INTERNATIONAL PEACE GARDENS
Website redesign
- My Role
- UX/UI Designer
- Team
- 4 designers
- Outcome
- 6 fixes from testing
01 · Context
A place worth discovering, with a website that sent people away.
The International Peace Gardens, tucked inside Jordan Park in Salt Lake City, celebrates 26 countries through native plants, cultural sculptures and heritage design. It's free to visit, deeply community-oriented, and genuinely meaningful, yet most people in the city have never heard of it. A big part of why: the website.
I worked with three other designers to redesign it from the ground up. My biggest responsibility was taking what the research told us and turning it into the UI, so most of my time went into refining the visual side until it held up.
02 · Problem
The problems weren't cosmetic. They were structural.
The website wasn't just outdated, it was actively turning visitors away.
No clear navigation
No consistent nav bar. Finding hours, directions or events took multiple clicks with no obvious path.
No visual identity
Fonts, colors and layouts had no system. Users described it as a 2000s website with no connection to the gardens' mission.
A wall of text
The Visit page opened with dense text, and critical info like hours and directions was buried.
An invisible Donate button
A public garden that depends on donations hid its donation path where almost no one found it.
03 · Solution
Fix the structure before touching Figma.
Interviews pointed the same way again and again. Most people didn't know the gardens existed, and they judged the place by its website: low-quality images made them assume the gardens were in poor condition. So we rebuilt the information architecture first, around how visitors actually think about the space.
Heritage and Cultural Environment, kept apart on purpose
Heritage covers the history and the garden sections, with a map. Cultural Environment covers the living culture of each nation's contribution. Users wanted both, but in different mental contexts.
Mission and visuals first
A mission-forward hero, high-quality photography, and the map as the hero of the Visit page with logistics above the fold.
Donate everywhere it matters
A visible Donate in the nav and an accessible CTA on every key page.
What testing changed
The original donation form was one long scroll, and testers skimmed or skipped fields before they even started. The fix: break it into three steps (Amount, Personal info, Confirmation) and show a clear success state before any redirect.
04 · Result
Testing confirmed the redesign worked, and surfaced six specific things to fix.
The fixes covered nav labels, Donate contrast, the stepped donation form, a submission confirmation, 44px touch targets on mobile, and the dedication checkbox.
05 · Impact
Expected impact: more visits planned on the site, and more donations.
This was a concept, so the impact is a hypothesis. The two numbers I'd track: how many visitors go from the Visit page to directions, and how many people who start a donation finish it.
Research & discovery
User interviews + competitive analysis. Affinity mapping clustered findings into four themes. The dominant one: usability failures were actively deterring visits.
Discovery
Most users didn't know the gardens existed
Multiple participants had never heard of the IPG despite living in Salt Lake City. The website was the primary discovery channel, and it was failing. → Lead with the story and mission, not just logistics.
Visual trust
Users judge a place by its website
Low-quality images and outdated design made users assume the gardens were in poor condition. → High-quality photography is non-negotiable.
Orientation
An interactive map was the top request
Users planning visits, especially photographers and first-timers, wanted to understand the layout before arriving. → The map as a core page feature, not buried.
Cultural interest
People wanted the stories behind each garden
Interest in learning about different cultures was high across all interviews, but users couldn't find that context. → Surface cultural stories as content, not footnotes.
Define
One persona grounded in real interview data: Paul Abrams, 35, a photographer in Salt Lake City. A culturally curious local who would love the gardens, but whose first contact with the website almost stopped the visit from happening.
How might we design a website where users can easily plan a visit, explore the cultural identity of each garden section, and support the gardens, so a place worth discovering finally has a digital presence worth finding?
Value proposition: the redesigned IPG website provides a seamless, interactive experience to explore diverse cultures, plan visits, and stay up to date on events, all in one place.
Information architecture
Seven sections, each with sub-pages organized around how visitors actually think about the space, all mapped out before a single screen was designed.
Three design principles drawn directly from research guided every screen: stunning visuals first, mission-forward copy, and accessible CTAs on every key page.
Before & after
High fidelity
Five key screens, in the order a visitor meets them, each solving a specific problem identified in research.
Usability testing
Testing confirmed the redesign worked, and surfaced six specific things to fix.
Navigation ambiguity
Some users weren't sure where to click first. "About" and "Visits" needed clearer visual distinction. Fix: descriptive subtext on nav items and icons alongside labels.
Donate button contrast
A few users ignored the Donate button despite it being in the nav. Fix: higher contrast, a gentle pulse on first scroll, and a repeat Donate CTA in the footer.
Donation form fatigue
Testers scrolled quickly through or skipped fields. A long single-scroll form created anxiety before users even started. Fix: a 3-step flow, Amount, Personal info, Confirmation.
No submission confirmation
After submitting, users wanted confirmation before the page redirected. Fix: a "Processing your donation" loader with a success state before any redirect.
Mobile touch targets
On small screens, some dropdowns and buttons felt cramped. Fix: every interactive element at least 44×44px, with more vertical padding on mobile form fields.
Missed dedication checkbox
Users overlooked "Dedicate Donation", an important feature for donating in someone's honor. Fix: expand it when checked to reveal the dedication fields inline.
Reflection
What I'd do differently
Test with the engaged community
Testing with a convenience-based user pool missed a critical group: the people who volunteer, donate, and organize events. A second research round focused on them would have sharpened the Volunteer and Donate pages considerably.
Strongest decision
Information architecture before Figma
The original problems weren't cosmetic; they were structural. Solving navigation and hierarchy first made every design decision that followed faster and more defensible.
What's next
Interactive map and multilingual support
An SVG map with clickable country sections and walking routes, and the site in more languages, starting with Spanish, Mandarin and Arabic.
What's next
Events, volunteers and memberships
A live calendar with RSVP and volunteer signups, plus a membership tier and gift shop for recurring revenue.