Product Design
Designing a Scalable Website for a Growing Community
Redesigned a community organization’s website to improve navigation, content clarity, and long-term maintainability - supporting growth, engagement, and consistent content updates.
-
Jan, 2024
Travis Christian Assembly
4 min
No
UX Design
UX Research
Information Architecture
UX Strategy
Overview
Context
Travis Christian Assembly is a local church serving a growing and diverse community. Its existing website had become difficult to navigate, inconsistent in structure, and challenging to update as new programs and content were added.
My Role
I worked as a UX/UI Designer, leading research, information architecture, visual design, and the establishment of a foundational design system.
Tools
Figma
Design System Library
Stakeholder Workshops
The Challenge
The website needed to support multiple audiences (new visitors, members, and staff) each with different goals. Key challenges included:
Fragmented information architecture
Inconsistent page layouts and navigation patterns
Limited scalability for future content and programs
The goal was to create a clearer, more intuitive experience without disrupting existing community workflows.
Research & Design Approach
To ground design decisions, I conducted qualitative research early in the process.
Interviewed 6 users to understand navigation pain points and content priorities
Synthesized findings to identify common patterns and usability issues
Restructured the site map to reflect real user needs rather than organizational assumptions
Research insights directly informed layout decisions, navigation structure, and content grouping.
Information Architecture & System Design
Based on research findings, I:
Redesigned the site’s information architecture to improve discoverability
Standardized page layouts to reduce cognitive load
Established a lightweight design system, including foundational styles and reusable components
This system helped ensure visual consistency while making future updates easier for non-design stakeholders.
Impact
Increased website traffic by 200% following launch
Improved navigation clarity for first-time and returning users
Provided a scalable structure for ongoing content growth
Enabled smoother collaboration with developers through clear wireframes and handoff artifacts
Prototype
Behind the Scenes
We conducted usability testing with five participants, which revealed two key usability issues. First, the use of two different primary button colors created confusion around action hierarchy. To resolve this, we applied the 60–30–10 color rule and standardized the visual system by using burnt orange for primary actions and a blue outlined style for secondary actions. Second, the landing page design significantly reduced feature discoverability—only one participant accessed a subpage during testing. Based on this feedback, we removed the intermediary landing pages and allowed users to navigate directly to subpages, improving clarity and reducing friction in the user flow.
Reflection
This project highlighted the importance of designing for longevity, not just launch. Building a clear information architecture and reusable system allowed the website to evolve alongside the community, while reinforcing the value of research-led decisions even for smaller organizations.
More in Product Design
Designing a Compliance-Focused Website for Clarity and Trust
Redesigned a CMMC-focused informational website to translate complex compliance requirements into a clear, trustworthy experience for organizations navigating cybersecurity certification.
Designing a Podcast Experience with Thoughtful Monetization
Designed a mobile podcast experience from concept to high-fidelity prototype, balancing listener needs with a freemium-to-premium business model.
Editor's Picks
Auditing and Scaling a Design System for Enterprise SaaS
How we reduced inconsistency while enabling faster product iteration.
End-to-End Website Redesigns with Ownership
Led end-to-end website redesigns for client organizations, owning projects from discovery through MVP launch while coordinating design, development, and research to deliver on time and at quality.