Alloy

THE PROBLEM

Alloy's rushed website launch revealed some areas for improvement after I conducted user survey’s:

• Content-heavy pages made it difficult to scan and find information quickly

• Sitemap and navigation weren't designed to handle the expanding product range

• The website lacked a clear hierarchy in its typography

• One-size-fits-all hero layout, throughout the website made navigation unclear.

THE APPROACH

We dove deep to understand Alloy's business, their target audiences, and solidify the overall project goals:

• By reducing the amount of copy to the most important information, the page length were reduced, and copy became scannable

• Restructuring the sitemap consisted of envisioning future company growth and simplifying the flow through categorization and grouping.

• Typography design system was set in place for consistency and better hierarchy

• Implementing color assignments for products and their sub-pages enhanced the organization of navigation

Website Audit

Before the project officially began, I met with Wizardly's Creative Director and the client's point of contact (POC) to discuss strategy. To prepare, I audited the website and identified a lack of clear user flow, particularly on the homepage. I then created a wireframe mockup with annotations, referencing two additional websites. This helped secure stakeholder buy-in for including the homepage redesign in the project.

User Surveys
Before diving in, we conducted a user survey to identify areas for improvement on this newly launched website. The team recognized it was a rushed job and needed a more strategic approach. User data was essential for these project meetings. My goal was to understand both brand-familiar and non-familiar user perspectives. The survey revealed a busy target audience with limited patience, prompting us to pivot our approach. (See lessons learned below for details.)

Sitemap
The company's evolving identity during their growth stage necessitated multiple sitemap revisions as they refined their positioning. Fortunately, our well-defined plan facilitated smooth adjustments throughout the project. The color-coding system we established for product categories proved particularly helpful in navigating these changes.

• 7 desktop mockups

• Selected mobile mockups (for more complicated sections)

During this project, my biggest lesson was learning from my failed attempt at getting scientists to take part in a survey. We first sent the survey to Alloy's mailing list of 87 people, but received no responses. Suspecting that the survey was too demanding, I simplified the questions and reduced the length.