West Lunga Conservation Project

Client: West Lunga Conservation Project
Date: June 2019
Services: Website Design, UI Design, Visual design

About the project


West Lunga National Park is located In Northern Zambia and is Africa’s only broadleaf forest. The Muvula forest – and the unique range of species and animals it supports - is facing extinction from deforestation and poaching. The West Lunga Conservation Project is a new charity aimed at protecting and conserving this part of the world.


The challenge

I was approached by the charity to develop an initial brand and website aiming to promote and grow the campaign to save the National Park. The aim was to have an elegant, evocative website that could be presented to large corporations in order to secure more funding. I worked closely with the filmmaker and photographer to develop the brand and the story, whilst working independently on the design from concept to completion.

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Research & Kick off

The initial research was provided by the filmmaker and photographer, who had taken several trips to the national park to document the issue. My first job was to collate and make sense of raw data including photographs, videos, articles and conversations with locals and conservation specialists. From here I broke down the research into different issues, and began to think about the most effective way to tell the story to an outsider. I researched how competitor charities approached similar issues, researched the companies they were targeting for funding and developed personas.

The solution

Together with the filmmaker, we had a brainstorming session to explore and refine concepts. We decided on the most important findings from our research, further developed the campaign story and then compiled these into rough wireframes. For example, We discovered the target audience are often in high pressure, busy corporate jobs and will make their mind up within a few seconds of viewing a website if they are interested. They will generally then come back to the website and view in more detail before sharing with colleagues and managers to then donate. It was therefore important to have an impactful first screen and to progressively disclose more information about the cause. The layout aimed to use visual elements to guide the user through the campaign story and drive action with bold banners and powerful photos.

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The Final Design

The final visual design aimed to express the diversity and beauty of the area, whilst warning of the imminent threat to it. The colours were picked from photos and show the contrast between the rainforest (green) and and cleared land (the burnt orange). Bold, elegant serif fonts were used to focus on the message and express trustability for large companies. I also re-created graphical elements from an old map that the conservation workers use to get around the area. These markers, contours, and navigation lines are used to guide the user through the design but also a visual reminder them of the diversity of the terrain and the complexity of the challenge ahead.

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