BREWING A BETTER WEBSITE
WITH ERIKA SAM, LAYNE SOIKE,
ALEXANDRAOLARNYK, AND AMY ZHONG
PEDDLER BREWERY
BEFORE
AFTER
PROBLEM SPACE
Peddler is a locally owned brewery that offers a unique space for bicyclists, families, and dog owners to come together in a warm and inviting setting.
While they offer more than just great beers, such as fun events and movie nights, their previous website didn't highlight the great atmosphere and happenings at the brewery.
Our team reached out to offer a redesign, and they said yes! We began with a client kick-off meeting to better understand their business goals and culture.
How can we make it easier for brewery goers to find important information about Peddler on the website?
ROLE
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copywriting for website
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designed the final presentation
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wrote semi-structured interview and survey questions
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conducted semi-structured interviews and usability testing
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project managed for the duration of this project
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created wireframes
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contributed to design, specifically focusing on the Contact Us page
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helped lead and participate in brainstorming sessions
PROCESS
WHAT USABILITY
ISSUES
A heuristic evaluation was done to see some preliminary usability issues that were on the original site.
Through this evaluation, we noticed that:
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Navigation was unclear
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Little visual hierarchy made it difficult to differentiate information
SURVEYS & INTERVIEWS
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
PROTOTYPING
& USABILITY TESTING
Showing the culture through photos instead of in the copy was an active choice based on our research data.
The hierarchy was unclear for people, so we hosted a card sort and rebuilt the information architecture (IA).
Making a clickable calendar was important, as well as including information.
Listing hours Monday through Sunday made the most sense for users.
SOLUTION
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The culture of the brewery wasn't being highlighted
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Branding was not consistent
Surveys were sent to brewery goers, some of who were familiar with Peddler and some of who were not. Additionally, we conducted interviews with onsite customers at the brewery and the owners of the business to get feedback on the state of the original website.
An open card sort was completed to understand how customers grouped and named categories of information. This helped inform our navigation throughout the updated website.
Multiple iterations were created. Each group member worked on a few pages, and after discussion designs were consolidated. 3 rounds of usability testing with brewery goers were conducted to help refine each iteration.
IMPACT
LESSONS,
CHALLENGES,
& FUTURE STEPS
Checking in regularly with stakeholders is important. Making sure any updates done by stakeholders are mentioned during said updates.
Leave a little extra time in the end to do multiple iterations. We were only able to do three massive ones but would have liked to iterate smaller details on the website.
Higher quality photos were not possible due to budget constraints, which made it challenging when trying to highlight the unique culture of the brewery.
Business goal changes during this research phase meant we had to reconsider and retest some elements at the end to improve iterations.
Usability testing should be conducted with the redesigned site to uncover any remaining usability issues.
A professional photographer should be hired to take improved photos of the website.
Peddler updated their website immediately to post the design and have had fewer customer inquiries about information that was located on the website.