OPMMA Website
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Project Cause
404 Page not found
This was the message users of ottawapmma.ca would see during a vital time: their annual event for product professionals; Ottawa ProductCamp.
After already updating and upkeeping their WordPress site, I was tasked with finding a solution to display and promote event resources for attendees and session holders.
Roles & Team
(Team of 2-4)
My roles were Content Manager, Designer, Researcher, and UI Designer.
I worked with Nousha Safahani during the collaborative competitive analysis. I also partnered with OPMMA's marketing, tech, and founding teams.
Timeframe & Deliverables
3 weeks- 2024
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Newly formatted page content
2024 ProductCamp page & Resources
Use of new and updated images and media
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Methods used
CMS Research
Collaborative Competitive Analysis
Heuristics Evaluation
Accessibility Assessment
Agile work process
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UX Process
Research
Although the cause of this project was mostly host/ database-related, the project started by reassigning a volunteer ad web content manager for OPMMA. At the beginning of the project, I researched as much as I could to learn more about our original platform; WordPress using Elementor as a CMS. Most of the research was for functionality and user-first edits.
During the competitive analysis, My co-worker Nousha and I assessed our competitors based on their social media and web presence and how similar their target market was. Once assessing our competitors, we learned what improvements could be made and what we could test next. You can also find the project's heuristics review and accessibility report in this document;
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When our WordPress site went down because of corrupted files I also researched alternatives and ways to remedy our situation fast. I found that the easiest fix would be a Wix platform site until further improvement could be made to our WordPress format.
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Analysis
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After research, I drew up a new sitemap and a summary of changes we could make with these findings. Part of the analysis process during the project was testing and assessing the capabilities of using a new platform. I also tested ways to transfer over all of our media and content.
The next step was to produce a landing page for users to see, since the site was not visible. A quick research and analysis portion for this project, but most often we don't get to decide a timeframe! Because of this project's agile process, analysis happened before and after the site changes were launched.
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Design
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After Designing the ProductCamp landing page it was time to get to work with releasing the rest of the website's updates. Updating each page was overdue but some edits had to be done for better usability.
The #1 thing that had to be applied was better accessibility. Making sure that users could see content clearly and in a mobile format was key. Most of our users were visiting from a mobile device or screen other than a computer. Because of this, I wanted to keep the rest of the site as simple and minimal as possible for the best adaptive screen results.
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The design was trial and error, but with edits and testing by my co-workers, the project came to life quickly. Below are the earliest versions of mockups, the site looks very different now mostly because of plugin and cms capability.
Home Page Mockup
ProductCamp Page Mockup
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Website Theme & Typography
For the OPMMA's colours and themes, we wanted to keep our previous site's colours and feel. Because of the different format however, I decided to go with Roboto bold and light as the main font.
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After analysis, I found that the colours did not contrast well enough with white. To remedy this, I added a darker purple to the mix and focused on using black over the original accent colours.
Launch
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Quick Launch
The site was launched as soon as voting for Productcamp 2024 began. The website was at the peak of its use with all of our registered guests voting and learning about the event's speakers. As we continue to make continuous changes to the site, we follow an agile mindset as the site progresses. One of the biggest changes was adding an events management section. This ensures that when another team members helps manage the site, they can easily go in and upload information that auto populates on other pages with that event's details.
Visit ottawapmma.ca to see the final product
Review
End-Result
I had an overwhelming amount of support and teamwork during this project with OPMMA. I was able to strengthen my skills and demonstrate my work during a pressing time. After about 3 cycles of further editing and adapting to OPMMA's needs as an organization, the final product was accessible and functional for users.
Challenges
Making solid user-focused changes was difficult without doing user interviews. Because of the timeframe and scope of this project, interviews and user input had to be skipped. That being said I had to do plenty of research on what competing organizations were doing right, OPMMA's target market, and their key calls to action. Doing the competitive analysis and collaborating with the team was immensely beneficial for the project.
What I learned
I learned so much about screen adaptive assets and formatting during this website's recreation. Making websites is different on every platform and this project gave me relevant work experience with Elementor and WordPress. I took well to learning a new CMS program and was quickly convinced that it wasn't the right platform for OPMMA. Having a developer frequently on hand was necessary but wasn't possible in this case. I pitched my ideas to the team and made the platform switch to benefit the team in the long term.