Ventura Land Trust (VLT) is committed to permanently protecting the land, water, wildlife, and scenic beauty of the Ventura region for future generations, managing more than 3,800 acres across local hillsides, river corridors, and coastal estuaries. The organization also leads outdoor education programs and acknowledges that the lands in its care are the ancestral and unceded territory of the Chumash people. VLT came to us to modernize its website, consolidate the Ventura Wild platform into one cohesive experience, and create a visually compelling, accessible Squarespace site with Salesforce, Elevate, Eventbrite, and e-commerce integration. As frequent users of these preserved open spaces, this was truly a dream client, one that reflects our shared pride in and commitment to land conservation within our community.

We began with a collaborative discovery and audit process to clarify VLT’s vision, voice, and functional requirements, ensuring the redesign aligned with both organizational goals and community needs. Leveraging more than eight years of web design and development experience, we developed a strategic sitemap and brand-forward design direction that balanced storytelling with seamless usability. Building the site on Squarespace, we implemented Salesforce and Elevate integrations for streamlined donations and memberships, connected Eventbrite for event management, and established a fully integrated e-commerce system. We ensured accessibility compliance under WCAG3 guidelines, incorporated multilingual capabilities, and optimized the site for performance across all devices. Drawing from the established illustrative direction of the Harmon Canyon kiosk panels we created, as well as their logo, we created a cohesive visual language that carries across digital and physical touchpoints. The result is a modern, intuitive platform that strengthens engagement, supports fundraising, and positions VLT for long-term growth—with ongoing support to empower their team in managing and evolving the site.