Rebranding and redesigning for maximum impact – an online resource ecosystem that equips communities to literally grow

Pro bono rebrand and website redesign creating a clear resource ecosystem for community gardens, food access, and urban agriculture across Philadelphia.

Project snapshot

  • Client: Public Interest Law Center (Garden Justice Legal Initiative)
  • Year: 2019

Services

The Background

Founded in 2013 by the Garden Justice Legal Initiative, Grounded in Philly aimed its civic project at helping Philadelphians with food insecurity as well as providing resources, tools, and information for community members to secure access to land and create community gardens and urban farms. The organization sought to find information about the city's vacant land and land management policies and to help redistribute unused land for community good. In the years that have followed, Grounded in Philly has transformed over 140 vacant lots and brought the community together. Historically, the Public Interest Law Center also implemented a law that paved the way for the Philadelphia Land Bank during the earlier version of this project.

The Problem

The cause is excellent, but the old Grounded in Philly website was unclear, providing negative user experience. At Key Medium, we aimed to provide clear resources for users through design strategy and user experience testing.

Before tackling the outside web design, the site needed on-page technical SEO fixes following an audit, including mobile-first and mobile-optimization, which, along with a new campaign strategy, allowed for an increase in organic traffic and social media awareness.

The Solutions

More traffic wouldn't have meant anything if users didn't want to stay on the site and navigation remained unclear as it was on the old website. For the new website, we focused on creating simple navigation at the top with four navigation actions: Pathways, Resources, Grapevine, and Register.

Pathways allowed users to understand what they want to do: whether starting a community garden, farm, or open space; securing access or finding ownership of their farm or land; or joining the urban agricultural community, buying local, or helping out.

Resources provided a dedicated page for guidelines, easier-to-read advice, reports, and posts, including ways to get funding, request representation, secure insurance, and much more. Having resources in one place made navigation clear and logical for users with a self-service experience.

Grapevine was created as a space for forums and a way to connect users to each other, which was previously missing from the old website. The Grapevine allows community members to ask questions, celebrate success, find their neighbors, and organize around local vacant lots.

Register allowed people to get in touch with the Grounded in Philly organizers and become a member of the community. Side navigation on this page points users to additional resources should they need them.

Overall, the navigation is no longer confusing, technical SEO elements are fixed, the website page structure makes sense, and the site is user-friendly, mobile-friendly, and optimized for search and voice search.

The current website guides visitors clearly to the information they need: if they want to start a garden, own a parcel of land, or join an existing community garden, and much more.

The Results

The website has since won five awards for its one-stop resource for those seeking urban agriculture opportunities.

Within six months of launching:

  • +28% organic traffic growth
  • +31% increase in users
  • +13% increase in organic search visibility
  • +260% increase in social media traffic
  • 115,000+ site visitors in first year reaching residents across Philadelphia
  • 140+ community gardens activated through the initiative
  • Secured significant grant funding from foundations supporting environmental justice work
  • PLATINUM Hermes Creative Award recognition for pro bono excellence
  • Gold MUSE Creative Award for outstanding community website

The results for the site continue to grow.

Giving Back to the Community

For the nonprofit Grounded in Philly and the Law Center's Garden Justice Legal Initiative, Key Medium donated the new brand identity, web development budget, hosting budget, advertising spend, and consulting expertise for this project. The new website and initiative overall has worked to help a sizeable portion of the over 300,000 Philadelphians facing food insecurity and over 175,000 without green space—and that's a cause Key Medium is proud to support.

Results

+28%

Organic traffic growth

+31%

Users increase

+13%

Organic search growth

+260%

Social media traffic

115K+

Site visitors (first year)

140+

Community gardens activated

Awards & Recognition

2019 PLATINUM Hermes Creative Awards

Pro Bono Work · Platinum

2019 MUSE Creative Awards

Websites – Community · Gold