Bringing the arid zone to life online
WEB DEVELOPMENT, WORDPRESS, NATURE | AUGUST, 2024
The arid zone of South Africa may sound devoid of life – but in fact quite the opposite is true.
The arid and semi-arid regions are home to incredible biodiversity. And that’s one of the reasons why the Arid Zone Ecology Forum works – as a partnership – to protect this region.
The arid zone refers specifically to the Succulent Karoo and Nama-Karoo biomes, as well as areas of the Savanna and Grassland biomes. It usually refers to areas where the mean annual rainfall is less than 500mm.
The Arid Zone Ecology Forum, or AZEF, brings partners who are working in these areas together through research, to together find solutions to the many challenges to fauna and flora here.
So LoveGreen Communications was honoured to be approached by the AZEF team to redesign their website, to showcase the partnership.
The brief
To create a modern, visually appealing site to capture the character of the arid zone, and the work of the partners. The website had to be centred around the annual AZEF conference – where partners meet to share information for nature and people, and connect regarding research. It was also to be created as the go-to-hub for information regarding the arid zone, from job opportunities, to resources to support people hoping to find out more.
The result
The LoveGreen team got to play with some of the most wonderful colours and textures found in nature. The arid zone might sound dry and lifeless, but the colours are quite spectacular – from the hundreds of shades of brown and gold, to gorgeous blues of the clear skies, and shouts of green from the variety of plants.
These colours served as the foundation of the site – bringing in some of the fun elements captured in the AZEF logo.
Wonderful pictures were provided by the AZEF committee, led by well-known botanist Ismail Ebrahim.
The logo also provided excellent guidance to the LoveGreen team regarding fonts – which were clean and simple, adding to the clean and calm feeling captured in the design of the website.
The message
The arid zone faces many threats – from succulent plant poaching to biodiversity loss as a result of a changing climate and poor farming practices. But despite these many challenges, there is a powerful collective working to address these threats.
The website therefore had to showcase the solutions offered by the collective, and the opportunity for more partners to join this group. As a forum that takes place every year, the event was to take centre stage on the website – with a countdown clock included on the site.
Interactive sections were also included for visitors to the site to find out how to deal with specific challenges (through a resources section) and for partners to find out more on work and research opportunities within the arid zone community (in the opportunities section). This could then be updated regularly by the AZEF team going forward, to showcase the partnership, and keep the website fresh.
The LoveGreen team is thrilled to have been part of this process – reinventing the AZEF partnership’s online presence, for a protected arid zone.
“This was a special project for us, and we loved the contrast of the blue air and the striking
landscapes and plants.”
– TINA VLOK
Heather is our content writer. She enjoys helping our clients formulate their message and loves to run her way across beautiful mountains, to explore new places and is always ready for an adventure.
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