CONTEXT

Mark T. Green is the founder and editor of the Festival Travelers’s website. The website provides updates on specialized festival, musical events, whether national or international for audiences who are interested in musical performances and festival culture.

PROBLEM

Although Festival Travelers offers information about upcoming events for users, the website suffers from poor and repetitive navigational structure. Some of the options on the navigation bar and layout were not aligned and unclear, making it hard for visitors to find what they were looking for. Also, the simplistic design of the website didn’t match the lively, fun vibe of the events it was promoting. Because of this, fewer people were interested in what the site had to offer.

MY ROLE

As a Website Designer, I was hired by Mark T. Green to reconstruct, organize, and enhance the visual appeal of his Festival Travelers website. The goal was to find ways to attract the user interest, increase user engagement, and interactive behaviors.

How might we effectively increase and maintain the target audience interest to encourage the participation of surfing and being interactive on the platform?

SOLUTION

The solution is to create a strong presentation to maintain user interest, increase visibility appeal, efficient navigational structure, and stimulate customer engagement and interactions on the Festival Travelers website.

Interview Questionaries
Empathy map
Word cloud
Customer analysis software

To get data for the best results to solve this problem I used:

Emphasize → Analyze/Research → Ideate/Design → Prototype → Test → Reflect/Growth

Breakdown of the process:

EMPATHIZE

Festival Travelers must adopt a strategic and targeted approach to effectively engage their intended audience without causing information overload. When users go on the navigation bar for a specific topic, they were directed to a page that wasn’t aligned. This caused confusion and a lack in confidence when browsing and finding options they were interested in. Festival Travelers website lacked visual appeal and the disconnect with the information provided to retain the user’s attention.

ANALYZE/RESEARCH

During my research, I interviewed 15 people ages 18-50 who are into music, festivals, and traveling to gain insights on their overall experiences as users on Festival Travelers website.

Questions directed to users who regularly access the Festival Travelers’s website for event updates:

Do you think Festival Travelers can give a better experience for customers?
Do you prefer going into a blog that deals with concerts and festivals in your state, your country, or internationally?
On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied is your experience surfing Festival Traveler’s website?
How do you want to feel or look when you are on a blog website that showcases concerts, festivals, and traveling?

1. Every person that was interviewed stated that the website could have been better organized and aligned with the article’s topic. They also felt that the website could have had more visual appeal when maneuvering through the website.

Insights: Users wanted a better experience when using the Festival Travelers’s website

2. The majority agreed that they wouldn’t mind going to a website that showcased concerts and festivals in either their state, country, or internationally.

3. Five people preferred seeing concerts and festivals that’s scheduled to arrive in their state or country. Six people felt indifference knowing about events in the same state, country, or internationally. The last four said that they would prefer seeing events within their state.

4. Some said that they want to have the excitement to see the events that will be coming soon. Others said they want to feel like they are there at a festival or concert, especially if they do not have the money.

I chose Brady, a college graduate, who was one of the participants from the interviews to give me feedback about his experience while on the Festival Travelers website. The goal was to pinpoint factors which influenced decision-making in the redesign of the Festival Travelers platform. Therefore, an empathy method was used to gain understanding and identify the possible needs for users.

Festival Travelers’s Empathy Map

Why is there two home pages? When I hit the logo on the navigation bar, a home page appears. But when I hit the “Start Here,” tab it looks like a second home page.
Looks like something happen to the pictures on the page that talks about earphones. It isn’t showing up on the screen even when I hit the refresh button, nothing seems to work.
Is there a way to contact the founder or anyone that could be working for this blog? I do not see a way to contact them.

SAYS

The website looks unfinished and it should be more appealing since this is all about festivals and events.
I think that this website is dull and unappealing.
I believe that I can find better websites to go to pertaining to festivals, events and even concerts.

THINKS

Brady clicked on one of the upcoming cities where events would be held but he became confused because it didn’t direct him to the corresponding page. He realized it was just a list of cities displayed.
Brady would click on an article but quickly seem disinterested in reading the entire page.
He clicked on the link to read more information about an earphone that goes to Amazon.
He clicked on the “Brand Partnership,” tab but it seems to be a broken link, or a page was never created.

DOES

Brady seems to get bored, uninterested and disengaged while surfing through the website.
He looked confused with the website layout and navigating to certain pages of interest.

FEELS

In the Festival Traveler’s original website, the navigation bar consisted of: Start Here tab, Festivals tab, Travel tab, and the About tab. But there was instant confusion since the Start Here tab seem like the (second) homepage. The About tab had sub-tabs of Blog and Brand Partnership which had no correlation about the Festival Travelers website and the Founder of the website. It was concluded, make quick adjustments to the navigation bar’s by renaming the Start Here tab to Home tab, and include the About tab, Blogs tab, and the Contact tab.

