The Challenge
Cross Keys Equine Therapy's existing website presented several critical usability and design challenges that directly limited its effectiveness as a communication tool:
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Navigation & Information Architecture Issues
The homepage lacked a clear navigation bar and prominent logo placement, making it difficult for first-time visitors to understand the site's structure.
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Responsive Design Failures
The site was not fully mobile-responsive, presenting significant barriers for users accessing the site from smartphones or tablets.
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Visual Consistency & Hierarchy Problems
The design lacked a clear visual hierarchy and cohesive color system.
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Content Organization
Pages were often text-heavy and redundant, making it difficult for users to quickly find the information they needed, understand what services were offered, or take meaningful action.
Impact on Users Goals
These combined issues created friction for three key user groups: potential clients seeking to understand equine therapy and book services, parents researching programs for their children, and donors exploring sponsorship opportunities. ​​
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Goals
Goal 1: Improve Website Usability
Create a more intuitive user experience through clearer navigation, better content organization, and a responsive design that works seamlessly across all devices. Users should be able to find information quickly and complete key actions without confusion or frustration.
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Goal 2: Strengthen Visual Consistency
Develop a comprehensive design system and brand kit that reflects CKET's organizational identity while supporting accessibility standards. A cohesive visual language builds trust and professionalism, essential for nonprofit credibility.
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Goal 3: Understand Audience Needs
Conduct user research through personas, user narratives, and empathy mapping to deeply understand the motivations, pain points, and goals of CKET's diverse audience. Design decisions should be rooted in real user needs, not assumptions.
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Goal 4: Create Implementation-Ready Deliverables
Produce high-quality design outputs, including low-fidelity wireframes and high-fidelity Figma prototypes, that serve as a clear blueprint for future website development. These deliverables should be detailed enough for developers to implement and flexible enough for CKET to adapt as needs evolve.
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Research & Analysis
Based on the audit findings, we recommended:
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Navigation Restructuring
Simplify and reorganize navigation into 5-6 main categories with a sticky menu for easier access. Add a prominent logo and clear call-to-action buttons (Donate, Volunteer, Book a Session) to the homepage. Ensure navigation is consistent across all pages and device sizes.
Content Consolidation
Combine overlapping pages to eliminate redundancy and reduce user confusion. Reorganize content with shorter text blocks, clear headings, and more visual elements. Move consistent contact and social information to the footer for easy access.
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Responsive Design Implementation
Redesign layouts with mobile-first principles, ensuring proper scaling of images and text. Implement responsive breakpoints for tablet and desktop views. Test layouts on real devices to ensure functionality across all-screen sizes.
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Visual System Development
Adopt a cleaner visual hierarchy with distinct heading styles, balanced spacing, and accessible color contrast. Develop a comprehensive brand kit with primary and secondary logos, color palette, and typography guidelines. Ensure all design elements support accessibility standards.
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Personas and User Research
We conducted three separate card-sorting activities to understand how users naturally organize and categorize website information. Participants were given cards representing each page and section from CKET's current site and asked to group them into meaningful categories based on their own logic.
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Testing Process
Participants were prompted to group each page and header into topics of their choice, highlighting any areas of confusion or redundancies they encountered. This unmoderated approach revealed how real users mentally organize information without being influenced by the existing site structure.
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Key Findings
All three card-sorting sessions showed a consistent pattern: users naturally grouped content into 5-6 major categories (About/Mission, Services, Team, Events/News, Support/Giving, Content). The original site structure did not match user expectations, explaining why visitors had difficulty navigating. Redundancies were immediately apparent to participants; many commented on overlapping content between different pages. ​
Findings and Implementation
We created a comprehensive design system and brand kit to guide the website redesign and ensure consistency across all pages. We translated wireframes into high-fidelity prototypes in Figma, applying the brand system and demonstrating the final visual design.
Homepage Prototype
The homepage features a full-width hero image of a person connecting with a horse, establishing emotional resonance. The Cross Keys logo is prominently placed in the header, with a sticky navigation menu providing easy access to main sections. Below the hero, a concise mission statement communicates organizational purpose. The “What is Equine Therapy?” section provides visual education with an image and an accessible explanation. A “What Services Do We Provide?” section showcases the four core programs with accompanying imagery and “Learn More” buttons. The footer consolidates contact information, hours, and social media links.
About Page Prototype
The About page leads with a large background image and overlaid text stating the mission. Content is organized into clear sections: “Our Mission,” “Beliefs & Vision,” with supporting imagery and concise paragraphs. A quote from scripture adds authenticity and reflects organizational values. Each section is visually distinct but maintains consistent spacing and typography.
Services Overview
The Services section presents four core offerings with icons, images, and brief descriptions. Each program has a dedicated “Learn More” button, encouraging users to explore further without overwhelming the page.
Responsive Behavior
All prototypes demonstrate responsive behavior across devices. Navigation collapses into a mobile menu on smaller screens. Images scale gracefully. Text remains readable at all sizes. Button sizes increase for easy touch interaction on mobile.
AI Coding and Final Conclusion
Although this project concluded at the high-fidelity prototype stage, the deliverables provide a clear roadmap for CKET to implement a live website in the future. We implemented Figma's AI site builder, Figma Site, to create a high-fidelity prototype that could be sent to the client for review.
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Cross Keys Equine Therapy’s website redesign represents a transformation from an outdated, confusing digital presence to an intuitive, accessible platform that clearly communicates the organization's mission and facilitates user actions. Through comprehensive user research, strategic information architecture, and cohesive visual design, we developed deliverables that position CKET for digital success.
The high-fidelity prototypes, brand guidelines, and implementation roadmap provide everything needed for a development team to launch a website that serves all three user personas effectively. More importantly, they exemplify design thinking principles: start with users, not assumptions; simplify ruthlessly; maintain consistency; iterate based on feedback.
For CKET, this redesign represents an opportunity to extend their healing mission beyond physical therapy sessions into the digital realm, where first impressions matter and user experience shapes organizational perception. The insights, prototypes, and systems developed through this project will guide CKET’s digital presence for years to come.
