Redesigning the Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets website to enhance mobile-friendliness, improve user experience, and streamline navigation for shoppers, vendors, and market organizers.
The Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets (MFFM) is a non-profit organization that serves as the central hub for farmers’ markets across Maine. It provides a platform for farmers, vendors, and shoppers to access information about all the markets in the state. MFFM approached me to conduct a comprehensive content audit and redesign their outdated website. The goal of the project was to update and organize the website’s content, ensuring that it is relevant, accurate, and easy to navigate.
I focused on updating the content, eliminating redundancies, fixing broken links, and improving the information architecture. Additionally, I aligned these efforts with business goals such as increasing donations, acquiring newsletter subscriptions, and raising awareness about ongoing programs.
The project faced two major constraints: working with an outdated content management system and adhering to a strict mandate to maintain the existing brand style. MFFM’s website contained a significant amount of content, including a blog with years of entries, which made it challenging to effectively organize and present relevant information. Additionally, the site featured redundant and outdated content, dead links, and lacked clear calls to action.
Improving user experience was also crucial to accommodate different user personas, such as shoppers looking for markets and vendors seeking information on how to get involved. It was essential to streamline workflows and make the site mobile-friendly to enhance both accessibility and usability. My task was to update and organize this extensive content while preserving the brand’s visual identity and improving the website’s usability for a diverse audience.
To address these challenges, I began with a comprehensive content audit to identify redundancies, broken links, and outdated information. Then, I conducted a competitive analysis and examined data to better understand MFFM’s target audience. This research enabled me to develop user personas that informed the redesign process. Based on these insights, I established clear CTAs that aligned with our business objectives.
I created a new site map and user flows, enhancing the website’s information architecture by removing unnecessary content and reorganizing the remaining information for improved usability. After developing these flows, I produced high-fidelity prototypes to effectively communicate my new vision.
Additionally, I created responsive versions of the site for mobile and tablet devices, ensuring an optimized user experience across all platforms.
The redesigned website has significantly improved the user experience for all visitors. During usability tests, 100% of users were able to easily navigate the site and find local farmers’ markets. Additionally, 90% of users described the site as having a modern layout that appears updated and fresh, despite the constraints of the visual design system.
The website now serves as an effective hub for both the organization and its community, ensuring that visitors can easily access relevant information and stay connected to MFFM’s initiatives.
