Il Paese dei Gatti
A redesigned website that supports a small local cat shelter through clearer communication and a more welcoming digital presence.
Redesigned from the original website of a small local cat shelter, Il Paese dei Gatti focuses on creating a clearer, more inviting digital experience that helps the shelter communicate its mission and connect with supporters. The project explores how thoughtful layout, simple navigation, and warm visual design can strengthen the shelter’s online presence and make its story more accessible to the community.
Context
Role: UX/UI Designer, UX Researcher
Type: Website redesign — individual project
Duration: 1 month
Skills: for original redesign: Figma, InVision, Illustrator, Maze / For 2026 redesign version: Figma
Year: 2020 original redesign (2026 new redesign in progress)
Project Overview
Il Paese dei Gatti is a responsive website redesign created as a capstone project for DesignLab’s UX Academy. The project reimagines the online presence of a small non‑profit cat shelter in Losone, Ticino, giving it a clearer structure, a warmer visual identity, and a more accessible digital experience. The redesign transforms the shelter’s outdated Blogspot website into a modern, welcoming platform that supports its mission of rescuing abandoned cats and finding them new homes.
Brief
The goal of this capstone project was to design a fully responsive website that helps Il Paese dei Gatti communicate its mission, present its cats, and connect with supporters more effectively. The shelter relies entirely on donations and volunteer work, without financial support from the Canton of Ticino or the town of Losone, making a clear and trustworthy digital presence essential. The redesign needed to improve navigation, highlight adoption opportunities, simplify access to donation options, and introduce a cohesive brand identity where none previously existed.
Process
The redesign began with analyzing the existing Blogspot website, identifying structural issues, unclear content, and usability barriers. Through UX research, I developed personas representing the shelter’s key audiences — potential adopters, donors, and local supporters — each with distinct needs and motivations. These personas clarified what information mattered most and guided decisions about hierarchy, tone, and accessibility. Research into the shelter’s background further revealed the breadth of its work: rescuing abandoned cats, supporting local colonies, funding surgeries, and preparing cats for adoption through sterilization or castration. This context informed the essential sections required for the redesign.
Using insights from the personas, I reorganized the content into a clearer structure, defining core areas such as the shelter’s mission, available cats, adoption guidelines, donation options, and updates. To support this structure, I created a feature roadmap that prioritized essential functionality, followed by a sitemap that clarified how content should be grouped and accessed. Task flows and user flows mapped how different visitors — adopters, donors, and supporters — would navigate the website and complete key actions. Wireframes then established a more intuitive layout and simplified navigation across desktop, tablet, and mobile. A moodboard shaped the visual direction, exploring warm, approachable aesthetics aligned with the shelter’s identity and the emotional tone of its story.
The visual system was refined through iterative adjustments, focusing on clarity, emotional resonance, and responsiveness. To define the look and feel of the new branding, I began with a brainstorming session exploring warm, approachable aesthetics aligned with the shelter’s identity. Before moving into digital tools, I sketched early wireframe concepts by hand to quickly explore layout ideas and interaction patterns. These sketches informed the digital wireframes, which were developed alongside a style guide shaped by the UX research and branding direction established earlier. I then created a comprehensive UI kit to ensure consistency across components and interactions.
With these foundations in place, I translated the wireframes into high‑fidelity mockups that brought the visual system to life through high‑quality stock photography, a soft color palette, and responsive layouts that adapt smoothly across devices. The final design feels welcoming, trustworthy, and easy to navigate for all visitors — from first‑time adopters to long‑time supporters.
Prototype
The prototype translates the redesigned structure and visual direction into a fully responsive, interactive experience. Built from the high‑fidelity mockups and UI kit developed during the design phase, it showcases the core pages defined through research and persona insights: the homepage, the “Meet the Cats” directory with filters, individual cat profiles, adoption guidelines, donation options, and information about the shelter’s mission. High‑quality stock photography, a soft color palette, and clear typography create a warm, trustworthy atmosphere, while responsive layouts ensure smooth navigation across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
To evaluate usability and validate the design, I tested the prototype with real users through Maze, following a structured testing plan I created specifically for this project. The test focused on clarity, intuitiveness, and task completion — particularly around exploring available cats, understanding adoption requirements, and locating donation options. The results were synthesized into an affinity map that revealed behavioral patterns, pain points, and opportunities for refinement. These insights guided targeted adjustments to navigation, content hierarchy, and interaction details, ensuring the final experience felt intuitive, accessible, and supportive for all visitors.
Outcome
Il Paese dei Gatti demonstrates a complete end‑to‑end UX process, from research and persona development to flows, branding, UI design, prototyping, and usability testing. As a capstone project for DesignLab’s UX Academy (2020), it highlights my ability to redesign an existing website with sensitivity to tone, structure, and user needs — especially for small community organizations that rely on clarity, trust, and emotional connection.
The Maze usability test, conducted with real users and guided by a structured testing plan, provided valuable insights into how visitors explored the prototype, interpreted information, and completed key tasks. The affinity map revealed patterns in user behavior and pinpointed areas where navigation, content hierarchy, and interaction details could be refined. These findings directly informed the final adjustments, ensuring the redesigned experience felt intuitive, supportive, and easy to navigate across devices.
The final website concept gives the shelter a coherent, welcoming digital identity that makes it easier for visitors to learn about its mission, explore available cats, and support its work through donations or purchases. The project shows how thoughtful UX design can meaningfully strengthen the online presence of a small non‑profit — helping it communicate more clearly, connect more deeply, and continue its mission with greater visibility.
2026 Redesign
The 2026 redesign of Il Paese dei Gatti reimagines the shelter’s digital presence with a clearer structure, a softer visual identity, and a more welcoming experience for future adopters. Inspired by the shelter’s everyday kindness, the new website focuses on simplicity, warmth, and accessibility — making it easier for visitors to meet the cats, learn their stories, and understand how the shelter works. All mockups and the full interactive prototype were crafted exclusively in Figma, ensuring a cohesive, modern, and flexible design process from start to finish.
This redesign also brings a more intuitive layout that reflects the shelter’s values: transparency, care, and community. With improved navigation, responsive pages, and a gentle visual language, the updated website becomes a calm, trustworthy space where every cat’s journey can be seen, appreciated, and shared.
Selected Works
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Copyright © 2026 Isabel Mercedes Parini.
All rights reserved.
