Website REDESIGN
Straus Park is a city park located in the Upper West Side of NYC. The park was dedicated to Isidor and Ida Straus, prominent New Yorkers who were among those lost on the Titanic.
I was approached by Friends of Straus Park to redesign their website, with a focus on encouraging donations and attracting volunteers.
The project included a complete transition to a new hosting platform, updated branding, and a streamlined donation process. The team wanted to be able to update the site themselves – it was built entirely in Wordpress using the Elementor plugin and included a tutorial for future additions.
When developing the site's new look, I looked to established parks across the globe for inspiration.
Keeping in mind most of the park's largest supporters were elderly, readability and straightforward call to actions took priority.
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I had the advantage of being given hundreds of professionally shot photographs from the park's horticulturist. I wanted to highlight these images while bringing in a "hands-on" feel since the park is upkept by volunteers. I overlayed woodcut block-like illustrations of some of the plants found in the park over page sections
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One issue the team had was that they were unable to receive donations by credit or debit card. As a solution, I set up a Square account for them and integrated easy donation options into the site, along with personalized thank you messages to donors. It's also linked to a QR code displayed on physical posters hanging in the park for visitors to donate on mobile.
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Other features include contact forms, visitor comments, and an in-depth history section made in collaboration with the Straus Historical Society.
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Overall, the project successfully gave the city park an updated web presence and in the first few months while live, has already increased donations compared to previous years.