The Pa Academy
The client reached out about her WordPress theme not working. I went in to look at the backend and found the hosting hadn’t updated the PHP in three years, and the theme was defunct. But also the design was what you’d expect from someone without experience, updating it themselves. I convinced her I’d work within her budget for a complete redesign.
Tasks
Logo Redesign
Site Design and UX
Copywriting
WordPress site Development
Role
UX Designer
Developer
Content Strategist
Copywriter
Observations
When you’re designing your own site, and you’re not a designer, it’s much easier to default back on the old, “I don’t want all the bells and whistles, I just need to update the darned thing.”
Question
Could I design an experience from scratch that the client could easily update down the road?
Hypothesis
When you’re a small business owner, web design can seem overwhelming. To make it easier, I demonstrated just how easy it could be with the right theme (Divi), and a library of modules you could easily edit.
Experiment
Initially, we started off getting stuck in the details of the design, with the client’s only request to be clean and easy-to-update, that left a whole lot of mystery. I offered moodboards to help her get on board with the direction, so that she could pick one, and I could run with it.
Analysis
On thing that changed dramatically was her ability to tell a story with images. Prior to the redesign, she’d be stuck with a crummy slider and bad imagery. I suggested a gallery as a way to tell a story, and restyled all her images to Black and White to help mask the poor quality.
Conclusion
Sometimes, seeing is believing. When I first convinced the client, she needed to update the look, she was super reticent. I created a high-fidelty wireframe to show her how much better it would look, and she became inspired.
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