Reencuentro Taíno Conference
Designing a virtual space for cultural exploration and learning
Content Design
UX Writing
ABOVE Header of live conference site
Overview
The Reencuentro Taíno conference website was developed as an interactive educational platform for those attending the annual conference on Taíno culture. The project aimed to immerse attendees in Taíno cultural heritage through engaging, interactive digital content while deepening their understanding of Taíno history and traditions. By creating a rich, accessible web experience, the site serves as both a valuable conference resource and an ongoing educational tool. The site successfully launched in July 2025.
As Content Designer, I shaped the site's narrative and ensured cultural authenticity. My key contributions included:
Authored the music experience — researched, wrote, and sourced media to educate attendees on traditional Taíno instruments and musical traditions
Co-developed landing page content that introduced the conference and established the site's tone
Ensured consistency and accessibility — authored style guide sections, wrote alt text, and conducted accessibility audits
Maintained cultural accuracy — collaborated with the client and conducted research to ensure respectful, accurate representation
Content Designer (team of 4)
ROLE
TIMELINE
4 months
The website reached over 1,199 site sessions with 760+ unique visitors post-launch. Key deliverables included:
Content Strategy: Finalized copy for the main landing page and 3 interactive island experiences
Accessibility Improvements: Identified and resolved 16+ accessibility issues to ensure inclusive user access
Long-term Resources: Created a content style guide and licensed asset library for ongoing client use
IMPACT
In response to growing international interest, the Reencuentro Taíno Conference 2025 (RTC 2025) shifted from an in-person to an online event. Casa Areyto (the client) envisioned a virtual platform that would serve as both a conference hub and an educational resource, helping the Taíno community reconnect with their language and culture.
THE CHALLENGE
I joined the project during the final 15-week build phase to finalize content and designs prior to development in Wix. We discovered previous teams had operated independently without aligned goals and insight into each other’s work, leaving a gap between the initial vision and what could be executed.
OUR APPROACH
We partnered closely with design, product, and development from day one to scope, prioritize, and create an interactive learning experience, bridging the gap between ideation and execution. The content design work focused on:
Creating an engaging learning experience – Developing interactive content that brought Taíno spirituality, music, and language to life for virtual attendees within constraints of the Wix platform
Building a clear information architecture – Writing and organizing landing page content to guide visitors intuitively through the experience
Ensuring accessibility and authenticity – Meeting WCAG AA standards while maintaining cultural accuracy
Enabling broader reach – Supporting full Spanish translation to serve the bilingual Taíno community
Background
Designing the Experience
Creating a learning experience for a Taíno conference website required more than organizing information, but helping conference attendees connect emotionally to Taíno culture. Leading with a content-first methodology, I recognized early on that close collaboration with UX designers would be essential to honoring the depth and nuance of Taíno culture while creating an engaging digital experience.
Leading with content-first approach
To tackle the project's scope, we divided into focused sub-teams with content and UX design, each exploring a different aspect of Taíno heritage: spirituality, music, and writing. I led content design for the music experience, translating Taíno musical traditions into an accessible, immersive learning experience.
Our sub-teams employed a content-first approach that proved highly effective. I developed the narrative and educational framework for the music experience before visual design began, allowing the UX team to craft layouts that truly served the content rather than constraining it. Through iterative working sessions and design reviews, we explored multiple layout options and interactivity concepts, ensuring each design decision enhanced the storytelling.
ABOVE Collaborative brainstorm and iteration in Figma for the music experience
Accessibility audit
Midway through the project, we conducted an accessibility audit that was integrated with usability test findings from the research team. Each content designer evaluated a page for readability, contrast, structure, and alt text. By consolidating insights from both the accessibility audit and the UX team's usability evaluation, we developed a comprehensive set of recommendations that informed our design iterations.
ABOVE Screenshot of comprehensive accessibility audit
Researching assets
Our team researched and sourced imagery, audio, and video assets, establishing a centralized resource system to manage media, track licensing, and identify content gaps.
I focused on sourcing authentic Taíno musical content within royalty-free constraints. The scarcity of historically accurate instruments and authentic audio that met licensing requirements presented a significant challenge and required strategic tradeoffs in our content approach.
