Shifting Ground
Presenting research activities & dialogue through web design.
Industry: Environment & Climate Change, Curation, Art & Humanities
(Shifting Ground is an ongoing research project, design and content of the current site may vary from the work seen below.)
A website re-designed to support Shifting Ground's research more clearly
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Role:
I contributed to the design, copywriting and development of the website, working as the project's sole Research Assistant at Emily Carr University, collaborating closely with Principal Investigator, Professor Ruth Beer.
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KPIs:
Accelerated website launch timeline by 30% in preparation for an upcoming exhibition, by simplifying workflows and content migration.
Designed 10+ custom web pages with WCAG 2.1-compliant layouts to improve readability and navigation.
Introduced sidebar navigation to improve clarity of site & make content easier to find and navigate.
Deliverable(s)
Website
Team:
Neharika Sidda (Solo)
Timeline:
November 2023 - September 2024, 11 months
Skills:
User experience & design, Copywriting, Identity, Responsive Design, Design system, CMS Platform
Overview
Shifting Ground: Mapping Energy, Community and Geography in the North is a five-year SSHRC-supported interdisciplinary research project.
Exploring the effects of resource extraction, energy transition, and socio-environmental adaptation in communities of the circumpolar North, Shifting Ground is an intricate research project involving many areas of condensed information.
Problem
Shifting Ground’s breadth made its content extremely text-heavy, and the site's navigation confusing.
These issues made it difficult for non-academic and academic audiences to navigate or engage with the research.
Goal I set for the site's redesign:
Ideation
I began by reviewing the project’s existing assets (content, images, links, etc.) and conducting an informal content audit.
Working closely with the PI, I identified the following pain points and new features that needed to be implemented:
Information Overload especially in text-heavy areas such as the homepage
Inconsistent Navigation throughout the site's pages
Lack of Visual Identity across pages, no cohesive colours and/or imagery
Team Page Hierarchy bias/imbalance for team layouts, highlighting certain people
New: Expand Navigation add more items to navigation
New: Create a 'contact' page
New: Create an 'events' page
Wireframe
I created lo-fi wireframes to visualise layout options and validate them with the PI.
The following sections of the site were wireframed and tested with faculty and students before implementing the best features into the final design.
Homepage
Goal: simplify, less text
Events
Goal: Match event details to layout, create re-usable page layouts
Team
Goal: Fix hierarchy, evenly display all members & bio.
About
Goal: Add more spacing between text, improve legibility through imagery. Format partners.
Identity
Documenting & understanding Shifting Ground's visual identity
While the Shifting Ground logo & certain visual elements were pre-existing, I built a consistent and flexible visual identity system to support future publications, events, and evolving web content
Typography & Colours
Clean and simple typography. Colour usage is meant to be used intentionally throughout the site to highlight important information & for visuals.
Logo & Variations
The main logo of Shifting Ground existed since before I began working on this project. I was instead asked to make different variations of the logo to be used under different applications such as publications, events, and future site pages.
Key Features
Each feature & page designed is meant to reduce cognitive load, & support future content.
To support the evolving needs of a long-term research project, I designed core site components and features that prioritize clarity, usability, and future content.
Homepage
Shifting Ground originally had a homepage, which contained too much text and made it difficult to ascertain the focus of the project and the site.
The new homepage consists of minimal text and imagery, moving all the details into the About page and in turn helping with information overload.
Navigation - Sidebar
As the research project progressed, we had to add more and more links to the navigation, many of which were difficult to abbreviate, therefore, I designed a sidebar as the main navigation.
This helped streamline navigation and reduce distraction as you scrolled through the site.
Team Page
When building the team page, I wireframed and tested multiple directions including; carousels, vertical displays, and using different grid systems.
The final design uses a 3x4 grid with the first block containing text. The 'Team' page only features each member's name and a link to their work/portfolio, their bios can be found clicking into their profile.
As there were 10 members I was asked to come up with a design that displayed everyone’s profiles evenly and in a manner that did not highlight or create a spotlight for any specific team member, as the original design had.
Outcome(s)
Over the course of my Research Assistantship, I improved navigation, content hierarchy, and visual consistency throughout Shifting Ground's site.
Completed pages:
Home
About
Team
Events
+ 10 Bio pages
Contact
(as Shifting Ground is an ongoing research project, design and content of the current site may vary from the work seen below.)
Final Deliverables
✦ Live website showcasing Shifting Ground's research in a clear, accessible way, with improved navigation pathways
✦ Created a design system and CMS workflow for future project updates
Reflections
Working on Shifting Ground's website and identity has helped me gain firsthand experience in navigating institutional goals and usability.
In the process of working with faculty and students, I came to understand the importance of understanding target audiences and how to translate academic research into a comprehensive website.
Designing for ongoing & evolving content required me to think in terms of scalability and empathy, to ensure every visitor, academic or not is able to understand and navigate the project easily.
© 2025 Neharika Sidda
Made with ♡ in Vancouver, BC