American Heritage Girls

CHALLENGE

American Heritage Girls had a website and integrated online storefront that had become unappealing, incapable of being managed, and ultimately obsolete. The primary objective was to enhance the overall look, feel, and user experience of the site to support their overall marketing strategy while speaking to their target audience in an authentic way.

SOLUTION

It was essential to understand who their user personas were before we redesigned the website so that we could create an experience that catered to their needs and challenges. We also wanted to ensure that we had a platform that wasn’t just functional and easily manageable, but that also tracked all of their marketing efforts and how their target users were using their site.

We put the user at the center of our strategy which gave rise to 2 different, beautifully integrated sites (a marketing website built on WordPress and the store built in Shopify) that are interactive, visual and tell an impactful story – from the initial discovery phase to the completion of the shopping experience.

Discovery Phase

Defining the User Personas

The main task of our team wasn't just to make the website visually attractive; we also had to make sure that American Heritage Girls was speaking to the right market. That's why we spent a lot of time with them discussing the main pain points, motivations, lifestyles, and needs of their target personas. Enter, Rachel and Emma. A young girl and an ambitious mother who embodies everything for which the AHG program exists. Together, we shaped not only the imagery that communicates effectively to these personas but the idea itself, ensuring that the story and experience fit their core actions.

ahg-user-personas

Defining the Website Styles

User Interface Style Guide + Global Elements

For every website, we create a website style guide that sets the stage for all the colors, fonts, buttons, lists, form components, and photography elements used across the website. Our developers really like these.

UI/UX Design

A new website that fits a strong, new brand.

We didn’t just design a website experience and create the copy for one site – we did it for 2, at the same time. We’re a bunch of magicians I tell you.

A Dynamic and Simple Navigation

Ok pages, now let's get in formation.

When we inherited this project, we started with over 150 pages. You read that right. After an extensive information architecture audit, we condensed their menu structure and overall page content to be more understandable for users, then created a design that was interactive, photography-heavy, and incredibly sleek to match their recent rebrand...all on an easily manageable Wordpress CMS.

Optimized for Mobile

A seamless experience across all devices.

The mobile experience is always different, but it’s important to make sure users feel the same emotions and experience the same design regardless of the device. We optimized the website for mobile to have a simple, efficient and dedicated ergonomy for each device.

ahg-mobile-design

An Easily Shoppable Shop

Custom eCommerce Platform

One of the biggest selling points for the AHG website (see what we did there?) was to give users the freedom to easily shop merchandise and program materials online. After hours of usability testing and research, we designed a custom shopping experience on the Shopify platform that not only mirrored the branding of the marketing website but showcased their rich catalog of products in a clean, modern, and user-friendly way. We flipped their old storefront on its head, created a dashboard that could seamlessly manage and fulfill orders, and allow users to have fun while shopping.

Finding a Troop Has Never Been Easier

One of the most custom aspects of the website and easily one of the most important was the ability for a user to find troops in their area. We customized an existing plug-in to allow users to search by zip code, full address, and within a certain radius. Once they hit enter, a long list of results displayed with the address to each local charter organization and the ability to get in touch right away – all within one small screen. Even better, if they didn’t find a troop close to them, they were presented with great information on how to start a troop or join their great trailblazer program.

A Story Worth Being Told

Fully Optimized Pages + Content

Great design without compelling content is just a website that gets lost in the shuffle. One elevates the other and evokes emotion, action, powers stories that desire to be told. And with a story as powerful as American Heritage Girls' – we made sure to bring everything they set out to be for so many young girls to the surface. Even better...we did lots of keyword research and optimization of their content to ensure that their beautiful story touched the hearts of the right people.

Want to hear another great story?

Gather 'round for story time because boy, do we have some work that'll knock your socks off.
We build brands that shake things up, after all.