Informatica was seeing a drop in customer conversions after it had completed its' website redesign project. The contract with the hired agency was abruptly ended, leaving half of Informatica's website in its' legacy design, while the other half was moved into the modernized design. In addition, the company was reworking its strategy on brand positioning and product strategy.
Through user research and interviews, we discovered that our users are usually busy, so they want an easy and quick way to learn about the event and buy a ticket. They have the need to connect with their local businesses and find more ways to be supportive and active in their community. They have also expressed interest in features like a personal day-of schedule builder and quick ways to access answers to their frequently asked questions.
Because our client is preparing for their 10th anniversary event, there was very limited information on their current site. All pages have outdated information, and a newsletter signup for those interested in keeping up with the 2021 updates.
While much of our team collaboration was within the discovery phase, our team split up to start the developing stage. To start, my teammate Jordan and I ran a design studio time to both make our own versions of mood boards and discuss what we came up with to create a final version. While Jordan's moodboard gives a more authentic Austin feel, my moodboard conveys a more classy wine festival vibe. After our discussions, our final conclusion was that the Austin Food & Wine Festival is somewhere inbetween the two.
After reviewing our client, user, and competitive research, our team went into another design studio to start sketching out some of the main pages we knew we needed. This would include pages like:
Through our research, we understood our festival attendees' enthusiasm in learning more about the Alliance and how they can be supportive in their local communities. Taking this insight and the request from our client themselves about not detracting from the event, we decided to do the following:
From our user interviews, we gathered and mapped out what attendees would like to see or learn about to enhance their day-of festival experience. First, they had many questions regarding the day-of event logistics including accessibility, directions to the venue/parking, scheduling, etc. In addition to those questions, a few also asked about viewing the schedule and potentially building their own for the day-of. We took those suggestions and ideated around these solutions:
While we were tasked to uncover areas of improvement on the current site, I wanted to make sure we design with acute focus on our client and users needs. As the lead designer, I did not think a total brand refresh would be necessary to achieve a clean, simple, and enjoyable online experience for our festival attendees. Also, 2021 marks the 10th annual year of the Austin Food & Wine Festival, we wanted to ensure our concept redesign would carry over the brand equity. Instead of a complete brand refresh, we:
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