Focused on reviving populations of threatened mammals in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe, a new website for the Trust needed to offer a reliable yet engaging source of accurate information for a wide range of target audiences. From mammal conservation academics to partner charities and governmental organisations, volunteers, members of the public interested in wildlife conservation and more, we planned out the information architecture to balance both scientific and general interests, and created small micro-animations and accordion features to make content-rich pages compelling.

The brief detailed the development of three sites; one for the Trust’s UK-based work, one for their Irish-based work and finally a site dedicated to the Martens on the Move — a pine marten conservation project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Taking inspiration from the natural habitats of the mammals we developed a visual design system that gives each site its own colour palette while unifying all three as part of the Vincent Wildlife Trust brand. Unique navigations determined the user experience of each, but using Craft’s multi-site development capabilities we could replicate components to create a consistent design language across their digital platforms.

To capture the intrigue of the many elusive creatures the Trust supports, we balanced the need for documentary-style photography with design elements that enhanced the user experience with a sense of nature’s tactility. Together, the real prints that capture mammal footprints and features of their habitats and the subtle topographic textures nod to the tracking and recording work conservationists do day-to-day. These versatile interfaces were designed to create an engaging digital experience without distracting from photographic imagery required to support the factual information and identification of each species through clear representations of their unique characteristics.