User and Brand Experience Design User and Brand Experience Design
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UI Design Portfolio SHowcase theatre Choreographer Hero
About The Challenge The internationally successful german theater choreographer Helena Waldmann asked me to design her online appearance. My Action First of all, I defined the end-users of the website and what individual requirements they place on it. This way I had all the neccessary features listed and could then work on information architecture and visual design of the product. Inspired by the darkness that surrounds a theatergoer who excitedly directs all his attention to the performance, my goal was to give every production the stage it deserves. Helena's work is unique. To not let the user interface of the website overlay the values of the individual pieces, I opted for a design that is both minimalist and modern. The Result A website, realized with wordpress, which guides the viewer through Helena's Œu­v­re of the past 28 years. The focus lays on every workpiece and the career of the choreographer as a whole. Role User Research User Interface Design Timeline December 2018 – March 2019 Methods & Skills used User Research Users point of view Information Architecture UI Design Tools Adobe XD Wordpress
Stakeholder Needs, Jobs TBD Framework, Information Architecture, Visual Design
To build a product that satisfies all end users needs I first thought about who will be interacting with the website most. Then I collected the requirements each of these stakeholders pose on a visit on the site and defined to what extent they overlap in order to further think about the features the site must have.
Following the research's insights, I defined features that the website needs to have in order to enable each user to reach their goal.
Now that I had all the required features listed, I thought about the structure of the website. I created a simple sitemap that allows for an easy navigation through all relevant pages.
The structure of the website was decided. Now I thought about the look and feel. Inspired by Helenas work tonality I created a visual language that transports her values. Her work is bold, often forceful still sensual. My goal was to let her pieces speak for themselves by keeping the overall interface design minimalistic. Moodboard: For setting the overall tone I let myself be inspired by actual photography from various productions by Helena.
Since Helenas wish was to receive a website that she could easily update herself and we also didn't have a developer in our team, I decided to work with wordpress as it allows for easily editable and visually attractive results without advances programming knowledge. Hence I chose a grid that works with the bootstrap based wordpress themes.
I chose a sans-serif modern and bold looking font for headlines. In contrast to that stands Crimson Text, the easy to read, more classic looking serif-font.
Inspired by the moodboard of Helena's work.
The portfolio overview features a slider of all of Helena's work pieces. Users can let it slide in on autotimer or Control it through the navigation handles. If a user hovers on a title, subtitle and additional information appear. Since this is not working on mobile view I created a simple down-scroll list of all work pieces.
Final Pages - Work Piece
Final Pages - Work Piece mobile
With 28 portfolio pieces, each of which accommodates different media and press articles, my approach was to give every single play the stage it deserves. I had to find a natural and graceful way of integrating some of the more sophisticated features and engagements without losing simplicity. The result is a modern and streamlined portfolio website, which not only informs about Helena's work but also her person and upcoming events. A product that my client can update and change at any time: Challenge: Due to the design with WordPress templates, I was somewhat limited in the design. The challenge was to find a theme that was functional and at the same time highly adaptive. I found what I was looking for with "Werkstatt" from fuelthemes, a responsive and creative solution. Or in my clients words ;) "You are fantastic!!! I have rarely worked with someone who is as efficient as you! I am really excited about your work and my new online portfolio!"
Thank you, please hire me