LA Performing Arts

LA Performing Arts is a performing arts studio founded in San Antonio, TX in 2007. Upon my purchase of the business in 2015, I began working on a re-design to modernize the website and increase its capabilities to meet users needs. The goal: easy to navigate information on classes, schedule, and pricing and to integrate an online registration system.

Problem

Outdated design and layout

The website layout, colors, theme, and template made the business lose a feel of professionalism and quality. Font was very small — customers with poor vision complained frequently that they were unable to properly read class information and schedules. Little information on pricing and class breakdown was available online, which forced most users to have to call, email, or physically come in to the business to get answers to simple questions. Class registration information was unclear at best and non-existent at worst.

I set out to re-design the feel of the website — creating a design that would mirror the professionalism and quality found within the business. In order for customers to make the most informed decision about registering for classes, I increased the information that could be found on the website and added an online registration option so users could register and save a space in classes on the spot.

process

Identified major pain points and highlighted calls to action

Before we could focus on a visual re-design and update, I needed to address the parts of the website customers complained about and brainstorm ways to fix them. From there, I worked on a design that would better highlight the information customers were looking for in a way that was screen-friendly.

I found the most successful calls to action after running a a two month-long google search advertisement campaign, where I tried a variety of language and calls to action and then analyzed the data. The calls to action with the highest click-through rates made it onto the website in various forms, predominantly as easy to find buttons to help with site navigation.

Next steps

Integrated online registration

During the research phase, I discovered that no other dance or acting studio offered online registration for their classes. In fact, most competing studios had self-placed barriers in their registration process, including extra steps such as prospective parents sending introductory emails or scheduling meet-and-greet times. I broke down what our needs were for registration and worked on simplifying the entire process in ways that eliminated as many unnecessary steps as possible, but while still instilling confidence and clarity to our clients.

Simplified the copy updated the UI

The old website had a clashing color scheme and an array of fonts. I sought out to create a more uniform look based off of the studio’s colors of red and black. I wanted to give the website a playful yet professional feel.

reflections

Targeting user’s needs creates a working template

I took the biggest complaint users had given me alongside website analytics to create a site architecture that gave users the opportunity to find out the information they needed by following the flow of the design. I catered to our average user’s most specific needs and, in simplifying the navigation of the website, made online registration so simple that our overall new customer conversions increased.

I left a footer menu with plenty of navigation options for power users, but eliminated them from the main menu clutter for the average person. Finding the right balance of what to eliminate from the main menu and what to keep on took some trial and error and revisiting of analytics, but I feel like, in the end, I was able to strike the right balance.

Working with a smaller project has allowed me to see how careful crafting can influence the bigger picture, and how the devil truly is in the details.