Landseed: UX Redesign Slashed Bounce Rate for a Non-Profit Website

Project Overview

My Role: Product Designer & Developer (Team of 2)

Duration: 4-Week Sprint (Feb - Mar 2025)

Tools: Figma, WordPress

Links: Website ↗

The Problem: A Website Hindering Its Mission

The original Landseed website presented four critical barriers to its users and its mission:

• Fractured IA: Inconsistent navigation and unclear labels created a confusing journey.

• Inconsistent Visuals: A lack of a cohesive brand identity eroded trust and appeared unprofessional.

• Poor Responsiveness: The site was unusable on mobile, failing a large portion of its audience.

• High Cognitive Load: Walls of text overwhelmed users, especially new Canadians.

Results & Impact: A Professional Gateway for the Community

In a 4-week sprint, my partner and I delivered a redesigned and rebuilt website that drove measurable results.

• Homepage Bounce Rate Decreased From 58% to 32%: By creating a clear, trustworthy, and intuitive first impression, the new homepage proved significantly more effective at engaging visitors and encouraging them to explore the site.

• Delivered on Time: Launched a complete, live WordPress site in 4 weeks.

• Positive Stakeholder Feedback: The founder was thrilled with the result, stating that for a 4-week project, the outcome was "fantastic" and finally reflected the professionalism of their mission.

Process: Our 3-Week Design Sprint

Step 1: Rebuilding the Information Architecture (IA)

Our first priority was to fix the site's fractured structure. Based on an analysis of historical materials and competitor websites, we designed a new, user-centric sitemap. This foundational step was crucial for creating an intuitive and predictable navigation experience.

Step 2: Accelerating Decisions with a "Hi-Fi First" Approach

With the new structure approved, we made a key strategic decision to accelerate the process. Instead of creating low-fidelity wireframes, we moved directly to designing the medium-high-fidelity homepage. This allowed us to get immediate buy-in from the founder on the new visual direction and establish a clear component-based style guide, saving significant time.

Step 3: Parallel Design & Handoff

With the architectural and visual blueprint established, my partner and I divided the remaining pages. We applied the new design system and IA across our assigned sections, ensuring a consistent experience before the final development phase.

The 1-Week Development Phase

In the final week, we translated our Figma designs into a fully functional, responsive website on WordPress, successfully launching the new and improved landseed.ca on time.

Takeaway: Pragmatism Over Process

My biggest lesson from Landseed was the difference between academic theory and real-world execution. Success on this project depended less on following a rigid design process and more on adaptability, clear communication with my partner, and a ruthless focus on solving the highest-impact problems first.

Future Steps

While my engagement concluded at launch, the clear next step would be to analyze user engagement data in Google Analytics and gather qualitative feedback from the community to inform the next round of iterations.