A global visual style change includes a subtle color shift to a more appealing, red-tinged tone and other fit-and-finish improvements. The CEO wanted to maintain the skeuomorphic, papyrus-inspired design from before, so any changes had to work within these parameters.
The text was changed from Optima, which does not even display on most devices, to Literata, a web font designed for Google Play Books. This font gives the site an archival, authoritative feel (important to the client), while improving readability. Additionally, the text size was increased to 16 point in keeping with web best practices.
The gradient banner on the top was implemented against advice in the late 2010s, and the new design replaces it with a brand-consistent maroon hue.
Research shows that a significant amount of users still access the site via directly visiting the homepage. That means the homepage needs to be improved not only to make it more inviting, but to drive traffic to high engagement features. A set of AI-generated icons matching the archival, somewhat old-world style of the site was created to turn the site's major features into appealing products.
Banner ads called "feature cards" were designed to direct users from high-traffic pages to high-engagement features. Their copy is adaptive to various conditions such as the availability of forum posts, and whether the user is signed in.
Before we redirect traffic to the forums, which look dated and potentially unappealing, the forums are being redesigned to match modern social media experience standards, such as found on Reddit or Stack Exchange.
Change management
The CEO was concerned that existing forum users may be put off by sudden changes to the forum experience. A modernization of the forums in 2021 created an uproar among a vocal minority, but the integrity of the community is considered paramount. Thus, I created a change plan for the forums, minimizing disruption while maximizing utility.
Mitigating suboptimal design
The gradient design in the page headers is important to some stakeholders. As a result, I created a set of options that mitigate the harm of the loud gradients and keep the site looking professional.