RAL website case study

Overview

RAL is a no-kill animal shelter serving the greater Richmond, Virginia area. RAL has been finding homes for dogs and cats since 1979, making it the oldest no-kill shelter in the city of Richmond. My role on this project was UX researcher and designer as part of my Google UX certification. This was a passion project for the shelter that helped me find my best feline friend.

The problem

The website was very dated and served up large blocks of text to users from page-to-page, making it difficult for potential adoptees and other audience members to find the information they need.

The goal

Resdesign the site to be a more streamlined, accessible, modern and professional for users to navigate more efficiently – making it easier to adopt, foster or utilize the clinic services.

The process

Using the traditional UX methodology, user research principles, accessibility consideration, and wireframing, I created a proposed new architecture and web experience.

Original experience

The old website experience had a dated styling and layout with large blocks of text. There were opportunities to restructure the IA to help users find and understand the information that was presented quickly.

Proposed experience

I mocked up the homepage after sketching paper wireframes iterations and eventually digitally finalizing the layout and sitemap.

Customer journey

I identified customer journeys and developed the content linking structure of the new IA based on them.