Surprising Visitors the Way the Zoo Does: A Digital Redesign for Roger Williams Park Zoo
A zoo visit runs on the unexpected — the thing you turn a corner and find. We put that quality into the website and reorganized the content so people moved further through it.
The work
The Challenge: A Directory Cannot Do What the Zoo Does
Roger Williams Park Zoo opened in 1872, making it the third oldest in the country, and more than 800,000 visitors a year support its mission of connecting people with wildlife.
The thing a zoo does in person is surprise you. You turn a corner and find something you were not looking for. A website built as a directory of opening times and facilities is complete and delivers none of that.
The Strategy: Put the Place’s Personality Into the Site
Give the digital presence the character the place has.
- Personality as the brief. The zoo’s own character, brought to the digital presence.
- Surprise elements placed deliberately, so moving around the site has some of the quality of moving around the zoo.
- Content reorganized for movement, on the reasoning that circulation is the measure for an institution whose business is people going further in than they meant to.
The Outcomes: A Site That Behaves Like the First Exhibit
- Engagement | A new organization of content that increased circulation through the site | Unexpected moments built in, so the site behaves like the place
The detail
What a zoo website is competing with
- The institution is old and the audience is large. Roger Williams Park Zoo opened in 1872 and is the third oldest in the country. More than 800,000 visitors a year support its mission of connecting people with wildlife and building appreciation for the environment and the animals in it.
- The visit runs on the unexpected. What a zoo does in person is turn a corner into something you were not looking for. A website organized as a directory of facilities delivers none of that, however complete it is.
The call and the build
- Personality as the brief. The redesign aimed at a digital presence with the character of the place.
- Surprise built in deliberately. Unexpected elements were placed through the experience so that moving around the site has some of the quality of moving around the zoo.
- Content reorganized for movement. A new organization of the content increased circulation through the site.
What it left behind
- A site that behaves like the place it represents. For an institution its visitors support, the website is the first exhibit. Making it feel like the zoo is what turns a look into a visit.
Zoo website redesign questions
What should a zoo website feel like?
Like the zoo. A visit runs on the unexpected — the thing you turn a corner and find — and a site organized as a directory of facilities delivers none of that, however complete it is. Roger Williams Park Zoo’s redesign placed surprise elements through the experience, so moving around the site has some of the quality of moving around the zoo.
What does a zoo website compete with?
Everything else a family could do that Saturday. For an institution its 800,000 yearly visitors support, the website is the first exhibit, and making it feel like the place rather than like a listing is what turns a look into a visit.
What results does a zoo website redesign deliver?
For the Roger Williams Park Zoo redesign by Pare & Co: a digital presence with the character of the third-oldest zoo in the country — open since 1872, with more than 800,000 visitors a year — and a new organization of the content that increased circulation through the site, the measure that matters for an institution whose business is people going further in than they planned to.