Original Website Overview: Website Remodel and Reconstruction

Since the website was simplistic in its layout design, I wanted to incorporate unique layers in each section for the Home page to grab the attention of the audience. For the new design, I proposed overlapping two distinct pictures of The Historic Old Town of Dubrovnik in Croatia with a brief summary to engage the users to read more about the topic by hitting the “Read More” button.

I developed a sitemap diagram illustrating the architecture that would structure the website for better organization and integrating elements from the original website design while maintaining a seamless experience for the users to navigate as a way to prevent being overwhelmed with content.

Festival Travelers’s Word Cloud

The original website was unorganized and appeared to be repetitive. Wireframes were developed to reconstruct the website for better organization, navigational flow, more visual appeal, and content categorization from the initial design to an upgraded design layout.

Wireframe

Navigation bar (Hamburger menu)

The original website navigation bar consisted of: Start Here tab, Festivals tab, Travel tab, and the About tab. But there was instant confusion since the Start Here tab navigated to a page that appeared to be a (second) homepage. The About tab had subtabs of Blog and Brand Partnership links, which had no correlation with Festival traveler’s overall theme. It was concluded to make adjustments to the navigation bar tabs to Home tab, About tab, Blogs tab, and the Contact tab.

Home page

The original website seemed to have two home pages. This could cause confusion for users all around. It was apparent to combine both homepages into one and summarize portions of both pages so that it wouldn’t be overwhelming for users to read and understand each topic.

The overall design of the homepage was influence by two popular web service providers: Yahoo.com and AOL.com since Festival Travelers had similar ways of advertising users’ passions in regard to events, news, and information that is informative. This is why a gallery was suggested to include for the home page.

Since the website was simplistic in its layout design, incorporating unique layers in each section for the homepage gave a sense of variety of displays to grab the attention of the audience. One example is overlapping two pictures of two distinct views of The Historic Old Town of Dubrovnik in Croatia with a brief summary that may want a user to hit the “Read More” button, to read more.

Category pages

The original website had two category pages: the Blog page and Festival page. The Blog page was the only category page kept with minor changes. The Festival category page was deleted and integrated into the redesign of the Home page.

Eleven article pages

The original website had eleven article pages which they had their alignments to the left of the page causing excessive white space on the right side of the page. I centered all the content which created a more balanced and visually pleasing look.

Blog page (The Best Earplugs for Festivals and Concerts)

The "Best Earplugs for Festivals and Concerts" webpage contained missing images, resulting in broken hyperlinks. Without the visibility of each product, a misalignment with their descriptions causing major white spaces. It was necessary to redesign the layout to ensure that each pair of earplugs was displayed aligned with its associated information.

Cart page

The original website lacked a contact page which was implemented in the new design layout for users to have direct communication to the Founder and Editor regarding inquiries, feedback, or concerns.

Mockup

IDEATE/DESIGNS

The direction I wanted was something that instantly grab the target audience’s attention with bright, fun, and bubbly design, layouts and colors. It was important to create visuals to align with the overall message of the company to develop a guaranteed and effective archetype of what the client, wanted to present to his target audience.

Visual system

1. Color theme - The original color scheme was kept, using three neutral tones: tan, dark navy blue, and black, complemented by the color gold. This palette provided a balanced and cohesive layout, with the gold serving as festive ambiance through strategic use of harmonious colors.

2. Shape - None

3. Font theme - Sans-serifs are used for an approachable, clean, modern vibe

4. Pictures/illustrations - Tourist attractions, concerts, festivals, earplugs

5. Easy user-interaction effects - Drop down menu, hover effects, and filters

PROTOTYPE

Home page

Upon entering the website, a visual background of a festival-themed image overlayed with a semi-transparent black layer is displayed along with a title, subtitle, and the “Start Here” button, which allows anyone to create an account for a more personal experience, specifically when commenting under posts or other user’s comments.

When users scroll to the "Recent Festival Events" section, a gallery of events where users can transition to different topics by hitting the pagination dots. Also, users can select any festival topic by clicking on its associated title, image, or the “Read More” hyperlink, which navigates to a dedicated page with detailed information about that particular selected festival. Users can now submit comments beneath posts and engage with other users after establishing an account with Festival Travelers.

The next section is called, “Historical Attraction,” which shows two pictures of the attraction and gives a brief overview about a historic town called Dubrovnik in Croatia. Users have the option to read more about the city once they click on the “Learn More” button, which will navigate them to a new page that has more information about the Dubrovnik.

