🗓️
Feb - Mar 2025
2. UX-Led Website Redesign
Enhancing clarity, structure, and accessibility for a more engaging online presence.
Film festivals are not just about the screenings. They are about discovery, connection, and atmosphere. The Sustain Film Festival redesign set out to capture that spirit online, turning a cluttered, outdated site into a clear, inviting, and inclusive experience for every visitor. From industry professionals to casual film lovers, the goal was the same: make finding, exploring, and joining the festival feel as effortless as settling into your seat before the opening credits.
Before the redesign, the Sustain Film Festival’s online presence did not match the energy and purpose of the event itself. The festival brought together bold storytelling, sustainability themes, and a diverse community, yet its website felt dated, cluttered, and hard to navigate. The challenge was not just to modernise the look, it was to design an experience that welcomed all visitors, whether they were filmmakers, industry professionals, or first-time festival goers. This meant marrying a minimalist, accessible design with the vibrancy and personality the festival was known for, ensuring the digital space felt as engaging as the real-world event.
To understand what needed to change, I began by looking closely at how the existing website served its audience. It quickly became clear that the design and structure were holding back the festival’s ability to connect with people and share its message effectively. This is where the redesign began.
————————————————————————————————————
Problem Statement
To create a digital home that lived up to the festival’s mission, we first had to address the limitations of the existing site. The website and visual identity lacked a modern, cohesive, and user-friendly design, which made it difficult for visitors to navigate and engage with key content. The goal was to enhance accessibility, improve content organisation, and develop a visually compelling identity that reflected the festival’s creative and environmental focus.
We set out to design a streamlined, minimalist experience that made information easy to find while keeping the aesthetic vibrant and inviting for a diverse audience. This called for a UX-focused approach with wireframing, research, and a complete visual identity overhaul. The next step was understanding exactly what was standing in the way of that goal.
————————————————————————————————————
You can view the full figma file and live prototype here.
Challenges
While the vision for a better site was clear, achieving it required solving some specific design and usability problems:
Outdated and inconsistent visual identity made navigation confusing
Key content lacked structure, leading to a cluttered experience
Needed to balance vibrancy and creativity with minimalism and accessibility
Design had to be inclusive for a wide range of users
Mobile responsiveness and usability were limited across devices
Visual identity needed to align with the festival’s creative and environmental ethos
These high-level challenges set the direction. To design with precision, I needed to go deeper into the user experience and pinpoint the exact obstacles visitors faced
————————————————————————————————————
Pain Points Identified
Through user testing, stakeholder interviews, and direct interaction with the old site, I identified the key friction points:
Cluttered navigation that made important information hard to find
Weak visual hierarchy that overwhelmed users
Outdated design that did not reflect the festival’s energy
Accessibility gaps, including low contrast and poor readability
Poor mobile optimisation
Inefficient content layout for events, submissions, and key details
Slow load times caused by unoptimised media
No clear calls-to-action for ticketing, submissions, or involvement
With the pain points mapped, it was time to translate insights into action and create a process that would address them without losing the festival’s personality
————————————————————————————————————
Project Process
The redesign followed a structured yet flexible process to balance aesthetics, usability, and accessibility.
User Testing and Feedback – Analysed the old site’s usability issues with users and stakeholders
Brainstorming and Concept Development – Defined design goals: modern, vibrant, minimal, and user-friendly
Wireframing and UX Design – Created low-fidelity wireframes to streamline navigation and content flow
Visual Identity and UI Design – Built a cohesive design system with accessible typography, colour, and imagery
Prototyping and Testing – Developed interactive prototypes and refined them through iterative feedback
Final Handoff – Delivered final assets, ensured accessibility compliance, and supported development
Even with a solid process in place, I wanted the final result to not only be functional but also feel at home among the world’s leading film festivals. That meant studying and learning from the best.
————————————————————————————————————
References
I analysed websites from Sundance, TIFF, BFI London, Tribeca, and Raindance to understand how top-tier festivals balance content, visual hierarchy, and accessibility. These references shaped my approach, helping me design a site that felt fresh and approachable while meeting the expectations of a global audience.
————————————————————————————————————
Conclusion
The Sustain Film Festival redesign transformed a cluttered, outdated site into a clear, accessible, and visually engaging platform that reflects the festival’s creative and environmental mission. By improving navigation, restructuring content, and introducing a cohesive visual identity, the new design makes it easier for visitors to discover events, access resources, and connect with the festival community.
This project reinforced my belief that good UX is about more than aesthetics it is about creating an experience that feels natural, inclusive, and true to its purpose.
————————————————————————————————————
Beyond the Website
Alongside the redesign, I built Sustain Film Festival’s online presence from the ground up — designing landing pages, creating a consistent social media identity, and producing digital assets for promotions. This ensured the refreshed brand experience extended across every touchpoint, from the first Instagram post to the final ticket purchase.
The Team
————————————————————————————————————