Transforming The Grounds’ digital experience: from confusion to clarity
UX/UI Design
Overview
Crafting a unified digital experience for a multi-faceted brand
Client: The Grounds
Role: UX/UI Designer
Duration: 6 months
Team: Project manager, developer, marketing team
Tools Used: Figma, Figjam, Teams
The Challenge
Outdated website hurting the brand experience
The Grounds, a group known for its stunning physical spaces, was launching a new location and reassessing its website. The existing site failed to communicate the breadth of its services, with confusing navigation and outdated design, leading to a fragmented user experience. The challenge was to create a cohesive, intuitive online platform that mirrors the elegance of their venues and caters to diverse user needs.
User Research & Insights
Digging deep: understanding user frustrations
Research Goal: Identify friction points and set baseline metrics to improve user experience across diverse user types (coffee customers, catering clients, event enquirers, venue visitors, and observers).
Methods: Due to limited budget I set up and conducted user interviews (5) that doubled as usability tests.
Key Insights:
INSIGHT #1
Inconsistent navigation disrupted users from easily finding information.
INSIGHT #2
Downloadable menus and poor hierarchy interrupted the flow.
INSIGHT #3
Lack of visual content led users to external platforms for decision-making.
These findings informed the need for a cohesive design that simplifies navigation, integrates visual content, and clarifies The Grounds’ service offerings.
Defining the Problem
The website failed to communicate that The Grounds is a group offering multiple services, not just venues in Alexandria. This miscommunication, combined with the cluttered IA, affected discoverability and user flow.
How might we clearly communicate The Grounds as a group with multiple services, while optimising the experience for high-priority users such as event planners and venue visitors?
IA & Strategy
To address the confusion and scattered content, I:
Separated the site into two subsites: One focused on dining and the other on events, as these were the two primary areas users engaged with. Users would first land on the dining subsite, reflecting their journey of discovering The Grounds through food and then exploring event offerings.
Collaborated with SEO consultants to optimise URL structure, ensuring better performance and user flow for search engines.
This structure allowed users to intuitively navigate through the site, enhancing content discoverability while maintaining SEO best practices.
Rethinking the architecture
Usability Testing
Building the future: designing a seamless experience that can scale
I began by sketching low-fidelity wireframes to explore page structure and content placement, testing these with users to assess navigation ease.
I noticed early on that 4 out of 5 users missed the segment navigation due to its small size. This led to adjustments in the hover state and visual prominence of navigational elements.
Design Decisions & Iterations
Designing a seamless experience that can scale
Mobile-First Approach
Given most users accessed the site on mobile, I focused on ensuring relevant information (such as booking options) was above the fold, with sticky CTAs like "Make a Booking" or "Enquire Now" to support quick decision-making.
Cohesive Design System
Using a limited color palette (two colors for dining, two for events), I developed a modular design system that created consistency across both subsites while allowing flexibility for future expansions.
Enhancing Visual Content
I introduced photo and video galleries prominently on both desktop and mobile, preventing users from leaving the site to search for visuals elsewhere. This, paired with streamlined event cards featuring image carousels, catered to users’ desire to compare options easily.
Final Outcome
Building a cohesive design system
The site is still getting build, however these are metrics I would measure:
Decreased customer service calls: Improved navigation and content discoverability reduced user dependency on external assistance.
Increased engagement: More page views and longer site sessions due to easy access to images, videos, and key information.
Lead generation boost: Simplified booking and enquiry processes led to more direct user actions.
Design System Success:
The scalable design system enabled flexibility for future locations and services without sacrificing design consistency, setting a strong foundation for growth.
Reflection
By truly understanding both the users and the business, I was able to craft a solution that not only improved user experience but also supported The Grounds' evolving brand and digital presence. The design system ensured scalability while maintaining the elegance and functionality that The Grounds is known for.
Next Steps: Ongoing testing to further refine user flows, particularly as new locations and services are added.
