized paper sketching technique to iteratively develop and refine the user interface and user flow
Usability Testing
After the sketches were done, I conducted usability testing sessions with a small group of representative users, including potential donors and animal enthusiasts. I provided them with the prototype and presented them with a task to perform.
The task was to Adopt a Toronto Zoo animal – a jaguar – and make a monthly personal donation of CA$75 using a credit card. Their feedback and observations helped identify areas of confusion, usability issues, and opportunities for improvement.
Deliver
Based on the insights gathered from the usability testing, I created a high-fidelity interactive prototype of the redesigned Toronto Zoo website. This prototype accurately represents the visual design, layout, and functionality of the website, providing stakeholders and users with a realistic preview of the final product.
Users can interact with the prototype to navigate through the adoption and donation process, exploring various features and experiencing the proposed user flow firsthand.
High Fidelity
Reflection
The Toronto Zoo website redesign project was an exhilarating journey in creating a user-centered experience for animal adoption and monthly donations. Throughout the project, I followed a comprehensive design process, including research, ideation, prototyping, and testing, to deliver a solution that met the needs and expectations of users like Alex, our target persona.The use of paper sketching enabled me to iterate and refine the design early in the process, incorporating user feedback to enhance the user interface and interactions. This approach not only saved time and resources but also ensured a user-centric approach to the final design.
Overall, the Toronto Zoo website redesign project taught me the value of collaboration, user involvement, adaptability, thorough documentation, and empathy in UX design. These lessons will continue to guide me in future projects, reminding me of the importance of a user-centered approach and the positive impact that thoughtful and collaborative design can have on both users and stakeholders.
Next Steps
While the project has reached the prototype stage, there are a few key next steps to consider for its further development:
- It is essential to continue conducting usability testing sessions with representative users to validate design decisions, identify potential pain points, and gather further feedback. This ongoing feedback loop will inform iterative design improvements and ensure that the final solution meets user expectations and needs.
Collaborating closely with the development team is crucial to ensure the successful implementation of the redesigned Toronto Zoo website. Regular communication and coordination will be needed to address technical considerations, feasibility, and any constraints that may arise during the development process.
Once the redesigned website is ready for launch, it is important to carefully deploy and monitor its performance. This includes closely monitoring user interactions, analyzing user feedback, and tracking key performance indicators to gauge the effectiveness of the redesign and make necessary adjustments for continuous improvement.