Project Overview
West Seattle Blog is a national award-winning community news platform established as the number one source for hyper-local news and information. With over 100,000 unique weekly visitors, its engaged and loyal audience considers it an indispensable resource for staying informed about their community.
Role
- UX Research and Design
- Interaction Design
- Visual Design
- Information Architecture
- Project Management
- Front-end Development
Scope
The project aimed to execute a significant visual redesign while implementing several technical enhancements. A key challenge was ensuring a modern, responsive user experience that functioned seamlessly across all devices and screen sizes.
Retaining and delighting West Seattle Blog’s loyal user base was critical to the project’s success. Many of these users had engaged with the platform before the rise of social media platforms like Facebook, prioritizing their trust and continued engagement. The blog’s business model relies on ad revenue rather than subscriptions or donations, necessitating a strategic and non-intrusive integration of Google AdWords. Advertising had to be incorporated to maintain the site’s content as the primary focus.
Another major challenge involved migrating an extensive database containing over 200,000 records. Preserving the integrity of this massive dataset during the transition was a key technical hurdle while ensuring minimal downtime between the legacy site and the launch of the updated version was paramount to maintaining user engagement and trust.
Process
Research & Planning: Conducted stakeholder interviews to understand user needs and business goals. Evaluated analytics data to identify usage patterns and pain points. User research on the mobile version revealed that users had preferences that influenced the stakeholder’s decisions regarding the mobile experience. The WPTouch mobile plugin for WordPress was leveraged to automatically add a simple and elegant mobile theme for mobile visitors. Recommended by Google, it instantly enables a mobile-friendly website version that passes the Google Mobile test and ensures SEO rankings do not drop due to a lack of mobile optimization.
Information Architecture & UX Design: Developed detailed user flows to map the user journey, ensuring ease of navigation and content discoverability. Created wireframes and interactive prototypes to test different layout structures and information hierarchies. Iterated designs based on usability testing insights to refine the overall user experience.
Visual Design: Designed a refreshed UI that balanced modern aesthetics with familiarity for long-time users. Ensured consistent branding by leveraging existing brand assets while introducing subtle refinements to typography, color schemes, and layout components. Focused on accessibility and readability to enhance content engagement for all users.
Development Collaboration: Worked closely with an offshore development team to implement the new design. Provided detailed design documentation and interactive prototypes to guide development. Regularly reviewed progress through iterative feedback loops, ensuring adherence to design specifications. Contributed directly to HTML and CSS where necessary to fine-tune visual consistency and responsiveness.
Training & Handoff: To ensure nearly zero downtime during the transition from the legacy site to the new platform, a meticulous deployment plan was executed. The migration process was staged and tested extensively to prevent service interruptions, allowing for a smooth switchover. Additionally, comprehensive training sessions were conducted for the client on backend administration, covering content management, SEO best practices, and troubleshooting common issues. Provided documentation for ongoing site maintenance and future updates, empowering the client to manage the site effectively without relying on external support.
Tools Used
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Balsalmiq Wireframes
- WordPress
- HTML, CSS
Outcomes & Impact
Successfully launched a fully responsive, visually refreshed website that enhanced user engagement.
Improved content discoverability through streamlined information architecture.
Ensured a seamless transition by effectively migrating over 200,000 records with nearly zero downtime.
Increased ad visibility without compromising user experience, improving monetization opportunities.
Empowered the client with the knowledge and tools to manage the site independently.
By focusing on a user-centric design approach while addressing technical challenges, the redesign of West Seattle Blog strengthened its position as the go-to news source for its community.
