Animal Farmacy
Homepage
Redesign

Animal Farmacy Homepage Redesign

A real client. A real problem. And users who were being completely let down by the website meant to serve them.

When I started researching Animal Farmacy, I quickly discovered that their average user was a farmer aged 57+. People who genuinely wanted to buy online — but couldn't figure out how to search, couldn't navigate the menu, and were fighting with a site that wasn't built for them. My job was to fix that.

Hidden Search & Navigation

Users couldn't find the search bar. 40% of older users didn't recognise the magnifying glass icon — the only search entry point on the page.

Confusing Information Architecture

Product categories were too broad, mislabelled, and illogically grouped — causing users to rely on scrolling and trial-and-error instead of searching.

Poor Accessibility

Text was too small, buttons too compact, and colour contrast failed WCAG standards — all critical issues for users aged 57+.

Design Process — Double Diamond

Three problems kept showing up everywhere in the research. They weren't separate issues — they were all symptoms of the same root cause: the site wasn't designed with this user in mind.

• Difficulty locating specific products due to unclear navigation
• Ineffective use of search functionality tools, resulting in user frustration
• Poor alignment with accessibility standards, limiting usability for older users

I used the Double Diamond — explore wide first, then narrow down. It suited this project perfectly because the problems were obvious on the surface but complex underneath. The average customer is a farmer in his late 50s, shopping from the field or barn, on a phone, with limited time and limited patience for a confusing website. Every decision I made kept him in mind.

I didn't want to assume anything. So before touching the design, I spent time understanding exactly what was going wrong and why.

Heuristic Evaluation

Identified key usability issues including unclear navigation, mismatched visuals, cluttered layout, and lack of customer support options — pointing to a need for improved organisation, design consistency, and clearer menus.

Competitor Analysis

Analysed best practices from similar e-commerce platforms in Ireland and globally — including Valley Vet, Farmers Market, Next, and Chupi — to identify what good navigation, search tools and product pages look like.

User Interviews

Conducted with farmers and farming-related users aged 25–65+ to understand their online shopping behaviour, mental models around product categories, and attitudes towards digital tools.

Case Studies & Articles

Extracted the most relevant UX guidelines and best practices for e-commerce websites — with a particular focus on accessibility standards and navigation patterns for older users.

Usability Testing

Focused on two key tasks: finding a specific product using the available search tools, and locating shipping information. Sessions revealed consistent patterns of frustration around the search bar and menu labels.

What the Research Revealed

1. Navigation Issues: Hidden menus and unclear category names confused users. Older users struggled to recognise the magnifying glass as a search icon. Breadcrumb navigation was missing entirely.

   "If someone doesn't see the menu, they can always use the search bar."

2. Search Bar Challenges: The search bar was small, lacked contrast, and was not intuitive. The magnifying glass icon was not recognised by 40% of older users. Users relied on scrolling or trial-and-error instead.
3. Information Architecture: Categories like "Farm Equipment" and "Health Products" were too broad. Products were not grouped logically — for example, "Calf Jackets" were filed in unexpected places.

   "I would put calf jacket under the farm equipment."

4. Product Information: Poor product descriptions made it difficult for users to make purchasing decisions with confidence.

5. Accessibility: Users complained about colours, text size (too small), and buttons that were too small to tap comfortably.

6. Competitor Insights: Effective platforms used centralised search bars with instructional text. Logical, user-focused category groupings reduced frustration. High-quality visuals and detailed descriptions supported purchasing decisions.

Empathy Map

Once the research was done, I needed to get under the skin of the user — not just what they did, but how they felt doing it. The empathy map made that clear.

• Think: Users were confused about navigation and felt unsure where to start their search
• Feel: Frustrated, overwhelmed, and disoriented by poorly labelled menus and hidden search functionality
• Say: "Where do I even begin?" "The search bar is too hard to find."
• Do: Relied on trial-and-error — scrolling endlessly or guessing categories

Personas

I built three personas. But one kept coming back to me — Jack. He's the user who stands to gain the most from getting this right.

Why Jack?

• Jack represents older farmers — research showed the average age of farmers in Ireland is 57, meaning this group drives the most business value
• He represents users who want to buy online but lack tech literacy — solving for him means increased engagement and returning customers
• Fixing problems for older users like Jack has a positive knock-on effect for all other users (accessibility improvements benefit everyone)
• Easier, faster search helps farmers shop on the go — from the field, the barn, or anywhere on the farm

How Might We?

Every persona pointed to the same thing. So I had my focus.

Secondary Research

Problem defined. Now I needed to figure out how to actually fix it.

I also ran a second heuristic evaluation on the new homepage. The verdict? Very little had actually improved when it came to search and navigation.

Mood Board, Menu & Paper Prototypes

Mood Board — Search Accessibility

Before sketching anything, I looked at what good actually looked like — search bars that worked for real people, with instructions built in and contrast that passed accessibility standards.

WebAIM Contrast Checker — foreground #0D512C on background #121212 fails all WCAG AA and AAA standards.

Menu Restructure

Although my primary focus was the search tool, usability testing showed that users expected certain categories to be visible directly on the homepage — not hidden behind a hamburger menu. I reorganised the architecture into 4 main visible categories.

Paper Prototypes

Four versions. Each one testing a slightly different approach to search visibility and menu structure. Old school, but it works.

Guerilla Testing

I grabbed my paper prototypes and headed to my workplace. Some of the people I tested with were older — a couple had even worked on farms. I mixed up the order of questions to reduce bias and get cleaner results.

• How would you start your search to find farm supplies on this homepage?
• Where would you expect to find blogs or articles?
• Show me where you would start your search for animal medicine
• Where would you look for company contact details?
• Where would you start if searching for minerals or supplements?
• What part of the home page draws your attention first?

One prototype won — clearly. Users found the search bar faster and with more confidence. That became the direction.

High-Fidelity Prototype

Time to make it real. Everything from the research, the testing, the stakeholder report — it all went into this.

🎨 View Figma Prototype →

Key Features of the Redesign

• Search Bar — Enlarged, centrally placed, with descriptive placeholder text ("Type your text here") and an example query below the input
• Navigation Menu — Replaced hidden hamburger menu with 4 clearly labelled, always-visible main categories
• Accessibility — Typography — Font size increased to 18pt inside the search box, 40pt for the search box heading (Heading 3)
• Accessibility — Colour — High-contrast colour ratios applied throughout — verified against WCAG standards
• Shipping Info — Visible shipping information added to the top of the homepage
• Information Architecture — Product categories reorganised to match how users actually think about and search for farm products

Maze Usability Testing

Six users. All tasks completed. All questions answered. Here's what the data showed.

Q: How would you find a product you want to buy on the homepage?

Task 1 — Finding Sheep Supplements

Where would you click first, on the homepage, to start your search for sheep supplements?

Task 2 — Finding the Search Bar

Can you find and click on the search bar (where you would enter the product you are looking for)?

Q: What is the first thing that catches your eye on the homepage?

Open Question — How would you improve the search bar?

User feedback confirmed the redesigned search bar was significantly easier to find and use — the core objective of the project was met.

Next Steps