The Latest Article pages

Users have the option to access various festival stories by selecting the "Other Articles" section located beneath one of the articles they initially choose to read within the "Latest Articles" section on the homepage. When the cursor hovers over a specific festival article, the shading darkens, indicating selection; clicking on this option will direct the user to the corresponding detailed page of that festival.

Blog pages

he Blogs page is organized into four distinct topics. Once the user hovers the cursor over a topic's title, an underline is rendered beneath the text, and the background color transitions from light gray to a darker shade. Clicking on the associated image, title, or "Read More" link directs the user to the respective detailed content page.

TESTING

Final Step: Personal website did make a positive impact with users

The final assessment involved a customer analysis software to monitor customer traffic for the next three months. This analysis would serve as an indicator of the users' satisfaction with the company’s personal website and overall experience.

Videos of festivals presented on the website could have been incorporated for those who wanted a better visual representation of each festival they were reading. This would have allowed them to truly be digitally immersed in the culture with the types of songs, dances, and performances that are played in each country.
I could have created a survey to give to the users asr my final research to get their final thoughts and opinions on the new design website. This could have given me more of a transparent overview of their experience and a possible influence on my design decision making if possibly having to change minor things on the website.

What could I have done differently?

REFLECT & GROWTH

Through this process, I learned how important it is to have a clear identity and full control over your brand. A strong brand shows that a company has a sense of direction as to what goals they want to achieve. It also demonstrates that a company value building relationships with their customers. When a company has a brand that is unique and distinctive, it stands out and becomes recognizable, especially by the people who share similar values and qualities of that brand. During this process, a heat mapping method could have been used to capture the behaviors of participant’s behaviors when first surfing through the Glamour & Gurlie’s website. Also, I could have conducted a survey to collect data of participants opinions for my final research to collect the participant’s perspectives, opinions, and insights to make corrections on possible errors on the website and could also serve as a useful resource for future projects.

What I have learned through this process was presentation is crucial, especially when it comes to an establishment. By having good presentation, it can help attract connections and foster relationships with professional networks. Also, it can enhance credibility and gain trust with a target audience. It is about how your target audience may perceive the company and how are their potential products could be more beneficial from other competitors. Beauti & Bold is the perfect example, even though Michelle Scott Ling had a strong concept of having high quality products for an affordable price, her website's visual presentation was underwhelming, coupled with a lack of credible customer reviews and low-quality images contributed to a stagnation in customer population. It possibly caused hesitation with new potential customers to make a purchase, as evidenced shown by the feedback from the 12 participants surveyed during the website evaluation interview.

The concept of this project was to address challenges related to low customer purchases for Beauti & Bold's online cosmetics. I conducted a various research method to gain insights using an interview questionnaire and a journey mapping method to document their overall experience of navigating the Beauti & Bold website. Additionally, competitor analysis was used to compare two other competitors; and A UX SWOT analysis was conducted to identify the strengths and weaknesses of Michelle’s original platform. This provided my final design decisions on an upgraded website design for improvements to better compete with competitors. In one early usability testing revealed that the initial website design concept confused users. Khloe was one of the participants that I wanted to…for more insight to the original website. She seemed to not be pleased with the overall experience, “Is this website even finished It looks like someone didn’t put much thought or effort.”

Overall project context and goals: The project's purpose, the problem you aimed to solve, and the key objectives

The concept of this project was to help assist Mark in influencing his users to be more engaging and interactive on his website. The problem was their website lacked organization to the corresponding pages, had minimalism in design, and had a poor usability experience. By redesigning, reconstructing, reorganizing the website so that navigation was easy, enhance the visual appeal with high-quality pictures and implementing special features, it has made Festival Travelers more engaging which has increase the interest in more customers.

The goal of this project was to assist Mark in influencing users to spend more time and interact more with his website. The problem was their website lacked organization to the corresponding pages, had uninteresting visuals, and lacked special features to make the website more appealing. We improved the website by making it easier to navigate, updating the look with attractive, high-quality pictures, and adding special features. These changes have made Festival Travelers more interesting and engaging, which has led to 30% user interest in visiting Festival Travelers site.

Research process: Explain the methods you chose and why they were the right fit and describe how you conducted

Describe how you adapted your approach or iterated on your designs based on research findings or feedback.

During the questionnaire interview all 12 participants were asked question about their current experience with buying Glamour & Gurlie products from Amazon. There was a consistent pattern with the participants noticing a change in the original pricing from the increase in interest and fees from Amazon. Others mention that they were open if Glamour & Gurlie had a personal website to show the company’s legit from scammers that are pretending to be Glamour & Gurlie. Overall, loyal customers stated the lack of user-experience since it was the same from other companies they use to buy on Amazon. It seems as though everyone followed a consistent layout.

