Pro Bono / Board Member Project

Bremerton Community Farmers Market

A website redesign aimed at helping visitors find vendors, events, and market information with less friction.

In progress — launching May 2026

timeline

October 2025 — Present

role

UX Designer, Board Member

skills

Heuristic Evaluation, IA, Wireframing, Visual Design

status

Delivered to board. Launching at season opening, May 2026

overview

Measuring what was getting in the way

The Bremerton Community Farmers Market's existing website made it difficult for visitors to find vendors, upcoming events, and market information. Navigation was inconsistent, the homepage buried key details in text, and vendor pages lacked a structure that helped users browse by category.

As a board member, I volunteered to lead the redesign. The work included a heuristic evaluation, a revised information architecture, and high-fidelity mockups delivered to the board for implementation.

The site needed to work for two distinct audiences: visitors looking for what's at the market this week, and vendors looking to join or manage their listing. Neither group was well served by the existing structure.

Research and Evaluation

Heuristic evaluation using Nielsen's 10 principles

I evaluated the existing site against six key principles drawn from Nielsen's heuristics, chosen for their relevance to a community-facing informational site with mixed audiences.

Clarity and consistency

Navigation spread across inconsistent pages made it hard to predict where information would live.

Visual hierarchy

The homepage did not guide users to the most important information first. Events, location, and hours were buried below the fold.

Consistency

Styling, layout, and interaction patterns varied across pages with no clear system holding them together.

Accessibility

Low contrast text and inconsistent link styling created barriers for users with visual impairments.

Engagement and appeal

Visuals and content did not reflect the warmth and community identity of the market itself.

Efficiency and navigation

Users had to work too hard to find basic information, with no clear path to vendors or events from the homepage.

Annotated heuristic evaluation for existing site

information architecture

Restructuring navigation around user goals

The revised IA consolidates navigation from a flat, inconsistent structure into a hierarchy that reflects how both visitors and vendors actually use the site. Key changes: vendors get their own browse-by-category path, community actions (sponsor, volunteer, join the board) are grouped under Help us grow, and events surface directly from the homepage.

Revised information architecture — navigation restructured around visitor and vendor goals

Recommendations

Annotated recommendations delivered to the board

Before moving to full mockups, I presented a set of annotated recommendations against the existing site identifying specific elements to change and the rationale behind each. This gave the board a clear picture of what was being addressed and why.

Recommendations frame — existing site annotated with proposed fixes and reasoning

Design

High-fidelity mockups across three key screens

The mockups address the three highest-priority screens identified in the evaluation: the homepage, the vendor directory, and an individual vendor page. The visual direction uses the market's existing brand colors with a cleaner typographic system and a vendor category grid that makes browsing intuitive.

Recommendations frame — existing site annotated with proposed fixes and reasoning

status

Delivered to the board. Launching May 2026.

The redesign has been presented to the Bremerton Community Farmers Market board and is currently in implementation. The updated site is scheduled to launch at the market's season opening in May 2026. This project is ongoing in an advisory capacity as a board member.