Exploring interactivity…with constraints
Earlier solutions exceeded Wix's technical capabilities, threatening the production timeline and risking an unusable product. Previous teams had designed interactive experiences without fully accounting for Wix's limitations.
We refined the layout through multiple iterations, exploring interaction patterns that were both technically feasible and engaging while reducing cognitive load for users.
BEFORE Original layout was trying to balance audio, imagery, and content, which felt a little content-heavy.
AFTER New layout took advantage of interactivity patterns to flip images to learn more about each instrument.
Bringing Tanamá to life
The client envisioned a conference mascot named Tanamá to guide visitors through the site, but the concept was open-ended. Working with the design team, we shaped Tanamá's image, personality, and voice to be empowering, lighthearted, and playful, additionally leveraging her to share fun facts about Taíno culture. Tanamá brought emotional resonance to the platform, while adding interactive moments throughout the experience.
ABOVE Examples of Tanamá's voice and usage throughout the site
Key Deliverables
Landing Page
The landing page needed to serve dual purposes of providing conference details while offering an educational experience. Usability testing revealed that users struggled to understand both the page structure and the interactive “three islands” feature. The landing page lacked clear orientation, and the islands were named after historical Taíno locations rather than the themes they represented, creating confusion about navigation and purpose.
To improve clarity and guide users through the experience, I:
Added a welcome message to the landing page to set clear expectations and help users orient themselves upfront
Updated the Three Islands feature to explicitly state each island's theme, making exploration more intuitive and meaningful
BEFORE Header version submitted for first round of usability testing. Feedback revealed that users were struggling with navigation and comprehending the feature.
AFTER A clear welcome message and labeling of each island helps set up users to know what to expect and explore.
Music Experience
For the music experience specifically, I developed a narrative that connected historical Taíno music traditions to contemporary practices, creating interactive touchpoints that helped users understand how these traditions resonate today. With pronunciation guides, images of authentic instruments, and integrated audio and video players, visitors can experience the musical traditions in real-time.
ABOVE Leveraging augmented reality (AR) technology to enhance the experience, users can scan the QR code below to bring the Mayowakán drum to life to get a more detailed look of the traditional Taíno drum.
ABOVE Through the narrative, I wanted to emphasize how Taíno culture is a living thing with many traditions still resonating today
Content Style Guide
In addition to the website deliverables, I expanded upon a comprehensive content style guide to establish consistent standards across the client's websites and communication. The new sections addressed key areas including image usage guidelines, inclusive language, accessibility requirements, and brand voice definition.
Delivered as a Word document, this style guide helped the team stay consistent with copy decisions throughout the project and serves as a living resource that the client can reference and build upon for future projects, ensuring cohesive content creation across their organization.
ABOVE Examples of authored sections of content style guide
Outcomes
From launch to the day of the conference, the platform served 760+ unique visitors and generated 1,199 site sessions. Beyond these numbers, other key impacts include:
Improved user comprehension: Clear presentation of island themes resonated with users in a second round of user testing and drove a 22% click-through rate at launch, which validated our content strategy with measurable engagement.
Scalable content infrastructure: The content style guide established a reusable framework that enables future teams to maintain consistency across the client's communications and digital presence.
Client-ready solution: We delivered a platform the client could confidently manage and grow independently. The client recognized our ability to create thoughtful, creative solutions despite project constraints.
Takeaways
Launching RTC 2025 was a meaningful opportunity to see how products come together through cross-functional collaboration and pushed me to consider how content decisions impact a product. Through this work, I gained a deeper appreciation for how content strategy shapes not just what we say, but how teams collaborate and execute. Some key takeaways are:
Content-First Collaboration - Establishing content and messaging frameworks before design ensured layouts amplified our story rather than constrained it.
Emotional Design - This project challenged me to stay focused on designing a memorable human experience rather than just delivering functional features.
Creative Problem-Solving Within Parameters - Balancing brand requirements, accessibility standards, and client resources sharpened my ability to find solutions that honor creative vision while remaining implementable.
Looking ahead: With more time, I'd establish a clear definition of done for content deliverables to avoid rework and ensure consistency across the team. I'd also advocate for regular content review sessions (similar to design critiques) to surface issues earlier and naturally explore more alternative options. Finally, while we weren’t able to do this within the scope of the project, conducting post-launch research would help validate which guidelines proved most sustainable for the client and inform future content system work.