Skate Ontario

Web Design
UX

Skate Ontario is the provincial governing body for figure skating in Ontario, Canada—supporting athletes, coaches, and clubs through education, events, and training resources. I was brought on to lead the redesign of their official website, with the goal of modernizing both the look and structure of the platform.

This redesign wasn’t just cosmetic—it involved a complete content restructure, refreshed branding elements, and a new user experience that felt clean, inviting, and aligned with the spirit of the sport.

Summary

The existing Skate Ontario website had become outdated, cluttered, and difficult for users to navigate—especially for athletes, parents, and coaches who needed quick access to time-sensitive information. My task was to transform it into a streamlined, modern, and visually elegant platform, while subtly evoking the feel of the ice rink itself. Working closely with project managers, engineers, and marketing leads, I reimagined the site’s information architecture, visual design, and UI patterns to reflect both the organization’s professionalism and the graceful motion of figure skating.

Challenge

The biggest challenges were: The visual design was dated, with mismatched color palettes, heavy iconography, and inconsistent UI patterns The site structure had grown messy over time, with disorganized content that made it hard for users to find what they needed The brand lacked a clear visual identity online—there was no sense of tone, space, or elegance that aligned with the emotional experience of skating Different stakeholders (marketing, engineering, admin, etc.) had overlapping goals, which needed to be balanced through collaborative decision-making Ultimately, the site had to serve a diverse audience: athletes, parents, coaches, officials, and event organizers—all looking for different types of content.

Solutions

The redesign focused on clarity, structure, and tone. My approach was to strip away visual noise and bring in a sense of calm, spaciousness, and motion—drawing inspiration from the ice itself.

I redesigned the site with:

A minimalist aesthetic, using icy whites, subtle gradients, and smooth motion to evoke the environment of the rink
A refined color palette and updated iconography for a modern, cohesive look
Clean, easy-to-navigate layouts that highlighted priority content and simplified wayfinding
A complete content audit and restructure, based on stakeholder feedback and user behavior patterns

Rather than filling the screen, we focused on breathing room—creating a space that felt light and open, like a skater gliding across the ice.

Process

My work included:

Auditing and mapping the existing site architecture to understand redundancies, dead ends, and content gaps
Collaborating with stakeholders to align on priority pages, core user journeys, and functionality needs
Wireframing new layouts for core pages and navigation, simplifying both the user flow and visual hierarchy
Designing a modern, ice-inspired UI system, including buttons, forms, icon sets, and color treatments
Providing developer-ready assets and collaborating with engineers to ensure pixel-perfect implementation
Offering QA feedback and guidance during handoff to ensure design fidelity across screen sizes and devices

I stayed closely involved across teams to keep design and development aligned throughout the project lifecycle.

Results

A refreshed website that better reflects the elegance and professionalism of Skate Ontario
Improved site structure and navigation, reducing content clutter and confusion
A modern, consistent visual identity grounded in the feeling of movement, clarity, and calm
A more responsive, user-friendly experience across all devices
Positive feedback from stakeholders and users, who found the new site easier to navigate and more enjoyable to engage with