Vegan Consumer Association
The Client
The Vegetarian Consumers Association is a non-profit organisation connecting vegetarian consumers with smart businesses and providing free expert consultation to businesses that want to appeal to the large number of vegan/vegetarian consumers.
Challenge
The VCA requires a rebranding and website overhaul to establish itself as a trustworthy and professional authority in the field. The existing landing page lacks a clear call-to-action and fails to provide sufficient content and information about the association, its mission, and how it can assist businesses in enhancing their menus or services.
Solution
Determine the target audience for the website. Consider their needs, wants and reasons for visiting. Use this information to create a solid visual identity that resonates with the audience and reflects The Vegetarian Association's mission.
In order to ensure a responsive design, I adopted a mobile-first approach. To create a professional impression for the brand, I aimed for a simple and minimalistic layout. Each section of the website was carefully sequenced to convey a cohesive narrative, starting with VGA's mission statement.
Since booking a consultation was the biggest CTA in the original site, the consultation button was made readily available at all times for easy access.
I went with an accordion drop-down format to organise all the articles, to make the article page easy to navigate it follows a familiar design that users would be accustomed to. By sticking to a consistent design, it just makes the whole experience enjoyable and easier for readers to engage with the content.
Brand personality
I carried out a brand personality map to consider descriptive words that would summarise the essence of the VGA’s brand. I wanted VCA to encompass the role of a Guide, Teacher, Mentor as it fits perfectly with VGA’s mission.
Professional, Authentic, Natural, Modern, and Approachable.
Mood board
Logo Update
The initial logo design had several visual problems, rendering it unsuitable for representing itself as a non-profit organization that holds expertise in the field of vegetarianism. To address this, I undertook a redesign of the logo by incorporating eating utensil symbols and molding them into plant-like shapes to effectively symbolize vegetarianism. Additionally, I employed thick lines to impart a friendly and approachable aesthetic to the mark.
Style Guide
Using my selected typeface and using the moodboard as reference, I created a design style guide to speed up the iterative process and ensure consistency across the site. It also provides a clear guide for the Foundation’s future publications and merchandise.
Wanting to differentiate this brand from other vegetarian associations, I chose bright cheery colours with higher chroma which gives a stronger feeling of authority while being approachable which is quite different to the softer colours the competitors use.
The final iteration received positive feedback:
“I really like the whole look and feel you've created, the logo is great, reads so well when it's small which is always difficult and instantly communicates what it is. your colour combos give everything a real punch as well. nicely done! amazing to see all the page contents laid out as well, feels like the site is ready to go :)”