Making Arts Funding Easier to Find
This concept redesign improves how artists discover and apply for funding through the Canada Council for the Arts. Research revealed unclear calls to action, complex navigation, accessibility concerns, and homepage content that did not immediately communicate the organization's purpose.
I redesigned the responsive experience around clearer funding pathways, simplified navigation, accessible visual choices, and more relevant content.
Artists visiting the website needed a clearer way to understand available funding and begin the application process. The existing experience presented dense homepage content, inconsistent interface treatments, unclear calls to action, and a navigation structure that made important resources difficult to locate.
I created a responsive redesign that prioritizes funding discovery, simplifies the site structure, clarifies calls to action, and introduces a more accessible and cohesive visual system. The new experience guides artists from understanding available support to selecting a grant and entering the application portal.
I conducted five one-on-one interviews with artists seeking funding for personal projects and creative communities. Participants completed three tasks: discovering support programs, determining grant eligibility, and beginning an application.
Artists looking for funding for their projects and art communities.
“It's sterile clean. Someone thought about it, but someone needs to think a lot more about it.”
Find support programs, determine grant eligibility, and begin an application.
“It's kind of hard to tell what I am supposed to be doing with this site.”
A heuristic evaluation identified issues with navigation consistency, recognition, error prevention, and visual hierarchy. Competitive analysis showed opportunities to make funding, artist resources, and national reach more visible.
Color testing identified combinations that did not provide sufficient contrast for text and interface elements. I adjusted the palette to improve readability and introduced visual cues inspired by Canada's national identity while maintaining the organization's established character.
“It's hard to find funding opportunities that would help me sustain my artistic practice.”
The primary journey follows an artist from the homepage through funding discovery, grant selection, and application.
I conducted six navigation tests—three desktop and three mobile—to evaluate whether users could understand the site and locate support resources.
Based on the navigation tests, I simplified the primary navigation, consolidated overlapping content, and grouped related pages under clearer categories. This reduced the number of choices presented at once and created a more direct path to funding information.
I translated the revised structure into responsive wireframes focused on content hierarchy, funding discovery, portal access, and consistency between desktop and mobile experiences.
I tested whether participants could identify the website's purpose and navigate to a grant. Early testing showed that “Bringing the Arts to Life” did not clearly communicate whether the site sought donations or provided funding to artists.
Result: Participants could identify the site's purpose and navigate to funding options more successfully.
The final redesign creates a clearer path from funding discovery to grant application across desktop and mobile. Iterative testing improved the homepage message, navigation, calls to action, eligibility information, and visual consistency. This project demonstrates how I translate research findings into concrete interface decisions and refine those decisions through usability testing.
Copyright © 2026 Stephanie Carlson