When the work is personal, everyone can tell. And boy did the judges at AAF DC’s 57th annual Addy Awards Show take notice. We’re thrilled to announce that our work with the National Park Foundation (NPF) was recognized by industry peers and creative directors from across the country who awarded us with a Gold prize in the Responsive Design category.
As we detailed at the site launch in October 2016, the national parks mean a lot to us here at CHIEF, especially those of us lucky enough to be part of this incredible engagement. Summer vacations to Acadia, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain instilled in us a lifelong passion for parks, which really comes through in the work we produced. It was truly a labor of love.
It wouldn’t have come together so beautifully without the tireless work of the CHIEF team and our partners at NPF. Together we transformed their complex and non-responsive site into a visually-stunning modern marvel—in which the parks’ all-encompassing beauty is the center of the user’s experience. In doing so, we helped advance NPF’s goals of galvanizing park supporters and enhancing the user experience to nurture the personal connections all park lovers have with their favorite places. Beautiful imagery captures the visitor’s attention, while a streamlined information architecture more easily surfaces NPF’s programmatic work, giving users a holistic picture of what their support can do.
And with a fully responsive design, users can access the site from wherever they are—easily uploading their own photos and stories from mobile devices. We knew most users would visit the park pages (like this one!) and would be more likely to Share the Park Experience while visiting the parks themselves. That’s one of the many reasons we designed, built and wrote content specifically for the mobile user. Since launch last October through March 2017, mobile sessions are up 40% from the same period the year before.
For an audience that’s always on the go, this is a site that certainly satisfies user’s needs and inspires action. Wherever they go, this site can go, too.