Let's Connect:
UX/UI Portfolio
Casa Le Mura
Creating connection and community through nature.
Casa Le Mura is a project founded by three ecologists who are building a business and community based on the principles of permaculture. My work with Casa Le Mura was focused on creating an online presence where potential and existing community members could engage and connect with their work. The resulting website is designed for users interested in employing their services, attending events, or engaging as collaborators.
Scope: Concept to Completion for Client
Tools: XD, Zyro
Role: Concept, Research, Analysis, Wireframes, Prototype, Final Website
Context: A group of professionals and community builders want to connect with like-minded locals to build ideal business relationships and grow events hosted on their property in Anghiari, Tuscany, Italy.
Research - Understanding The Problem
Conducting a stake-holder interview at the beginning of the process revealed several complexities:
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The clients were keen on having a website, but not clear on their objectives
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They identified many aspects to their project, and each had different timelines
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There would be many types of users on the website: potential and existing clients, volunteers, associations, agronomists, businesses, locals, and schools
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There were few competitors in the area, so researching the market was difficult. The client was not looking for more business, but to improve the quality of the clients they have, so I focused on organizing their objectives and timelines with a MosCOW Analysis. Once this had been established, I conducted 5 interviews with existing clients, most of whom fit the description of ideal.
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Analysis - Identifying Themes
The interviews responses were analyzed for qualitative data, and this information was organized into two categories: values and interests. The main theme throughout these results was food, as 100% interviewees spoke about it in regards to interests and 60% in regards to value.
Data Synthesis - Empathizing with Users
Two essential user types were identified: those interested in the business potential of Casa Le Mura, and those interested in the community. A persona was created for these two types, while the complete list of user types were included in the user journey mapping. This helped identify what features should be on the website, specifically how on the homepage each type could easily find the applicable part of the website: services, or events.
User Type: Events
User Type: Services
Finalizing Design In High-Fidelity
After designing hand-drawn low-fidelity mock-ups on paper, a more refined version was created using Adobe XD. Using the colours and icons from the provided branding guideline I created a sense of unity with their existing marketing materials and logo.
Final Website
Landing Page
Casa Le Mura value their local roots and are building their vision in Anghiari specifically, so I made their landing page an image of the town to reflect this. Below their logo I wrote a very concise summary to make it easy for visitors to understand the clients’ purpose and vision. Immediately after scrolling down, the home page offers two choices- one of which would appeal to each type of user: services for those interested in the business, and events for those interested in the community. These prominent choices are also available in the same order in the header menu for easy navigation.
Food
Even though the farmers’ market was not a priority for the client, the interview revealed that food was most important to the users. Accordingly I made both the events button and menu header “events” lead to information about the market. In order to avoid confusion I added “Coming May 2023” in a large heavy font beside the local market heading; this satisfied both the timeline of the stakeholder and the desires of the users.
Client Timeline and Priorities
There were several long-term goals that would not be available for visitors, but the client still wanted to be mentioned on the website. One example of this was offering tours of the property to schools for educational purposes. On the other hand there were pressing needs that the client wanted met as soon as possible, namely to have co-living volunteer positions filled as soon as possible. The order of need determined the order in which we added collaborators on this section of the website.
Conclusion and Insights
The use of the illustrations provided in the branding guide added delight and character to the website while tying in nicely to the visual themes established in the logo. Keeping the interview questions open-ended allowed for those being interviewed to naturally talk about what they found most interesting or important, but preparing some level of guidance to direct the conversation is advisable. It is important to establish what the client desires to achieve with the website and consider those priorities in balance with those of the user.