Spokane Watercolor Society (SWS) Website Redesign
I led the end-to-end redesign and development lifecycle for a non-profit website, modernizing complex membership systems and improving the overall user experience.
My Role
Lead UX/UI Designer & Web Developer
Product Design
  • UX/UI Design
  • IA, Wireframing, User Flows
  • Front-end Development
  • Design System
  • Visual Design
Tools
  • Figma
  • Webflow
  • Google Analytics
  • Memberstack
  • Javascript
Status
Developed
Timeline
6 Weeks
Team
Spokane Watercolor Society President
Web Content Specialist
Lead Designer & Developer (Me)
Impact
3 New Member Signups
Within the first week of site launch.

Compared to 5 new member signups / year with original website
↑130% pages / user
Engagement depth more than doubled after the redesign, indicating users were able to navigate content and complete tasks without friction.
Client Feedback
“Our members love the new site and are raving about how easy it is to use. They’re actively updating their artist profiles with new paintings, photos, and contact information... something that rarely happened before.”
View Final Product

Background

The Spokane Watercolor Society (SWS) is a non-profit that supports regional artists and promotes watercolor throughout the Spokane, WA community.
Their legacy Weebly site became difficult to access and maintain after Square shifted away from the platform.
The website, built years earlier by a former president, contained:
30+ Artist pages, requiring manual updates for both members and client
Unstructured Information Architecture, making navigation difficult
Manual membership tracking, making it difficult to keep track of paid and unpaid members each year
Static site content, making regular updates confusing and frustrating

Problem

In 2024, Square announced it would discontinue investment in Weebly. This made it difficult for SWS to update and maintain content.

The organization needed a new platform and design simply to remain operational.

Project Constraints
Responsibility to preserve artist pages and identity during migration
Solo developer & designer
Need to unify authentication, ecommerce, and content in one ecosystem
4 week timeline
How might we migrate and redesign the SWS website so that a rotating board and 30+ artists can confidently manage content, events, and payments with minimal maintenance?

Solution

I designed & developed three 0-1 primary features for SWS to improve UX, simplify content management, and enhance new member onboarding

1. Client-Friendly Content Model

Pain Point
Updating the site was slow and manual. This led to outdated information that confused members and made the site hard to maintain.
My Solution
I designed & developed an automated system so the client can update the site by simply filling out a form. The layout updates itself automatically, making the process fast and easy.

2. Automation-Driven Onboarding

Pain Point
The old website required a multi-day email exchange between the board and members to update artist profiles
My Solution
Using an automation tool, and a brand new onboarding process, artists can now easily add and update content on their artist page

3. Simplified Information Architecture

Pain Point
The existing website made navigation confusing and used repeated pages
My Solution
I completely redesigned the site map to simplify navigation and streamline user flows
Research
Informing design decisions through stakeholder interviews, a site audit, and a competitive analysis
Stakeholder Interviews
Unable to interview users directly due to time constraints, I turned to Spokane Watercolor Society's stakeholders to better understand the needs and mental models of the users at hand and better inform my design decisions.
Key takeaway:Users are traditional artists seeking intuitive, low-friction information
BEHAVIOR
Users prefer simplicity to find the right information and complete specific tasks
DEMOGRAPHIC
Many are retirees or professionals in the later stages of their careers.
NEED
Because they aren't "digital natives," their primary needs revolve around clarity and reassurance
Site Audit
I conducted an audit of the current website as a way to identify any critical usability issues, as well as prioritize key pages and features
CMS Comparison
I analyzed six different CMS site builders as a way to get a better understanding of the current landscape. I compared criteria such as pricing, ease of use, flexibility, features, and more.
Key takeaway:Despite its high cost, Webflow was the best option for the client as it allowed for me to build a completely custom site with high customizability and low maintenance.
Ideation
Designing a powerful and customizable website that's easy to navigate and maintain
User flows & information architecture
As part of the design process, it was important to establish a strong foundation for the website. This would eventually lead to simplified navigation and allow users to perform tasks much more easily.
Low-fidelity Wireframes
After creating sketches, I began iterating digital wireframes with the client to ensure stakeholder buy-in and to refine the UI elements.
Accessibility
Designing and developing with accessibility in mind
Throughout my design process, I kept accessibility in mind through every step, ensuring that I was designing a website that could be used by users with varying levels of needs. I also ensured to communicate these to the client during training sessions.

Takeaways

Working 1:1 with clients

This project afforded me the wonderful opportunity to freelance directly with the client. I was able to learn and practice effective communication, training, and clear documentation to ensure a seamless project handoff as well as a high quality product.

Measure twice, cut once

Following a structured design process ensured organization and clarity at every stage for me. Moving from research to final development prevented rework and streamlined the transition to the live product.