Landseed Website Redesign
Decreased homepage bounce rate by 26% through a rapid 4-week end-to-end redesign and WordPress build for a community non-profit.
Team
2 End-to-end Product Designers
My Role
Product Designer & Web Developer
Duration
4 Weeks (Feb 2025 - Mar 2025)
Tools
Figma, Wordpress, Elementor
Overview
Landseed is a community non-profit dedicated to supporting new Canadians. Their original website was hindering this mission due to fractured navigation, outdated visuals, and poor mobile responsiveness. In a fast-paced 4-week sprint, we redesigned and built a modern, trustworthy platform to clearly communicate their value and re-engage their audience.
What I did
Collaborating with one other product designer, we co-owned the end-to-end execution. I specifically focused on restructuring the information architecture, establishing the component-based visual system, and developing key pages in WordPress to ensure we hit our strict 4-week launch deadline.
My Impact
↓ 26% Bounce Rate Drop
Decreased homepage bounce rate from 58% to 32% by establishing a clear, trustworthy first impression.
4 Weeks End-to-End Delivery
Successfully translated requirements into a live, fully responsive WordPress site from scratch.
"Fantastic" Stakeholder Buy-in
Delivered a professional gateway that exceeded founder expectations and aligned with their mission.
Key Design Outcomes
Key Feature #1
Intuitive Architecture & Reduced Cognitive Load
Restructured the sitemap and simplified navigation labels. By prioritizing essential resources, we minimized cognitive load so new Canadians could find help without frustration.
Key Feature #2
Consistent Visual Language & Responsive Design
Established a core style guide for a 100% mobile-optimized experience. This unified, trustworthy interface directly drove the 26% bounce rate drop.
Process & Results
The Problem: A Website Hindering Its Mission
The original Landseed platform faced four critical barriers that compromised its credibility and user experience:
Fractured IA
Inconsistent navigation created a confusing, dead-end user journey.
Inconsistent Visuals
A lack of cohesive brand identity eroded trust and professionalism.
Poor Responsiveness
Unusable on mobile screens, failing a massive segment of their audience.
High Cognitive Load
Walls of text easily overwhelmed users, particularly new Canadians seeking quick help.
The Process: A 4-Week Pragmatic Sprint
A major upcoming offline community event required the complete redesign and live launch to be finished within a strict 4-week window. To meet the hard deadline for the upcoming community event, we merged design and development, prioritizing rapid execution over rigid frameworks.
01 / Week 1: Fixing the IA
Synthesized past interviews and user journeys to transform the chaotic legacy sitemap into an intuitive, user-centric navigation model before touching any pixels.
02 / Week 2: "Hi-Fi First" Strategy
Skipped wireframes and built a basic style guide alongside a Hi-Fi homepage to accelerate stakeholder buy-in.
03 / Week 3-4: Parallel Build
Divided the remaining pages, designing in Figma and building in WordPress concurrently to hit the 4-week launch deadline.
Impact
Quantitative Results
↓ 26% Bounce Rate
Drop from 58% to 32% post-launch, proving the new IA and visual hierarchy successfully retained users.
100% On-Time Delivery
Designed and developed the site from scratch within the strict 4-week window, hitting the deadline for the offline community event.
Qualitative Value
Elevated Brand Trust
Replaced a fractured interface with a cohesive, welcoming aesthetic that significantly lowered the cognitive load for new Canadians.
Stakeholder Validation
"For a 4-week project, the outcome is fantastic. Landseed finally has a professional gateway that reflects the true mission of our community." — Founder, Landseed
Reflection
Key Takeaway: Pragmatism Over Perfection
Success under a strict 4-week deadline taught me that real-world impact relies on adaptability. Rather than strictly following academic frameworks, we prioritized rapid execution, cross-functional alignment, and solving the highest-impact problems first.
If I Had More Time...
Rigorous Accessibility Audit: I would conduct a comprehensive component audit to ensure all colour contrasts and UI elements strictly meet WCAG AA standards, guaranteeing the platform is truly inclusive for all users.
Formal Usability Testing: Run task-based testing sessions directly with the target demographic (new Canadians) to validate the new IA and gather qualitative feedback for further iterations.
Design System Scaling: Expand the foundational style guide i