Revamping a cat lounge website for a smoother experience

El Jefe UX Redesign

A beloved Tucson cat lounge was losing visitors before they walked through the door.

THE PROBLEM

The in-person experience is warm, welcoming, and full of personality — 25+ rescue cats, community events, a space that genuinely changes lives. The website was none of those things.

Bookings were missed. Events went unattended. People who wanted to adopt gave up before they'd even started. The goal of this redesign wasn't to make it look better - it was to make it work.

A main section on the homepage. Note its hostile language & lack of a CTA

Before wireframes, I needed to understand who was struggling and why.

RESEARCH

I structured my research around three questions:

  • What brings people to the site?

  • Where does it break down?

  • What do people need to feel confident enough to book, attend, or adopt?

USER INTERVIEWS

6 interviews. 3 themes that wouldn't stop showing up.

"I just wanted to know how it works."

Booking & Pricing

"I didn't know where the adoption process started."

Adoption Flow

"I almost missed the event I wanted to go to."

Event Discovery

Almost every participant's first instinct was to look for pricing and booking info. When they couldn't find it quickly, doubt crept in: Is this site current? Is this place still open? Several gave up before completing a booking, not from lack of interest but from loss of confidence.

DESIGN DECISIONS

Three questions that shaped every decision.

How might we make booking so obvious that the user completes it on their very first visit?

How might we make adoption feel like a journey — so he actually starts the process?

How might we surface events in a way that feels current and urgent, so people stop missing things they wanted to attend?

3 violations were quietly costing the business every day.

HEURISTIC EVALUATION

I wanted to dig deeper into how the website’s design was impacting users, so I took a closer look through a heuristic evaluation using Nielsen’s 10 usability principles. This helped me uncover some areas where the site could do a better job of guiding users and making their experience smoother.

Poor Visibility of System Status

Breadcrumbs appear only in the ‘Merchandise’ section, and navigation buttons don’t highlight the active page, making it harder for users to track their location. While these issues don’t block tasks, they add unnecessary friction to navigation.

Inefficient Use Flow

The event registration process is inefficient, requiring extra steps to manually select events after being redirected from the main page. Additionally, the site lacks a “Favorite” feature for adoption cats, requiring users to scroll through the page repeatedly.

Required fields do not trigger real-time validation.This delayed feedback can lead to user frustration since they must wait until after submission to identify & correct errors.

Ineffective Error Prevention

ACCESSIBILITY AUDIT | WCAG

It wasn't just a compliance issue. It was a usability issue for everyone.

Buttons with no labels

Buttons lacked descriptive labels, complicating navigation for screen reader users.

Missing H1 on homepage

The homepage lacked clear headings, hindering navigation for screen reader users.

Poor contrast

Elements failed minimum contrast ratios - affecting low-vision users & those in bright light.

Unlabeled form fields

Forms on the subscription page had unclear labels, affecting user understanding.

40% of people couldn't complete a booking. Not because they didn't want to.

USABILITY TESTING

5 participants. Three tasks: navigate freely, make a reservation, find and register for an event. Watching the sessions made the problems impossible to ignore.

  1. Booking friction: Some users struggled to find or use the booking button, with a few missing it altogether and giving up before completing a reservation.

  2. Event info confusion: Finding details about upcoming events was harder than expected, and users often needed to click through several pages to get answers.

  3. Adoption process uncertainty: Testers were unsure where to start if they wanted to learn about adopting a cat, with several commenting that the steps felt hidden or unclear.

DESIGN DECISIONS

Five changes. All traceable to real user pain.

  • 10 items became 6, grouped by what users were actually trying to do. Finding your way around went from frustrating to obvious.

  • A dedicated flow guides users through Date & Time → Your Details → Payment. The time-slot grid adapts depending on what you're booking.

  • Events were reorganized into three tiers based on type: Lounge Visits, Recurring Events, and Special Events. Each tier has its own layout and its own button label so users always know exactly what they're signing up for.

  • The scattered adoption pages were replaced with a clear sequential flow. Users can browse a full cat gallery, view each cat's name, breed, personality, and availability, and save favorites to revisit later.

  • Every button got a unique descriptive label. Contrast ratios were corrected across the board. Forms were properly labeled. The heading structure was rebuilt so screen readers could navigate the page logically. Errors now appear inline as users type rather than after they submit.

What it became.

PROTOTYPING

Every participant completed a booking. On the original site, 4 in 10 gave up.

RESULTS | POST-REDESIGN VALIDATION

100% of participants completed a booking. Down from 60% on the original site, and all within 3 clicks.

People found events 3x faster. A restructured nav and a prominent Events CTA meant no more hunting.

50% less repetitive scrolling for adopters. The Favorite feature meant people could shortlist cats and come back without starting over.

25% fewer form errors — before anyone even hits submit. Real-time validation catches mistakes in the moment, not after the damage is done.