UX/UI Design
Town of Canmore
An Award Winning Website for Town Residents
Role: Lead UX/UI Designer
Agency: Box Clever (Loop Online)
Client: Town of Canmore
The Town of Canmore is a community in Alberta that relies on its municipal website for access to key information, services, and updates. The goal of this project was to redesign the existing site to better serve residents with a modern, user-friendly, and visually aligned digital experience. The new site needed to feel clean and professional, support flexible content updates, and reflect the unique identity and values of Canmore.
Discovery & Research
Initial stakeholder interviews highlighted several challenges:
Cluttered layout
Inconsistent navigation
Limited visual hierarchy
Lack of flexibility in building content
Despite the determined issues, the site played a vital role in day-to-day resident engagement. Residents and stakeholders expressed a need for clear, simple content paired with strong visuals, including icons and photography that reflect Canmore’s natural setting. The Town also emphasized the importance of accessibility, accuracy in communication, and tools that help address misinformation in the community.
Key goals included:
Simplifying navigation and reducing visual clutter
Creating flexible, modular templates for future content updates
Prioritizing accessibility and searchability
Building a design system that conveys a “sense of place” rooted in Canmore’s identity
Ensuring the site empowers residents to stay informed and engaged
Solution
The redesigned website focused on usability, clarity, and flexibility. The navigation was restructured to highlight key tasks and improve user flow, while a new set of content templates allows staff to easily build pages for ongoing projects, community programs, and resident services.
Key features of the solution include:
A refreshed homepage layout with customizable enticers, featured news, and categorized calendar feeds.
Ensuring important information is easy to access, and easy to absorb.
Improved search functionality with keyword suggestions and an easy to use “I want to…” sticky navigational item.
A design system that incorporates Canmore’s brand colors and natural aesthetic, striking a balance between professionalism and a warm, community-focused tone.
Conclusion
The Town of Canmore’s website redesign delivers an intuitive, flexible, and accessible experience for both residents and staff. With clearer navigation, improved visual design, and modular templates, the site now serves as a more effective digital hub for community information and engagement. The new design not only reflects Canmore’s identity but also provides the tools needed to adapt and evolve alongside the community’s needs.
Confirming the usability and intuitive design of the Canmore site, the website was a proud recipient of a 2023 w3 Silver award.
