Ecological Media

WEBSITE REDESIGN + WEEBLY TO SQUARESPACE MIGRATION

Ecological Media is a Wellington-based environmental filmmaking company founded by Tom Tyczenko, combining a background in marine biology with specialist experience in wildlife and environmental filmmaking.

Tom had built his original website himself in Weebly, but it had reached the point where it was no longer doing the business or the quality of his work justice. The homepage wasn’t working properly, the portfolio was essentially a collection of videos sitting on a page, and there was very little supporting content to explain who Tom was, how he worked or what made Ecological Media different.

So this became much more than simply moving a website from Weebly to Squarespace. I completely rethought the structure, content and design, working out what the website actually needed before rebuilding it from the ground up.

A big part of the project was developing the messaging and writing the content. Ecological Media sits in a really interesting space between science and storytelling, and Tom’s background in marine biology is an important part of what sets the business apart. We developed the positioning around environmental filmmaking grounded in science, then built out the content to properly explain his experience, approach and capabilities.

The new website introduced dedicated About and How We Work pages, neither of which existed on the old site, and completely reworked the way Tom’s portfolio was presented. Instead of simply placing videos together on one page, the new portfolio gives individual projects their own space and context, making it much easier for potential clients to understand the breadth of the work and the story behind it.

The design was completely refreshed too. I kept it clean, contemporary and intentionally understated, allowing Tom’s incredible photography and filmmaking to take centre stage. Large imagery and video, strong typography and plenty of space give the work room to breathe while creating a much more polished and cohesive website overall.

Behind the scenes, I handled the full migration from Weebly to Squarespace, rebuilt the site architecture, developed and refined the content, set up the SEO foundations and prepared the new website for Google before launch.

The result is a complete transformation from a fairly simple self-built portfolio into a professional website that properly represents Ecological Media as a business. Tom now has a site that not only showcases his work, but explains the expertise, scientific understanding and thoughtful approach behind it.