Overview

Brooklyn-based creative collective and agency, In Creative Company (ICC), faced criticism over its website’s less-than-intuitive navigation and homepage copy overload. ICC felt these concerns were inhibiting its ability to recruit members and clients.

I led the UX research efforts for this three-week client project with project lead Chris Toribio and lead UX designer Khulan Hoshartsaga. We used Figma and Lucidchart to make our client’s dreams a reality.

Potential Constraints

• Toribio, Hoshartsaga, co-founder Yelle Belle, full-stack developer Náyade Bermúdez Brito and I worked across four time zones which made user interviews, usability testing and client meetings complicated to schedule. 

• ICC wanted us to design for their current members and clients as well as prospective members and clients (4 target audiences) which our three-week design sprint did not permit, so we were directed to focus on a new member’s experience.

• A team member and I possess passionate personalities that can clash when not tapping into our emotional intelligence skills.

Research Synopsis

Competitive Analysis 

The feature inventory revealed that ICC’s competition was selective about what they included on their homepage — whereas ICC encompassed everything under the sun (e.g., about us, community description, media mentions); three out of 3 new members were overwhelmed by the abundance of homepage content and felt it lacked visual hierarchy. This aforementioned hurdle paired with unconventional global and secondary navigation naming conventions such as “Our Offerings” or “Collaborators” confused users because it’s not universal. 

User Journey Map & User Flows

Toribio and I built 3 user flows and 1 customer journey map that segmented and defined new members’ complete paths while interacting with ICC’s homepage, log-in portal and member directory. Two out of three users were unable to edit their member directory listing, due to technical issues, which led to a dead-end flow and/or were couldn’t differentiate between “edit profile” and “edit directory listing.” This presented an even bigger problem: 3 out of 3 users wanted their member profiles to stand out, so they could reel in potential clients through the ICC’s agency. If new members cannot create a listing, then they cannot attract business through ICC’s directory.

The Problem

The Artrepreneur needed an intuitive way to navigate ICC’s website so that they can easily access the member directory, their account information and future events. Three out of 3 users were overwhelmed by the abundance of homepage content and felt it lacked visual hierarchy.

Goals

User:

• Accessible and minimalistic website

• Succinct and straightforward onboarding page

• Cohesive and intuitive navigation

Business:

• Easily navigate between pages

• Transform “arts and crafts” aesthetic to polished and professional

• “Feel like the website is a part of me [ICC Co-Founder Yelle Belle]”

Solutions

Usability Test Plan

• Users must complete each task within 5 minutes.

• Task #1: Login as a member of the collective and edit your member directory listing.

• Task #2: Locate the Media Mentions on the homepage.

• Task #3: Locate past work.

Proved Less Is More

My team ditched the pop-up ad because it disrupted users’ journey halfway down the homepage. We simplified the navigation’s format and microcopy, so visitors can intuitively navigate the website and not endlessly scroll down the homepage — rehousing secondary content on different pages (e.g., Core Leaders, Membership).

Centralized Member Information

The client’s current website separated pertinent member information: their profile and directory listing. The Artreprenuer needed to click two different buttons on the page to access each section, so I placed all of the member account information in one place. The Artreprenuer can access anything regarding their account with one click.

Clarified Whose Who

We limited the number of images and tags members could add to their directory listing, so the directory layout is cohesive. I added a search bar and filter as well, so other creatives and clients could easily find people with certain specialties (e.g., photography, brand strategy, illustration). There is a small signifier on the “Core Leaders'” entry thumbnail to indicate whose who within ICC. My team replaced bright red (HEX #ED2024) body text with (HEX #DDDDEF) the brand’s light purple, reducing eye strain.

Results

• Decreased the time it took users to complete three essential onboarding tasks by an average of 80.05% (86.97 seconds)

• The user persona I gave life to, is employed as a prospective member recruiting tool on all of ICC’s social media platforms.

• The agency/collective hired my team to tackle phase ll of its website redesign — focusing on ICC’s onboarding, gig opportunities, events and portfolio pages in hopes of attracting new creatives as well as retaining current freelancers.

Takeaways

• I now believe in a little thing called “schedule padding.” You never know when a situation may arise that can cause a project delay, so your team is better at overestimating the time it will take to complete each deliverable versus not meeting set deadline(s).

• Hoshartsaga reminded me daily that you must find that sweet spot between making the stakeholder happy and fulfilling users’ needs. As the lead UX researcher, I was overzealous about data-driven design.

• As a natural-born leader, letting others take the reigns, figuratively, is sometimes scary. It was a blessing — offering relief from taking on everything myself, realizing my teammates were supportive and there to help.

Client Testimonial

“Sydney leads with passion and wonder and works in the highest of spirits,” said Belle. “I had the pleasure of working with Sydney and her UX team to revamp my company's website, and I was wowed every step of the way. This was a truly collaborative effort and confidence builder for everyone involved.”

© 2021 Sydney Goldberg. All Rights Reserved.