Redesigning start-up website experience.
By Do Gyoon Kim
INTRO
It took about a month until the first launch of the re-designed website that I have been committed to, starting from scratch.
I first joined the project through curiosity in learning by doing opportunity as well as doing something that is actually displayable as a first real client project. So, what is this project about? Here is what I’d like to say:
The concept of brand Upbeater is quite bold and charming. They want other startups who are in need of an “extended team” for working on designing, marketing, and branding with upbeater with exceptionally reasonable prices to offer.
Therefore in this article, I will briefly go through the journey that is not too revealing the information that I’m not supposed to share but simply demonstrate the learnings and experience as a UX consultant / Project management for a start-up project that helped me learn a lot about what it actually takes to build a website and how.
1. Planning out the schedules.
It’s probably one of the most important things to keep in mind when you are working with a client. Have deadlines.
As a UX consultant, I decided when to discuss midway, final deliveries weekly. As I have experienced in my last project working with SVT Barn, it was great to have two official meetings per week to deliver what the client expects to see. Along with UI designer Abi, I co-create my schedules on how I will communicate with her, what deliveries will be completed, and decide how the website will look. Having to manage my own schedules and deliveries surely allowed me to feel like the project manager :)
2. Making the design layout.
There are different ways to build designs but for us, as time was running out the best way to get things started was to simply design first then iterate later.
We decided to build a site that shows a simple-and-clear design that easily explains within seconds about the site. After doing research, the first week has passed quickly. From studying in Hyper Island, good communication comes from good design, style, and structure. Through many design project experiences at my school, I learned how to do such things. I also wanted to facilitate the process, as I felt the need to do this 1-month project.
3. User testing / AB testing.
Understanding users is important. But doing the testing with users in the process of iterating your design is even more important.
I previously planned that it would take at least 2–3 weeks of testing to complete the final design. Design decisions will carry out afterward. After spending two and a half weeks interviewing target users and internal staff members for feedback, I learned that it was the right approach.
So, what were the results? Let me share with you briefly how the design progressed and explain briefly why.
1. A/B testing (1st round)
The first round of testing began when we were done with our first draft. Then we tested with 4 people (Internal staff) and asked for general feedback. The result was positive as the style, font clarity of the design were good; However, texts were in need to be edited further. Otherwise, it has been more positive than criticism so far.
2. A/B testing (2nd round)
The second round of testing was a bit of a challenge. Not only we tried to test our 2nd draft of our design, but we also wanted to test if the background theme can have an impact. As a result, we tried on the same 4 people we tested on 1st testing and the majority liked the darker theme. However, these were only internal staff who are not the main users of the website. So, in our next testing, we only tested with start-ups who will be potential clients.
3. A/B testing (3rd round)
This was one final testing for the design decisions to make. We tested a total of 4 members who work in different start-ups and it was certainly the most valuable feedback that was crucial for making design decisions. The most important change we must consider was Pricing information. It was simply too short. The theme as in styles did not affect their impression greatly as both were good. When it comes to clarity once again it was evident that this current design layout and structure delivers them well. So, a major change was to change pricing information and also re-iterate on how to show ‘how it works’ diagrams as it was not professional enough yet.
4. User feedback
Here’s a general collection I created for this project after speaking to 10 users in total. The main criticism was clarity in texts when it comes to the ‘pricing’ section as it was not as descriptive as it could have been. Also, having community info on a landing page was creating confusion.
5. The final design.
After iterating & testing, the first version of the website has been set to be ready. I changed the theme back to white as it was considered more ‘professional’ and ‘traditional’ based on user feedback. I also changed how to show the service and make it more professional and key concepts. The feedback on that was great too. Lastly, I changed the description details and added a ‘checkbox’ for each description as it shows more clearly what you get from the service. Texts were received from the client as it was better written on their behalf than ourselves. Overall, the final design version was ‘satisfactory’ for our client to launch them on her website.
6. Reflection
Overall, I have witnessed the real world ready part of experience learning by doing that is, and it was a humbling experience. I felt great that I did something that a client will display on their website. What I could have done better was to iterate and test more after the first launch. It would be nice to see what has changed since the start and in which ways did it make an impact on their business. I sincerely hope for the best for them.
Lastly, What were the challenges?
Of course, some things were expected like, having shared values and understanding of how their website would look and that it would be simple and visually clear in delivering the message. I did deliver a simple, clean design that helped the target audience to understand Upbeater’s identity and the mission of their business. However, it was a challenge to 1. find the right target audience — lack of time, network, and experience made it difficult to achieve this 2. Inexperienced company — which led to a challenge in providing references for project experiences and success stories.
Thank you!
