Ventnor Botanic Garden
Redesign of 2018 site
Role: Product Designer (UX/UI), Graphic Designer
Platforms: WordPress
Skills: UX/UI Designer, Research, IA, User Stories, Wireframes, UX Writing, Usability Testing
Problem
Poor mobile experience — users struggled to find tickets and café info.
Confusing site navigation with unclear hierarchy.
Inconsistent visual identity between print and digital.
Missing conversion points and unclear CTAs
Site contained 164 pages
Solution
Simplified site structure from 164 pages to a clear, goal-based flow.
Rebuilt website mobile-first, allowing ticket purchases directly from the homepage.
Added clear CTAs and fixed disappearing menu hover issues.
Unified brand identity across web, print, and signage.
Replaced outdated photos with professional visuals and added a homepage video.
Made the site fully responsive with smooth micro-animations for a modern feel.
Output
✅ ×2 Ticket sales after mobile UX fix
✅ Food sales increased after café menu redesign
✅ 12.7s → 4.6s Main booking flow
✅ Unified visual identity across web, signage, and print
Process
🔍 Research & Discovery
VI started by analysing Google Analytics and Google Reviews to understand where users struggled most. The data revealed pain points in mobile navigation, ticket booking, and general wayfinding on the site.
The website contained 164 pages, many of which were outdated, duplicated, or irrelevant — some going back to 2017. There was no clear structure or ownership, so new pages were created each time staff needed to share a piece of information.
To fix this, I conducted a usability audit and mapped key visitor journeys — from discovering the garden online to purchasing tickets and planning a visit.
🧠 Define & Ideate
Because many of the garden’s daily visitors are retired people, I avoided drastic design changes. Instead, I introduced updates gradually — improving usability through small, incremental steps while keeping the structure familiar.
Using heuristic evaluation and analytics, I simplified navigation and reduced the total number of pages by more than half. The booking flow was rebuilt and optimised for mobile-first interactions, allowing users to buy tickets directly from the homepage.
I re-established the brand’s visual language, creating consistency between the website, café menus, and printed materials.
The new system included logotypes, colours, typography, and background styles, forming a clear, scalable design foundation.
I also replaced the site’s outdated photography with modern, high-quality visuals and added a video on the homepage, giving visitors an immediate emotional connection to the garden.
🎨 Design & Prototype
All updates were implemented after team review and approval.
I collaborated with developers on backend data when WordPress required deeper technical work, while handling most front-end changes myself, including CSS updates, responsive layout fixes, and new components.
The previous navigation suffered from disappearing submenus and poor hover behaviour. I designed and built a new menu system that’s stable, accessible, and easy to navigate.
To bring the experience to life, I added micro-animations throughout the interface and made the site fully responsive. It now adapts fluidly across devices and feels modern without overwhelming users.
🧪 Testing & Iteration
To measure improvement, I ran informal usability tests with local members.
I asked them to complete key tasks, such as finding events or buying tickets and timed their interactions.
The average task completion time dropped dramatically, confirming that the new design reduced friction and improved understanding.
Final result
Ventnor Botanic Garden is a unique subtropical garden on the Isle of Wight. Our website and on-site branding were outdated and inconsistent, causing confusion for visitors and low conversion on mobile. I led a full redesign from strategy to implementation to create a more intuitive and cohesive experience across digital and physical touchpoints.
Learnings
This project showed how small UX fixes can drive real-world results.
Working solo across digital and physical design with support from a cross-functional team pushed me to balance aesthetics with measurable outcomes.
Some limitations came from systems outside my control, which taught me the importance of either full product ownership or reliable integration with partners such as Stripe for payments.