Mandai Wildlife Reserve (MWR) seeks to evolve from a park-centric identity into a full-fledged destination.
MWR has long been recognized through its iconic parks, such as the Singapore Zoo and Night Safari. The challenge was shifting this perception—reframing the parks as just one part of the broader experiences that the MWR destination offers.
Client
Mandai Group
Year
2024 - 2025
Role
Design Director
UX Lead
Team
UX Lead
2 UX Designers
UX Writer
Focus
Strategy
UX Reviews & Guidance
Research
UI/UX Design
Information Hierarchy
Ensuring alignment between the website, MFA, and the overall brand vision, I focused on the bigger picture while steering the team in the right direction.
This involved close collaboration with the brand team to accurately reflect the brand direction and new offerings across both the Website and App.
In this project, we conducted in-depth user and competitive research to redefine the website’s information architecture, content strategy, and hierarchy, creating a more seamless and engaging digital experience.
I led biweekly presentations and pitches to the client, ensuring clear communication and alignment throughout the project while remaining deeply hands-on as a lead designer every step of the way.
Vision & Strategy
After conducting user research and auditing the website’s navigation and content, it became clear that the most critical change was restructuring its navigation and information hierarchy.
With alignment between the Brand Strategy team and MFA, I developed a clear strategy that supported Mandai’s evolution from a wildlife reserve park to a full-fledged destination. This led to transforming the navigation to emphasize the overall experience rather than just individual offerings.
The new MWR website direction prioritizes a holistic journey, shifting focus from isolated attractions to a seamless, experience-driven approach. This was achieved by refining its content strategy and information hierarchy, ensuring a more intuitive and engaging user experience.
Following the change, Rainforest Wild Asia was also officially launched in March 2025, where the web page has also been designed specifically for the new launch and subsequent park pages.
We have successfully launched the first 2 phases of the website revamp in February 2025, which includes RFW Asia's page, the new navigation, mega menu, and footer.
Previously, the MWR website featured a dedicated menu for each park, with navigation focused on in-park experiences rather than Mandai as a whole. The new global navigation now positions Mandai as a complete destination, highlighting various experiences visitors can enjoy.
Categories such as "Discover," "See & Do," "Dine & Shop" and "Stay" describe the broad range of activities available across the entire destination. Using action verbs in the labels transforms them from mere categories into dynamic actions, encouraging engagement rather than passive viewing.
The global navigation menu has undergone a significant transformation for the better. It now features a unified structure that encompasses Mandai Wildlife Reserve’s extensive offerings, with the primary focus on visitors, and secondary emphasis on schools and corporates (via the secondary menu and footer).
The Level 1 categories are strategically organized by the types of experiences visitors would most likely engage in, prioritizing their needs and discoverability.
Additionally, We also introduced a “Latest Highlights” section to guide repeat visitors (with the new change) and draw attention to new and upcoming attractions and experiences.
The process included a comprehensive Heuristic Audit, Competitor Analysis, and extensive User Research, which encompassed face-to-face interviews, user testing, surveys, and the System Usability Scale (SUS), among other methods.
These critical steps formed the foundation for shaping the final navigation and overall direction, culminating in an intensive two-month period of research and several key presentations.
The above are some of the key outputs and findings drawn from over 180 pages of invaluable documentation.
Accompanying the change in the information architecture, Rainforest Wild Asia's park page was also put up and announced for it's park's launch in March 2025.
The RFW Asia's page has been designed with a fresh, user-centric approach, aligning with the new structure we’ve established for all park pages.
This page marks the beginning of a broader redesign initiative, where all park pages will be refreshed to align with the updated structure, providing a more cohesive and consistent experience across the website.
