Voices of Just Climate Action Website Design
Client: South South North
Project lead & client management: Matogen Digital
Design: Unfold
Website development: Matogen Digital
Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) is a global programme amplifying climate activists’ stories across multiple countries and languages. Initially launched as a simple landing page, the platform evolved strategically to meet growing content needs and now serves as a legacy site that will preserve the programme’s impact beyond its 2026 conclusion.
Phase 1: The initial platform design (2021)
When VCA needed to expand beyond a static landing page into a dynamic storytelling platform, we designed a prototype that allowed activists worldwide to share their impact stories. Key considerations included multi-language support, filterable content that helps users discover stories by theme, location or impact area, optimisation for low-bandwidth areas, and a modular template system that enables SSN staff to publish content efficiently.
Phase 2: Legacy Site Redesign (2025)
As the programme approached its conclusion, South South North needed to transform the VCA platform into a lasting digital archive. The goals were to showcase overall programme impact, reach broader audiences beyond the climate activist community, significantly enhance user experience, and highlight partner relationships across multiple countries.
Information Architecture
We began the redesign by mapping out a new sitemap in Miro and inviting the client into the process. This collaborative approach was key to resolving information hierarchy and flow before moving into wireframes. It helped the client visualise the layout of each page and allowed us to refine structure and content effortlessly before prototyping began.
Mobile-First Prototype Design
Recognising that many climate activists and global users access content primarily via mobile, we adopted a mobile-first design approach. The website is intentionally lightweight and optimised for fast loading, with a clean, intuitive interface. We created a simple infographic to showcase VCA’s global reach and impact metrics at a glance, alongside an interactive map that allows users to explore country-specific initiatives directly from the homepage. Both mobile and desktop prototypes were developed to offer a realistic preview of the final user experience.
Design details making a difference
Each country page is built with readability and accessibility in mind. We used mock-up imagery to visually represent downloadable PDF booklets, creating both visual interest and a clear signal that resources are available—making research documentation feel more approachable and inviting.
In the About Us section, we introduced a dedicated submenu specifically optimised for mobile use. This eliminated the need for dropdown menus, which can be difficult to navigate on touch devices.
To support easy content updates by the South South North team, we created icon sets in multiple colour variations, all formatted for upload without requiring design software. The page layouts use modular templates, allowing the client to add new content using a variety of information boxes. This approach ensures visual consistency while keeping the site dynamic and up to date.
Developer Collaboration
All visual assets, including country partner profile mockups, linked PDFs, icons, logos, map graphics and images, were carefully prepared, formatted and organised to ensure smooth developer integration and easy future content updates.
We worked closely with Matogen Digital throughout, making sure they had everything needed for implementation. This hands-on approach made the handover seamless and saved valuable time during development.