During my research, I conducted a questionnaire-based interview with twelve customers. An empathy map was also incorporated into the research to help me understand the perspective with people that use Festival Travelers. Additionally, word cloud was used to visualize the common theme that participants expressed as an overview to develop a new concept for a new design.

Customer analysis software

During my research, I conducted a questionnaire-based interview with twelve customers. An empathy map was also incorporated into the research to help me understand the perspective with people that use Festival Travelers. Additionally, word cloud was used to visualize the common theme that participants expressed as an overview to develop a new concept for a new design.

Customer analysis software

Challenges and solutions/Be honest about the problems you encountered: Discuss any obstacles you encountered during the research and how you overcame them. This shows your problem-solving skills and resilience.

I could have created a survey to give to the users get their final thoughts and opinions on the new website design. This could have given me more of a transparent overview of their experience and a possible influence in making minor adjustments to the website. Videos of festivals presented on the website could have been incorporated for those who wanted a better visual representation of each festival they were reading. This would have allowed them to truly be digitally immersed in the culture with the types of songs, dances, and performances that are played in each country.

Key findings and insights discovered through research

After I conducted my research, I notice the pattern that many participants expressed how dull, unorganized, and unappealing the website appeared to them. They expressed wanting to feel excitement when knowing that a particular event will be coming soon. So, it was important to create an ambiance that represented excitement, fun, adventure, and curiosity. Better quality pictures were included, a gallery for main articles were included, and special effects where it makes things interactive and more convenient for users when navigating through the website.

Lessons learned- articulate what you learned from these challenges: Be honest about what you learned from the project. Focus on personal and professional growth What did you discover about the users, the process, or the product that you didn't know before?

Through this process, I learned how important it is to have a clear identity and full control over your brand. A strong brand shows that a company has a sense of direction as to what goals they want to achieve. It also demonstrates that a company value building relationships with their customers. When a company has a brand that is unique and distinctive, it stands out and becomes recognizable, especially by the people who share similar values and qualities of that brand. Once Glamour & GUrlie had a personal website with interactive features and elements, we reached over their goal to 8% with an increase in customer traffic. These improvements have positioned this small brand to a more high-quality company.

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The goal of this project was to assist Mark in influencing users to spend more time and interact more with his website. The problem was their website lacked organization to the corresponding pages, had uninteresting visuals, and lacked special features to make the website more appealing. We improved the website by making it easier to navigate, updating the look with attractive, high-quality pictures, and adding special features. These changes have made Festival Travelers more interesting and engaging, which has led to 30% user interest in visiting Festival Travelers site.

During my research, I conducted a questionnaire-based interview with twelve customers. An empathy map was also incorporated into the research to help me understand the perspective with people that use Festival Travelers. Additionally, word cloud was used to visualize the common theme that participants expressed as an overview to develop a new concept for a new design. After I conducted my research, I notice the pattern that many participants expressed how dull, unorganized, and unappealing the website appeared to them. They expressed wanting to feel excitement when knowing that a particular event will be coming soon. So, it was important to create an ambiance that represented excitement, fun, adventure, and curiosity.

Better quality pictures were included, a gallery for main articles were included, and special effects where it makes things interactive and more convenient for users when navigating through the website. But what I could have done differently was create a survey to give to the users get their final thoughts and opinions on the new website design. This could have given me more of a transparent overview of their experience and a possible influence in making minor adjustments to the website. Videos of festivals presented on the website could have been incorporated for those who wanted a better visual representation of each festival they were reading. This would have allowed them to truly be digitally immersed in the culture with the types of songs, dances, and performances that are played in each country.

This process taught me that theme has to match emotions which should be conveyed to customers. It’s also important to find a strategic plan to improvise during deadlines that has been established to develop a new visual presentation. Mark T. Green had events that would interest those who wanted to go to a particular concert or festival, but his website was dull and simplistic with topics not aligned with their directive pages.

Some of the options on the navigation bar and layout were not aligned and unclear, making it hard for visitors to find what they were looking for. Also, the simplistic design of the website didn’t match the lively, fun vibe of the events it was promoting. Because of this, fewer people were interested in what the site had to offer. The changes were proven once I used a customer analyses software to monitor the overall results. It was concluded that these improvements confirmed that the new design's effectiveness, elevating the brand's quality, resulting in a 15% boost in sales and recovery of previous losses.

A website platform that displays information pertaining to music, festivals, and upcoming and upcoming events happening worldwide.

Festival Travelers

SUMMARY