CASE STUDY: Website Redesign — Building a Human-Centered Destination Experience Over Time

As digital behavior continued to evolve, it became increasingly clear that people were growing weary of impersonal, automated online experiences. Across industries—and especially in travel planning—audiences were gravitating toward human voices, real recommendations, and authentic interaction rather than static content and search-driven interfaces.

After closely analyzing Visit Winona’s website performance, audience behavior, and broader destination marketing trends, I identified a fundamental opportunity: the website wasn’t failing technically—it was missing the chance to connect. While the platform delivered information, it didn’t yet reflect how people actually plan trips: by asking questions, seeking reassurance, and trusting the lived experiences of others.

Rather than approaching the website as a simple redesign, I envisioned a more ambitious shift—one that would translate this cultural movement toward human connection into a digital environment. The goal was to build a platform that felt less like a directory and more like a conversation: interactive, welcoming, and grounded in real people who know and love the destination.

This insight became the foundation for a multi-year evolution of the Visit Winona website, spanning two major rebuilds and redefining the site as an experience in its own right.

Representing Visit Winona as the client-side creative and UX lead, I guided the vision, content strategy, and user experience across both rebuilds, working closely with agency partners responsible for development and technical execution.

The guiding philosophy remained consistent throughout:

People would rather interact with a human than a search bar.

The first rebuild introduced foundational human-centered concepts and a more conversational tone. Several years later, a second rebuild improved performance, refined the visual system, strengthened SEO, and expanded interactive features—while preserving and building upon the original experience-driven strategy.

Across both rebuilds, the website evolved into an experience designed around interaction and trust:

• Ask a Local: A human-powered Q&A feature allowing visitors to submit questions to staff and trusted local experts. Answers were written conversationally, archived, categorized, and searchable—becoming one of the site’s most visited sections.

• Celebrity & Insider Itineraries: Public figures with authentic ties to Winona shared personal recommendations, adding warmth and credibility.

• Humanized Planning Tools: Dining and planning content redesigned with intuitive selection tools and welcoming language.

• Homepage Testimonials: Real visitor feedback from Google and Facebook was featured prominently with permission.

• Insider Tips: Introduced during the second rebuild, blending listicles with first-person editorial content.

• Winona in the News: A scrollable editorial-style section showcasing press and stories.

I authored the majority of the website’s content, with additional copy contributed by agency partners.

The Visit Winona website evolved through multiple rebuilds over several years, with agency partners engaged at different stages and working under Visit Winona’s direction.

An early rebuild, completed in collaboration with Vendi Advertising, moved the site beyond legacy, frame-based layouts and into a more visually modern design. This phase introduced early human-facing elements, including the initial implementation of Ask a Local and the creation of the Winona in the News section.

A subsequent rebuild was completed with 5874 Commerce, where foundational human-forward concepts and content structures were further developed and expanded.

The most recent rebuild was executed with Evolve Creative, focusing on improved site performance, refined visual design, enhanced SEO structure, and the introduction of new features—while preserving and building upon the established experience-driven strategy.

Across all phases, agencies led technical development and implementation, while on behalf of Visit Winona, I provided creative vision, UX direction, content leadership, and project stewardship to ensure continuity, clarity, and long-term impact.

• 67% increase in new users compared to the previous month
• 45% increase in appearances in organic search results
• 276% increase in referral traffic
• 548% increase in organic social traffic

These results signaled more than short-term traffic growth. Increased organic search visibility reflected stronger content relevance and structure, while growth in referral traffic indicated the site had become more link-worthy across partner sites, media coverage, and external platforms. The dramatic rise in organic social traffic demonstrated that visitors and followers were actively sharing pages because they found them helpful, personal, and worth recommending—an essential indicator of trust and resonance in destination marketing.

By centering people, voice, and interaction—and sustaining that philosophy across multiple rebuilds and agency partnerships—the Visit Winona website became an experience rather than a brochure.

In an industry crowded with sameness, that human shift made all the difference.