Community website redesign

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The unfiltered UX diaries

Where I write about the plot twists, questionable decisions, and hard-won lessons.

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Designed & build with care

Download resume

The unfiltered UX diaries

Where I write about the plot twists, questionable decisions, and hard-won lessons.

Dive in

Say hello

Whether you're hiring, collaborating, or just want to discuss why dropdown menus are the worst—I'd love to hear from you.

Drop me a line

Community website redesign

Designed community website to inform members about upcoming events, improve location search visibility, and digitize volunteer sign-ups.

How do you make a spiritual community discoverable when Google shows the wrong location and your only web presence is a 1990s-era page? I redesigned and built a temple website that increased visitors by 31% and reduced location-inquiry calls—working solo, pro bono, with a tight deadline and zero budget.

Product

Website

Skills

Design principles

Information Architecture

Stakeholder management

Development
Content writing

My role

UX designer + developer

Timeline

4 months (2023)

Team

Solo

The invisible temple

The Problem A Brahma temple serving a diverse community had virtually no online presence. Their single-page 1990s-style website was undiscoverable, unprofessional, and creating real barriers:

Couldn't be found online: Google Maps showed incorrect location

New visitors got lost: Temple administration fielded constant calls for directions

Young people wanted to volunteer but had no way to connect until random community events

No design foundation: No color palette, no design patterns, no cohesive visual identity

Offline-only processes: Volunteer sign-ups via paper forms, phone calls, or in-person only

The Urgency Temple administration needed a functional website before their April 2023 event to raise awareness and support growing community engagement.

My role

As solo volunteer UX Designer & Developer, I:

Designed complete website in Figma with culturally-inspired visual identity

Developed and launched WordPress site using Divi Builder within 3-4 month timeline

Conducted competitive research analyzing temple website structures and information architecture

Created content strategy and wrote website copy, getting cultural sensitivity approval from administration

Fixed Google Maps discoverability issues with proper address integration

Designed and integrated volunteer sign-up system using Google Forms

Edited low-quality images and sourced professional stock photos to maintain visual quality

Built reusable layouts and components for efficiency and future maintainability

Designing for discovery

Research & Constraints

Budget: $0 (pro bono work, couldn't accept payment from US)

Timeline: Launch before April 2023 event

Content: Provided brief, wrote and got approval for final copy

Images: Low-quality unedited photos required extensive editing; supplemented with stock imagery

Platform: WordPress with Divi Builder (administration's choice for future editing capability)

Users: Ages 16-55, speaking Hindi/Gujarati/English, with varying tech literacy and diverse needs

Competitive Analysis Analyzed temple website structures to understand common information architecture patterns and layout conventions, identifying best practices for spiritual community platforms.

Cultural design foundation

Visual Identity Created modern, minimal design inspired by the lotus flower—Lord Brahma's seat and the temple's architectural form.

Design Principles:

Progressive disclosure: Surface essential information with option to go one level deeper

Cultural sensitivity: Used AI assistance to ensure polished, culturally appropriate content

Accessibility: Simple navigation, large touch targets, clear hierarchy following WCAG standards

Maintainability: Reusable layouts and components across pages for easier future updates

Color Palette:

#FAECE4 (Soft peach - warmth, accessibility)

#864736 (Deep terracotta - cultural richness)

#AEBBD0 (Soft blue-gray - tranquility)

#3F2926 (Deep brown - grounding)

#EEEDE9 (Warm off-white - purity)

Color Palette:

#FAECE4 (Soft peach - warmth, accessibility)

#864736 (Deep terracotta - cultural richness)

#AEBBD0 (Soft blue-gray - tranquility)

#3F2926 (Deep brown - grounding)

#EEEDE9 (Warm off-white - purity)

Solving discoverability

Location

Integrated proper address and Google Maps embed with direct link

Fixed Google Business listing to show correct location

Volunteer connection

Designed and integrated WP Form for volunteer sign-ups

Collected name, contact info, and areas of interest

Enabled temple administration to connect with volunteers immediately upon submission

Eliminated barrier for young community members wanting to contribute

Information architecture organized content to serve diverse user needs:

New visitors: Location, directions, event information

Current community: Upcoming events, announcements

Prospective volunteers: Sign-up pathway and opportunities

General awareness: Temple history, significance, community impact

Technical execution

Design to Development

Created complete designs in Figma

Developed custom WordPress site using Divi Builder

Built reusable layouts and components to accelerate development and enable future updates

Edited low-quality images professionally; sourced supplementary stock photos

Ensured responsive design across devices (critical for mobile-first users)

Key Challenge: Learning Curve Working with unfamiliar WordPress/Divi system required rapid learning. Solution: Created component library and reusable layouts early, dramatically reducing build time for subsequent pages.

Content Creation Wrote culturally sensitive website copy with AI assistance for polish, submitted for approval to ensure appropriate tone and accuracy for spiritual community context.

Building the experience

Impact

Measurable Outcomes:

31% increase in website visitors

26% increase in page views

Reduced location-inquiry calls to temple administration (qualitative feedback)

Smoother volunteer sign-up process replacing paper/phone/in-person-only system

Community Feedback: Temple administration reported significant reduction in directional calls from new visitors and streamlined volunteer coordination process.

Reflections

What I'd Do Differently:

Add service pages: Information about temple services and ceremonies

Online service booking: Enable sign-ups for pujas and other services directly through website

Earlier component planning: Establishing reusable design system earlier would have accelerated development further

Key Takeaway:

When building with WordPress-like platforms, investing time upfront in reusable layouts and components significantly reduces total build time and improves long-term maintainability.

Key Takeaway:

When building with WordPress-like platforms, investing time upfront in reusable layouts and components significantly reduces total build time and improves long-term maintainability.