The work was extraordinary. The website wasn't telling that story.
A full website redesign and interactive conservation map for Y2Y, A nonprofit protecting wildlife habitat from Yellowstone to Yukon across 3.2 million km² of connected wilderness.
Role: UI/UX Designer, Interactive Map, Website Assets
Before
After
Y2Y Website Redesign
A donor-focused redesign for Y2Y, a nonprofit protecting wildlife habitat across 3.2 million km² of connected wilderness from Yellowstone to Yukon.
The Problem
Y2Y's existing site was losing potential donors before they understood what the organisation did. Research showed four consistent issues: cognitive overload from dense unbroken text, confusing navigation labels, a donation path that asked too early, and no visual anchors to help users scan.
Process
Two rounds of click-through testing shaped the design. The first round exposed that users expected the hero image to be interactive, which led to moving the conservation map to the hero position. "Our Work" was consistently mistaken for a portfolio link and was renamed "Conservation Areas." A second test showed the donation CTA appearing before users had enough context to act, so it was moved deeper into the page flow.
Key Decision
Donors give to places they can picture, not to paragraphs of science copy. Leading with an interactive map of the full Yellowstone-to-Yukon corridor gave visitors a sense of scale and presence before any text had to carry the load.
Outcomes
Swapping Icons & Cards for Emotion
Early versions of the site relied on generic iconography.
They felt clinical and interchangeable with any corporate nonprofit.
During mid-fidelity testing, we noticed users weren't lingering on any of the supporting visuals.
We swapped them out for more playful and colourful versions that spoke to the impacts Y2Y beleived in.
From Lo-Fi to Hi-Fi: Click-Through Testing
Test 1: Our first round of usability testers, who were asked to complete two tasks: find information about a conservation region, and locate the donation page.
The lo-fi tests immediately exposed two problems. First, users kept clicking the hero image expecting it to be interactive. This informed our decision to make the conservation map a hero element. Second, the navigation label "Our Work" was consistently misread as a portfolio rather than a programs section, prompting a rename to "Conservation Areas."
Test 2: A second click-through test confirmed the navigation was now clear, but revealed that the donation CTA appeared too early in the scroll, before users had enough context to feel motivated. We pushed it deeper into the page, behind the map interaction and a regional impact story.
Users could complete both core tasks without prompting, and qualitative feedback consistently described the map as the moment the site "clicked" both literally and emotionally.
Key Design Decisions & Learnings
Lead with spatial context, not text
Donors don't give to data driven science text, they give to places they can picture. Moving the interactive map to the hero position gave visitors an immediate sense of scale and presence before a single word of copy had to do any work. Once users could see the corridor, they wanted to protect it.