Savannah Zoo
Savannah Zoo is the project that aims to redesign the website for Oatland island Wildlife Center. This new website provides the customers of Oatland Island Wildlife Center with updated information and visual appealing design, as well as other services and benefits available through the company. It’s a typical process to redesign a conventional website and make it more user-friendly.
| Date: | Mar-May, 2017 |
| Team Member: | Xiaotong Du, Pramiti R Khan, Yiran He |
| My Role: | UX Research, Storyboard, Prototype, User Testing |
WEBSITE REDESIGN PROCESS
Second Research
Observation
Interview
Persona
Problem
Product Analysis
Proposal
Card Sorting
Sketch
Style Tiles
Social Media
Joomla Development
Google Web Master
SECOND RESEARCH
We analyze the existing website and provide some key findings before we work on user research
Introduction
The Oatland Island Wildlife Center of Savannah is home to more than 150 animals from 50 different species.
Mission
To provide the guests with memorable experiences to make stronger connections to the natural world.
Findings
● It belongs to an non-profit organization Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools (SCCPSS). As a result, it will host many field-trip programs within or out of the organization.
● It has special festivals and events happened during different time periods.
● The architecture of the website is ill-structured and it’s difficult for users to find useful information.
OBSERVATION
We dedicate observation to answering five questions.
• Who are the customers?
• What are the popular animals?
• When is the most popular time to visit?
• How they find this place?
• Why they visit Oatland Island Wildlife Center?
INTERVIEW
After keeping an eye on our target users, we gather first-hand information by interviewing these visitors.
Firstly, interview the customers in order to find their needs or problems when they visit the website or prepare to go to the zoo. Secondly, talk to the crew and experts who work in the zoo, get information about what challenge they have at hand and find opportunities to improve.
Ask the Users
Our target interviewees are include family, schoole teacher, young couples, students.
Question List
Where did you come from?
Why do you come to the zoo?
How did you find the zoo?
Did you browse the Oatland island website before you come?
If yes, how helpful it was? Did you face any problem when browsing it? Did you seek any information that was not in the website?
What kind of information are you looking for before visiting the place like this?
What’s your favorite part in Oatland island?
Ask the Experts
We interviewed the experts, which include non-certificated teacher, gift shop assistance, and the Receptionist.
Question List
What’s the goal for the website?
What should be included in the website?
What’s missing in this website?
What’s the thing you care about most of the Oatland Island?
What’s the challenge you have at hand?
PERSONA
We gathers the first-hand information by interviewing the visitors. The next step is to sythnethsis the answers and organize them into Persona.
Abbey Taylor, 43
Kindergarten teacher, live in Savannah
Objective in visiting website
Getting information to arrange a field trip for the students
Objective in visiting the zoo
Letting students learn about the nature, environment, and animals.
Behaviors
• Loves kids
• Serious at work, but loves to have fun
• Loves nature
• Cares about environment
User Jounery
Sarah Johnson, 35
Mother of a kid, live in Boston
Objective in visiting website
Check the operating hours and location.
Check what kind of animals in the zoo.
Objective in visiting the zoo
Entertaining the kid and having a good family time. Experience Savannah from the zoo. Teach her kid about nature
Behaviors
• Loves to travel
• Loves spending quality time with family
• Doesn’t like taking big risks
User Jounery
Sarah Johnson, 35+
Mother of a kid, live in Boston
Objective in visiting website
Gets information of visiting hours and tickets’ price.
Objective in visiting the zoo
Hanging out with friends
Enjoys the nature and the zoo animals
Behaviors
• Loves to travel and explore new places
• Enjoys hanging out with friends
• Likes spending time on social media
• Tech Savvy
User Jounery
PROBLEMS
We work closely with all the information from the experts and users, in order to define the requirements for building the project correctly. After the interview, we identified several obvious problems on the existing website.
The content in PDF can’t be searched directly by keywords
Marketing people don’t know how to market Oatland Island by social media
The website is super-text. Visitors can’t engage with the website.
The delayed information about open hours on google or other website have a side effect on the operation.
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
We work closely with all the information from the experts and users, in order to define the requirements for building the project correctly. After interviewing these people, we identified several obvious problems on the existing website.
Company Info
Website
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
Strengths
• A large variety of animals
• Appealing appearance of the interface design
• Personalize and plan a day on the website
• Live cams make the user feel more engaged
Weaknesses
• Two main menus and number of submenus
• Overwhelmed information
• Lack of designed landing pages
• High price ticket
Strengths
• Almost have the same animal species with Savannah
• Take advantage of advertising by the social media
Weaknesses
• Ill-structured menu
• Lack of formalized interface design
• Hard to find useful information
Strengths
• Free for the visitors
• One of the most famous places for family to visit in Savannah
Weaknesses
• Entertainments is limited for family
• Crowded during weekends or holiday.
Differentiators for Savannah Zoo
• Local animal species in Savannah
• Cheap Ticket price
• Located at a famous tourist city, and next to Tybee island
• Family friendly
