Friends of Free Wildlife
Trying to instill a sense of wonder and curiosity about our urban wildlife in the hearts of animal lovers, to create awareness around Friend's of Free Wildlife's conservation efforts.
The challenge
The challenge was to design a website for the for Friends of Free Wildlife, that aims to enhance its facility by recruiting skilled volunteers and donations whilst raising awareness about urban wildlife animals and their welfare. The website also had to be responsive on tablet and mobile. In addition to this, assisting the organization by coming up with a plan to boost online engagement through their social media platforms and organizing fundraisers and emphasizing corporate involvement to encourage donations.
| PROBLEM: One of the problems was the poor user navigation and a poor choice of tone throughout the copy which was confronted by focusing on this on the website & trying to make it easier for users to understand the content.
| DESIGN FRAME: How might we captivate animal lovers in a striking way to learn about and actively participate in Friends of Free Wildlife’s conservation efforts?
| INTENDED SOLUTION: To create a website that captivated the user through instilling a sense of wonder and curiosity within them, in order for the user to want to know more about local wildlife. By taking this approach, the concept would be that the user becomes intrigued by what they see and that they would want to learn more through volunteering or donating to Friend’s of Free Wildlife’s Rescue Centre.
key research & insights
Going into this project, it was essential to understand how Friends of Free Wildlife connects
with the people in their community and the animals within that community, so that we could
create something that intrigues and inspires people to help volunteer and donate to a cause.
Here are some key insights that were important in aiding this project.
research process overview
The insights above were gained by conducting interviews and visiting Friends of Free Wildlife's Rescue Centre. We also did extensive research on their current website and social medias, the organisation itself and their competitors. This was done so that we could understand where we could make it more user-centred and user-friendly.
| INTERVIEWS
Had the chance to interview the stakeholders on site at the Rescue Centre. Got interesting insights that would be crucial to our project.
| RESEARCH AUDITS
Completed an organisational audit, brand audit and existing website & social media audit. The insights that were gained specifically allowed us to form the design question, problem frame and user persona.
| COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Allowed us to understand the best aspects of competitors & how that could be implemented into FoFW whilst remaining consistent with Friends of Free Wildlife's brand.
solution strategy overview
Our approach was to create a solution that captivates the user by instilling a sense of wonder and curiosity in them to want to know more about our local wildlife. To create a connection with our creatures by being kind to them.
By taking this approach, we hope that the user becomes inspired to want to take action in helping their local wildlife community.
These Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) will determine how successful the new website and social campaign will be.
10-20%
Website Page Views
Measures the number of
times a user has visited a
page on your website
40-45%
Donations Secured
Measures an increase/
decrease in the total
number of donors over a
given time period.
2-5%
Social Media Traffic
Amplification, Applause &
Conversation Rates.
(Reposts, Likes & Comments).
These KPI's can be checked
on the social media
platforms under 'insights'.
5-10%
Landing Page Rate
Measures how many
times users visit
the donation
page and complete the
donation process.
(Google analytics)
USER PERSONA
The user persona was done in the point of view of a volunteer as they would be the ones making use of website
platforms and engaging in the social media campaign. This allowed the designers to understand what they
could improve for a better experience for volunteers or donors.
Mood board
The mood boards also played a vital role within the design process, as it allowed us to visualise how we might convey the concept of instilling a sense of curiosity.
The dimmed background with some light across the animals gives some kind of feeling of curiosity. This aided us as designers in the final visual design.
Wireframes
The wireframes were the foundation for laying out the design and the pages/screen that would be needed in order for the users to be able to achieve their goals. The goal was to get the users to become intrigued and curious about our wildlife animals and get them to wonder how they could help these animals.
Final Visual Designs
The challenge was to also design a website that was responsive on tablet and mobile platforms.
Throughout these visual designs, we believe that the responsive design came through on each platform.
home page
On the home page, the aim was to create a sense of curiosity for the user, so that they might wonder more through the website as they become curious about our local wildlife animals and what Friends of Free Wildlife is all about.
There are call to actions for users to get involved, in any way they can. The animal of the week is to intrigue the users with some interesting facts about the animal.
Another important section added is a call to action to donate, where it showcases how much money has been donated and how far Friends of Free Wildlife's donation target is. There is also a thanks to all the sponsors who have previously helped out FFW.
about page
This shares how Friends of Free Wildlife started, what their vision and mission is as well as their values.
There is a section for all the passionate staff at FFW and a section for their regular volunteers who often help where they can. This is to inspire the users to volunteer at FFW.
Get involved PAGE
This page gives some benefits of volunteering at the Rescue Centre as well as ways you can help out, if you don't perhaps have the time to volunteer. Such as sponsoring an animal, donating or signing up to receive their wish list.
There is also a section that explains how to care for an injured animal, should you come across one.
A fun quiz is also included to entice the users to learn more in a fun way!
DONATION/VOLUNTEER PAGE
These two pages are very similar and allow the users to choose the amount of money or time that they would like to contribute to the rescue centre.
Similarly the user can also choose if they want to donate monthly or once-off and if they want to volunteer for one day or join a program.
Our stories page
On this page, the user can view the new rescues, read more about them and possibly sponsor a new rescue until they are ready to be released. There is also a section for all the latest releases and how they happened.
There is also a gallery section that displays what Friends of Free Wildlife is all about, with a call to action to volunteer or to donate to a cause.
events page
Volunteers or those who are interested in helping out at these events can add it to their calendars as well as read what it is all about. There are also hidden 'UI easter eggs', such as the goose footprints on this page; if a user hovers over it, they can find a fun fact about that animal.
contact us page
Any person or user who has any questions can contact FFW or write an inquiry to them. A FAQ section was added for any questions that are regularly asked.
Social Media Campaign
To aid the website design, a social media campaign had to be integrated to drive users to Friend's of Free Wildlife's website,
where they could make a difference for our little feathery and furry friends.
instagram post
Goal: Promote Compassion and Empathy for Animals Participants can share their acts, whether it's feeding a stray animal, rescuing a trapped bird, or donating to an animal shelter. Use a specific hashtag and share the best stories and actions.
This will increase the social media traffic, allowing the user to repost (amplify) and get likes (applause) from fellow friends and allow for Friends of Free Wildlife to gain some traction.
Facebook Post & Linkedin post
Goal: Raise Awareness and Advocate for Animal Conservation.
Create a series of informative posts that highlight the needs and challenges faced by different animal species. These posts can cover topics like endangered animals, and animal welfare.
This raises awareness about Friends of Free Wildlife's conservation efforts as well to protect our urban wildlife animals.
Web banners
Goal: To drive more traffic to the website.
By adding images of small urban wildlife creatures in the banners and adding a call to action, it could drive users to want to now how they can play a part in these animals lives.
This will then increase the landing page conversion rates for donations that are made from people being redirected after clicking the call to action button.
emailer
Goal: To notify the users of any recent updates or to thank them for their donations.
This could also increase the donor retention, noticing how many of Friends of Free Wildlife’s users are donating and how much they are donating.
So, what's next?
Project Learnings
User navigation and user-friendliness is a very important thing to consider when designing websites. The platforms should be focused on user-centered design and ensuring that the message being conveyed is clear for the user to understand.
Through creativity and innovative thinking, the design solution not only addresses the problem at hand but also aligns with Friends of Free Wildlife's core values.
Next Steps
Exploring solution strategies and how they can be applied in a better way for future projects. To completely understand how a campaign works and thinking ahead for social media posts that will keep the users interested.
Ensuring that the design concept is well-thought of before starting the visual design process, so that the concept and visuals are applied in the right way.
