Roles
Product Manager
Lead Digital Strategist
Web Designer
Writer
Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Commonspot Content Management System
Google Analytics 4
Collaborative software (Microsoft 365)
Sticky notes (lots of them)
Overview
This project reimagined the Yellowstone National Park website through a user-centered approach grounded in the Yellowstone Digital Strategy. By streamlining content, improving navigation, and aligning design with visitor needs, the website now provides a clear, accessible, and inspiring experience for users.
The Yellowstone National Park website had evolved organically over the course of two decades, since it first launched in the early 2000s. Without a unified digital strategy, countless contributors had added and edited content across a growing mass of webpages. The result was a sprawling, inconsistent experience that made it difficult for visitors to find reliable information and equally difficult for staff to maintain it. Pages were duplicated, design styles varied widely, and some content was no longer accurate or relevant. I launched this redesign to bring order and purpose back to the website—to make it streamlined, accurate, and visually cohesive. My goal was to modernize its structure and appearance while ensuring the site reflected the same clarity, accessibility, and inspiration that visitors experience in the park itself.
Empathize: Understanding Our Users
Leading a small digital team, I began with empathy—the foundation of human-centered design. Using Yellowstone’s new Digital Content Strategy as a guide, I analyzed website analytics, visitor feedback, and internal employee survey results to understand who our users are and what they struggle with. Most trip planners engage with the site months before visiting, yet nearly a quarter of users leave without finding what they need. Employees echoed similar frustrations about outdated information and inconsistent navigation. To represent our diverse audiences, I synthesized these findings and used them to develop detailed user personas ranging from an international trip planner to a new park ranger seeking accurate answers for the public. These personas gave our users a voice and kept their needs at the center of every future decision.
Define: Clarifying the Problem
These user personas allowed us to effectively identify the main problems with the website: the structure and design was complex and inconsistent, content contained inaccurate information, there was limited information for foreign visitors, webpages weren’t designed for mobile use, and reservation information was hard to find. It was difficult to navigate, visually outdated, and burdened by years of uncoordinated updates. The next step in defining the problem was to get a hold of the breadth of content that already existed on the website and assess its current condition. I developed a Digital Content Inventory to categorize, tag, and evaluate over 1,000 webpages based on what we now know about our users. With this inventory, we began to determine which content we would want to keep, update, or retire in the next phases of the project. We now had a good definition of the problems that existed and a few well-defined goals to respond accordingly.
Ideate: Generating Creative Solutions
With the problems defined, I led brainstorming sessions with the digital team to imagine new ways to structure and present information. Using “Crazy Eights” sketching and “How Might We” prompts, we explored everything from simplified navigation menus to dynamic visuals and season-based planning tools. Each idea was weighed against our digital priorities of accuracy, accessibility, and consistency.
Prototype: Building the Vision
I translated our strongest ideas into low-fidelity wireframes and webpage design prototypes, simultaneously developing a Content Redesign Worksheet that helped us to track our decisions and KPIs so that we could reevaluate them in the future. Every redesigned page began with a defined user story, measurable goal, and analytics baseline. I refined layouts to prioritize readability, accessibility, and mobile performance, replacing long blocks of text with modular, visual elements. To demonstrate how this approach would look in practice, I piloted a full redesign of the Seasonal Highlights webpage, consolidating several overlapping pages into one, adding contextual weather and visitation information, and integrating modern imagery that better represents the park’s beauty and scale.
Test: Refining Through Feedback
To validate the new designs, I coordinated internal testing with staff across divisions who regularly assist visitors. Their feedback revealed where we still needed to tweak designs, clarify terminology, or reorganize content. Because the possibility of external user testing is limited under federal guidelines, I relied on Google analytics to measure success and guide refinements. I iterated based on what resonated most—improving user survey and accessibility scores.
Implement: Launch, Measure, Iterate
This redesign is an ongoing, long-term effort. With over one thousand pages to evaluate and rework, I’m leading the effort to roll out changes systematically, starting with the most-visited and high-impact pages. The webpages that have already been redesigned now serve as a model for how the rest of the site will evolve—accurate, mobile-friendly, and aligned with the Yellowstone Digital Strategy. My approach is iterative: launch, measure, refine, and repeat. Over time, Yellowstone’s website will transform into a cohesive, user-centered platform that helps every visitor plan confidently, stay informed, and connect more deeply with the park.