When I first met with the owner and marketing manager (who doubled as the webmaster), their website felt like an afterthought—pages loaded in 3+ seconds, labels like "GC home" or “Edibles” left users scratching their heads, and there was no usable search.

User testing confirmed these hunches:

Here's what else I learned from user testing:

• There’s an overwhelming amount of text—no way to scan or find what users came for.
• Users wanted clear examples (“What plants do you actually sell? How easy are they to care for?”).
• Social media feeds felt random—users loved the imagery but didn’t know why it was there.
• Clickable elements weren’t obvious—some images looked tappable but weren’t, and mobile links weren’t highlighted.
• Email newsletter calls-to-action lacked context—no incentive to sign up.
• Users craved images of the physical space and product offerings (“Is that the poinsettia I’d get?”).
• They’d skip navigation entirely if a reliable search could get them to the right page faster.

In short: Gethsemane’s website didn’t reflect its community warmth or make it easy to buy gift certificates (a core, stable offering). We needed to fix that—fast.

Before sketching anything, I dove into research to avoid guesswork. Since no analytics existed, I set up basic visitor and search tracking and ran a full heuristic evaluation. Then I conducted:

• User Interviews & Testing (10 participants, avg. age 35; skews female 50+). We observed frustration with reading huge blocks of text and unclear navigation.
• Card Sorting to uncover how people think about plant categories. Our findings led to a new hierarchy: people expect “Herbs & Veg” rather than “Edibles,” “Houseplants” rather than “Greenhouse.” and "Home Decor" over "GC Home".
• Competitive & Heuristic Analysis of five local/national garden retailers. They all featured clear product pages, FAQs that mapped to top customer questions, consistent visual branding—and a search bar that actually worked.

Visual Placeholder: Excerpt from card-sort results and competitive analysis matrix

Key Insights:

• People want to see “What you carry” before “How to care for it.”
• Labeling must match everyday language (e.g., “Home Décor” instead of “GC Home”).
• Mobile experience was non-existent—users bounced when they saw walls of text that didn’t fit their screens.
• Users would abandon navigation if search were reliable, so we needed to fix search first.
• Since e-commerce potential is limited, we needed to spotlight workshop and gift certificate purchases (a stable revenue stream) up front.

Armed with those insights, I sketched a plan to reorganize content, redesign visuals, implement a robust search, and optimize performance—while celebrating that signature pansy mascot and Andersonville charm. Here’s how:

3.2 Visual Design & Branding

Next, we needed a look and feel that felt both trustworthy and fun—just like Gethsemane in person. This ended up being part of a larger branding overhaul where I refreshed the logo and established official brand guidelines.

Pansy Polishing: Revamped the pansy mascot so it appears more polished and scalable, anchoring the brand across pages.

Display Typeface: New Kansas (designed by Miles Newlyn, a modern take on Cooper Black). The rounded serifs and playful swashes echo the pansy’s warmth while retaining classic roots.
Body Typeface: Figtree (clean sans serif for longer text passages).

Updated Logo: Simplified form and improved logo legibility at distance.

Color Palette: Slimmed down version of the full palette, with the core Pansy purple supported by warm yellows, browns, and neutrals.

3.3 Search & Navigation

Since our users were eager to bypass navigation, we reintroduced a search bar—this time with sensible query limits so it actually returned useful results. Specifically, we:

• Built a custom search query that prioritized product pages, department pages, and key operational info (hours, location, workshop details).
• Filtered out irrelevant content (e.g., archived blog posts) so users don’t get lost in outdated pages.
• Placed the search box prominently in the header so it’s available on every page.

Between August and October 2024, we moved from “What is this site even?” to “I found it instantly!”—all while keeping a tight budget (under $150 for a staging plugin). Here’s what happened after launch:

4.3 Customer Feedback

Here's what folks were saying once they got their hands on the new site:

This project reinforced a few guiding principles:

• Business Alignment Is Everything: By spotlighting gift certificates and workshops—where e-commerce dollars truly flowed—we maximized impact with minimal dev constraints.
• Content First, Style Second: Organizing IA unlocked all the visual and performance wins. Clarity always beats cleverness.
• Search as a Lifeline: A reliable search bar boosts usability dramatically—users will skip navigation if they can type and go.
• WordPress Realities: Ecosystem plugins can be powerful but can also slow you down. We learned to pick lightweight alternatives and consolidate custom code where possible.
• Plan for Iteration: Gethsemane’s needs will evolve seasonally. We built a foundation that’s flexible: update workshop dates easily, swap seasonal photography, and add new event pages without a full redesign.

Next on the roadmap: adding short video tours of the greenhouse, integrating Instagram stories with proper context, and launching a community Q&A feature for plant-care questions.