The Challenge
PAWS® Chicago is a non-profit organization dedicated to the transformation of animal welfare and overpopulation of homeless animals with a focus on facilitating foster homes and other no-kill communities. They needed an online home that not only shared their mission and educated various sectors of the community on their resources and programs, but that inspired other animal lovers to be become a part of their movement.
CML's challenge was to redesign their content-heavy website into an approachable, easy-to-navigate, and emotionally charged experience, as well as maximize SEO and SEM tactics to bring this important organization the traffic and engagement it desperately needs.
Our Solution
PAWS Chicago's new, cutting-edge, responsive website was designed to lead with visual storytelling, pulling visitors in with moving images that spur various journeys through the navigation such as donation, adoption, or fostering. A crisp and clean design balances the heavy statistics and photos that fill most pages, helping keep the tone inspirational. Through thoughtful SEO planning and content optimization, traffic to the website has increased organically, allowing for greater awareness of the brand and mission.
UX/UI
The architecture of the site was overhauled with user experience in mind, with the new format favoring intuitive navigation and a more inviting content layout. By pulling out the strongest storylines that more closely aligned with the client's main site objectives, reworking potentially overwhelming statistics into scannable and digestible infographics, and connecting these pieces together to streamline the path from site arrival to CTA, the new site allows for quicker information finding and higher conversion rates.
Branding Elements
We refreshed the PAWS Chicago visual identity using today’s best practices, aiming to present the organization as both innovative and compassionate. Emotional photography was also leveraged to evoke both urgency as well as celebrate the brand's extended community.
Technology
In order to support all needed features and allow the organization’s staff to easily manage the content, we utilized the TYPO3 Content Management System. Several templates and custom plugins were developed to make future content editing easy. We also configured an editorial workflow for the more than 70 editors and publishers that utilize the site daily to manage both pet information and marketing content.
