The Ojai Raptor Center

Non-Profit, Website Redesign

The Ojai Raptor Center (ORC ) is a busy non-profit dedicated to wildlife rescue, rehab, and release, along with educating the public, in Ventura County, CA. Their website had not been updated in several years and was difficult to navigate - they had a lot of great content but it was hard to find and read. The images were small, and the colors were drab. Although the the old site was built in Squarespace, it was not taking advantage of all of Squarespace’s capabilities.

The biggest challenge was organizing the content - there was a lot of information about raptors, baby birds, educational programs, and the detrimental effects of rodenticides on wildlife. Although the temptation is to just “add another page”, it’s important not to overwhelm site visitors with too much information - decision fatigue is real - it’s best to keep main navigation to no more than seven topics, and to break up information into easy-to-read chunks, using images to help tell your story.

Images really help to engage site visitors, and to help people understand the important work the Ojai Raptor Center does. We used a mix of photographs taken by ORC staff and volunteers, along with some dramatic stock images available through Squarespace.

Key strengths of the new site

• Easy and clear navigation to main topics

• Display of current content on the home page — such educational programs and their Instagram feed — to engage visitors

• Lively minimal design with a blend of beautiful photos and text

• Complex content is organized for better comprehension by lay audiences

• Easy to update