My dad grew up in the Bronx and New Jersey. When I told him we were going to work with Bideawee, he mentioned remembering the organization from his childhood. This fully made my day. Bideawee is a remarkable organization, matching rescued dogs and cats with loving human beings since 1903. It is the second largest animal rescue shelter in Greater New York and is the first no kill shelter in the city.
When I met with the Bideawee team in February 2020 — only a few weeks before the pandemic began — I explained that our goal was to design and build the most compelling animal rescue website in North America. I’m not one who is prone to hyperbole and when I came back to the studio, we decided to truly reach for the stars. (Note: Bideawee received a highly coveted Honorable Mention from Awwwards today and goes on to potentially win additional awards.)
The new site takes a cheerful visual approach throughout. It is bolstered by beautiful photos of every animal by Bideawee’s in-house photographer.
The organization also recently “adopted” a new animal intake platform. We used that platform’s excellent API to create a custom presentation of available pets on the website. The new site also features a customized donation tool that allows visitors to donate regularly, automatically each month. And there are a host of other features that make this site a delight to navigate and experience.
The site features stories about happy and successful adoptions throughout New York (above). And there is a lovely visual history of the organization (below).
While I’m always proud of our output and our contributions, this website in particular also humbles me. It is already hard at work, matching people with pets by the hundreds, reducing loneliness and sadness, and bringing joy to households.
I really like Little Cow, pictured below. As you can see, there are many more pets for adoption.
Whether you live in New York, New England, or New Zealand, I hope you may someday consider adopting a pet, if you haven’t already. I can tell you that the three rescued cats in our household are some of my closest friends during these pandemic days.