Southern Foresters
The Southern Group of State Foresters (SGSF) is a coalition that represents both state and private forestry agencies by fostering collaboration and innovation in pursuit of healthy forests, water resources, wildfire issues, disaster response and more.
•Overview
Sunsetting an outdated design and bulky structure to enrich the user experience.
The organization collaborated with Taproot to correct the shortcomings of the existing website, including replacing its dated interface design and reworking its needlessly complex site architecture that had grown unwieldy with time.
Taproot fully rebuilt the website by updating its appearance and correcting its navigational faults atop a purpose-built content management system that improves the experience for visitors and site administrators alike.
Challenges
Clearing the way for improved usability | A stale design
•Challenges
Clearing the way for improved usability
Finding relevant information on the old SGSF website was a challenge due to the omission of important pages from the website’s menu. Visitors were instead expected to find those seemingly hidden pages by culling links within body copy. An important section of the site, dedicated to wildfires and fire management, contained 32 individual subpages, none of which appeared within the structure of the navigation.
A stale design
SGSF brings forestry experts together to collaborate and study tough problems that cross state borders. Each coalition member benefits from the combined knowledge and experience of the others, especially when it comes to adopting new technology and management practices. The existing design failed to live up to those lofty requirements. The new design would need to correct this problem by announcing SGSF’s role as a leader in readying forests for an uncertain future, and present the organization’s policy perspectives – in an engaging, credible way – to highly knowledgeable readers and decision-makers.
Solutions
Uncovering hidden content | A forest-forward design
•Solutions
Uncovering hidden content
Taproot’s content-first approach to redesigning SouthernForests.org added new, user-friendly features and addressed the site’s spotty navigation. We leveraged historical user behavior on the site, as well as the coalition’s strategic priorities, to inform the design process. That process then lead to the creation of an interface that visibly promoted relevant news stories and events that foster a sense of community and teamwork among forestry professionals. Additionally, access to critical information like the latest position papers and guest articles by practicing foresters no longer require heady searches through paragraphs of content to hunt down relevant links.
Taproot revamped how the site handles events and campaigns. Moving away from a complicated calendar system, we built a flexible landing page template that SGSF can repurpose ad infinitum for initiatives, conferences and other forms of community engagement. It’s now much easier for visitors to get details about upcoming activities and for staff to readily keep event information up-to-date.
A forest-forward design
Taproot designed a fully custom interface that suits SGSF’s position as a leader in forest management and policy. To achieve this, we introduced new colors and design motifs to the site’s palette to mirror the hues and textures found in a southern forest setting. We also introduced naturalistic graphics that strengthen the site’s visual kinship with the forest and wildland agency design tradition. We meticulously selected photos and graphics that are authentic representations of southern forests, closely vetting each choice with the client team.
Results
Dynamic | Engaging | Authentic
•Results
Showcasing the vast knowledge, leadership and service through engaging design and streamlined structure.
Taproot’s redesign transformed SouthernForests.org into a visually pleasing and informative platform that provides direct access to germane content.
The new site is a dynamic, engaging marquee for SGSG’s inter-state effort to improve forest policy and management. The website effectively showcases the group’s work and activities, making it easy and enjoyable for visitors to explore and find meaningful information.
The consistent, authentic look and feel reinforces SGSF’s status as a leader, an innovator and an effective advocate for forests throughout the Southeast.