Revamping & Optmising Eden Rivers Trust’ Digital Presence

The plan that we produced for the project included: 

• Integration of two legacy websites into one unified platform.
• Interactive mapping and 3D river catchment visualisation.
• A new, funded walks and access hub to drive public engagement with trails.
• Creating educational content on species and ecosystems in the Eden catchment. 
• Developing structured case studies and projects area to share impact stories. 
• Building a comprehensive volunteer hub, including projects and sign-up tools.
• Adding a careers and team section to the website to support recruitment and transparency.
• Addition of a modular news and updates area for blog-style storytelling content pieces. 

The project kicked off with an extensive research phase, with our aim being to fully understand Eden Rivers Trust’s mission, users, and internal priorities. 

Focus groups, surveys & interactive activities

As a starting point, we held multiple discovery sessions with the clients’ team to map out workflows and set goals for the project. At this stage, we also hosted stakeholder and volunteer workshops, as well as user research sessions - this allowed us to capture a range of perspectives on key aspects of the brand, its content, and what its users valued the most. We used card-sorting exercises to explore content structure, and we carried out surveys to get an understanding of user priorities on themes such as access and volunteering.

Working closely with the clients’ internal team

From early in the project, we worked closely with members of the clients internal team as well as external volunteers. This helped us to understand how users were currently interacting with ERT across education, conservation, and community events.  

Creating user personas

We applied a bulk of the findings from our workshops and focus groups to the development of user personas, based on demographics, goals, and digital behaviour. Each persona also accounted for pain points that we’d identified through our research sessions, with the most common being difficulty finding information, volunteering opportunities, and trail access 

One of the earliest challenges in the project was finding platforms that had the capabilities to do what the new website needed to. The brief included creating a series of virtual interactive maps and user hubs, so we had to find a solution that could facilitate each in a clear, responsive way. Our final choice was Mapbox, and we opted for this tool based on its visual flexibility and performance. The tool also enabled us to create a map-led walk builder; a unique process where ERT team members or partners walk and record trails using GPS tracking. This data is uploaded and integrated via Mapbox, allowing fully interactive mapping of each walk. 

Once we’d completed our research actions, our digital design, brand marketing, and website development specialists got to work on the next phase of the project. 

Revising and optimising user journey

We developed clear user journeys and navigation flows, tailored to different audience needs (this included walkers, volunteers, families, educators, funders, and different age demographics). We used our developed personas to inform each journey, making access to content as streamlined as possible.

CMS and website structure

The project would involve merging two existing legacy websites onto one platform, and we knew that this’d be a simple undertaking with our chosen CMS, Craft. The platform allowed us to develop a modular content system with reusable blocks, giving our clients flexibility, ease, and simplifying future growth - the ERT team would be able to manage and scale content easily. We also knew that this CMS platform would allow for planned future integration of other CRM tools and digital donation systems.

The feature addresses barriers that these groups are likely to face, by providing friendly, confidence-building content. We designed these route pages to include:

• Step-by-step directions 
• Custom route map and terrain info 
• Accessibility indicators 
• Facilities (toilets, parking, dog-friendly, etc.) 
• Downloadable PDFs and walk data files for offline access 
• Photos, films, and user reviews 
• Dynamic content integration: Each walk can dynamically pull in: species information from the site’s central biodiversity library (e.g. what wildlife to look out for on a trail) 
• Local events and volunteering opportunities that tie to the area or catchment of the walk
• Walks can be filtered by audience interest, difficulty level, and location—making walks relevant, safe, and accessible. 
• Nearby events can be featured. 
• The plant, insect and animal species that you can expect to see in the area around the walk.

This part of the new website was designed with scalability in mind, and we accounted for this in several ways; partners can upload or update their own walks, the client can add new content whenever necessary, and community members can contribute walk ideas. 

We designed a custom 3D map illustration of the river catchment area, to be integrated into multiple areas of the site. Within this, we included a  trail and access map with custom filtering by location, activity type (e.g. walking, canoeing), and accessibility. We linked to the map from the new route pages via illustrative sections of rivers from the ERT catchment, showing users where this section of the river is. 

Developing onsite hubs and new categories

Part of the project brief called for comprehensive hubs and content areas, expanding upon the current website structure - we’ve detailed these below.

• Volunteers hub - this included projects and sign-up tools, and we featured clear, accessible interest forms for the ERT to capture details of prospective volunteers. 
• Case studies category to highlight past work, funding stories, and the impact of the organisation. 
• Species and wildlife section, where the client could publish rich educational resources.
• Explore Eden, a category which features the 3D map alongside other educational guides, family inspiration, and local events.

We created a website that is built specifically for the ERT and its users, with longevity in mind. The site structure allows for better storytelling, improved user engagement, and increased access to volunteering and river activities. The project was a significant undertaking, and it was delivered over several focused phases, supported by regular feedback loops and testing.

To future-proof the website for our clients’ internal team, we conducted CMS training sessions and encouraged feedback on the new website - and we built any responses into further training modules. Early feedback from the ERT team and the organisations' key stakeholders has been extremely positive, with praise for both design and usability. 

Our 3D catchment map is a flagship feature for the new website, and we are expecting it to contribute towards increased page visits, repeat website traffic, and volunteering engagement.