SERVICES

Service Design / UX Diagnostic / Art Direction

Client: National Trust
Project: Online Brand Evolution; Creative + Presentation
Role: Design Director

Background:
This was a speculative brief on how to enhance engagement on the National Trust’s online content for ‘Climate and Sustainability’ section. This section within the NT website had been identified as lacking engagement, featuring little more than a series of in-page promo boxes and carousels linking to articles.

Live link: nationaltrust.org.uk/sustainability to see the existing design.

Figma prototype: click here (Chrome browser preferred).

The focus of this brief was to show ‘approach and ideas’ on how to redesign this section rather than about final design layouts.

Presentation overview:
The thumbnails show the presentation that I did as part of the design research process. It takes us through the overall strategy and illustrates design research results as well as design recommendations for the new creative.

Before and after:
Here we see the original design compared with the concept redesign and sub page. Part of my redesign was to alter the UX by reducing the amount of content by giving sections their own 2nd level page. This helps to reduce the clutter of content on the main page.

Approach:
Illustrated above was the design research process. There are two mechanisms that will achieve the desired results; the process by which we ask question and find answers that will lead us to the creative destination, and the design systems that will sustain us.

Brand positioning:
After researching and understanding the target users, I considered other subjects and organisations that might also be part of this ecosystem. This helped me place the National Trust brand in a position to appeal to wider audience with overlapping interests.

Visual comparison:
Here we see how the NT website compares with the associated organisations; it is clear to see how the visual storytelling needed to be refined and enhanced. Looking at the existing design aesthetic helped me break down the elements that needed improvement and to begin compiling a list of items to focus on.

The design audit:
I divided the layout into sections and carried out a detailed critique of areas and items that needed to be improved. This diagnostic approach helped lay out the ground work for the redesign.

Proof of concept:
After looking at where the design was failing I did a concept design piece as a visual guide on how to improved aspects of the layout and the brand vision as a whole.