Website Redesign and Styleguide
Redesign of the Cascade Bicycle Club visual system for desktop, mobile, and print
Overview
For my final class project in Visual Communications, I redesigned the visual system of the Cascade Bicycle Club website with a focus on promoting outdoor adventures and showcasing the joy of bicycling. My final deliverables consisted of both digital and print assets: a desktop homepage and subpage, a mobile homepage and a promotional event poster.
Final Designs
Problem
Cascade Bicycle Club is a large non-profit in Washington State that builds community through bicycling, with a focus on joy, advocacy, and world-class rides and events. Unfortunately the current website design does a poor job communicating their values, lack consistency and cohesion, and has an overly complicated information architecture that makes navigation difficult.
Original Website
Home Page
Events Page
Research
- Secondary research of the organization with a focus on their mission, audience, and current channels of communication and outreach.
- Quick competitive analysis of bicycle nonprofits in Washington State to identify what makes Cascade unique.
- Exploration of their current website with a focus on consistency, efficiency of use, aesthetics, and content.
Define
Goals
Using insights from my research I focused on three goals for my redesign process:
1. Communicate the organization's goals and values through visual design
I identified the main values and goals of the organization and used clear wording, layout, and imagery to highlight community outreach and education, discovery of organized events, and advocacy work.
2. Promote events and outreach across Washington State
Cascade has a strong presence in the Great Seattle Area and is focused on outreach and growing the bicycling community across the state. To promote this goal I used imagery and color to highlight natural features outside of urban spaces and maintained a focus on group outings.
3. Create a feeling of joy and playfulness through visual design
The Pacific Northwest can be pretty gray and rainy, making it hard for newer and more casual riders to get out and explore. I created a sense of joy and playfulness through my design, to inspire all riders to get outside and explore the beauty this region has to offer.
Moodboard
I chose imagery that portrayed the natural features of Washington State, group adventures, and exploration through travel. I focused on colors found in nature and while riding on the open road. Creating a moodboard helped me collect my ideas and create a cohesive theme to guide the rest of my design process.
Ideation
Brainstorming, Sketching, Wireframes
I started by brainstorming and sketching to get some ideas down on paper and play with different shapes and themes. In my initial wireframes I focused on shapes representative of bicycles and natural features of the Pacific Northwest. As I added in content, imagery, and color my designs evolved to balance content and aesthetics.
Typography
The use of a sans serif font allows for simplicity, comfort, and ease of reading. Azo Sans was chosen because the shape of the O and C are circular, reminiscent of bicycle wheels and complimenting the many circles found throughout the visual system.
Color Palette
The palette utilizes blue, white, and dark gray as the dominant colors, hinting to open sky, water and mountains, and providing a cooler setting that allows the bright imagery to stand out. Call-to-action buttons are red for emphasis, while yellow is utilized in images and some text to draw the eye in and express energy, joy, and warmth.
Final Designs
Desktop - Homepage
Desktop - Events Page
Mobile - Homepage
Print - Event Poster
