How can we shift the current unhealthy perception of Milk-Bone and optimize the web experience to provide valuable information and resources to their customers?
Milk-Bone Redesign
The Milk-Bone client wanted to revamp their site to enhance their online presence and user engagement
Milk-Bone Redesign
Milk-bone wanted to redesign their entire website to reposition around the new brand architecture surrounding 3 brand pillars: Heart, Body, and Mind. The client also wanted to optimize the user experience and create more content on dog treats.
Timeline
5 months
2021
2021
Team
SEO
Project managers
Account
Creatives
Developers
Project managers
Account
Creatives
Developers
contributions
Auditing site
Collaboration with SEO
Creating user journeys
Developing wires
Updating informational architecture
Providing oversight on design
Collaboration with SEO
Creating user journeys
Developing wires
Updating informational architecture
Providing oversight on design
Problem
Process
01
Initial Research
Gathered SEO input and analyzed competitive companies
02
Audit & Recommendations
Audited Milk-Bone's site
03
User Flow
Created a user flow for checkout
04
Wires
Designed low-fidelity and high-fidelity wires
05
Designs
Collaborated with designers to create the basic pages
06
User Testing
Tested to see if the mobile menu nav is effective for users
Pain Points
Several challenges were identified in the product nomenclature, making it difficult to distinguish between similar products. Additionally, ADA compliance issues arose due to the use of a bright red background in Milk-Bone's design. The site's overall design also missed key branding elements, detracting from its competitive edge.
Research
Competitor analysis takeaways
- Lifestyle and specialized brands have a strong brand philosophy that clearly communicate what they stand for. Specialized brands tell their product/service innovation story and elaborate for customers to learn why they are different.
- Products have higher level category pages that can be easily understood.
- Visual branding is strong and reflects the fun dog life.
SEO Takeaway
SEO came to us with their findings and we incorporated their recommendations on to the site.
- Milk-Bone lacks in search engine rankings and content for high-demand searched topics related to dog treats.
- New visitors might not be familiar with the brand product names, and lack context to understand the products.
- The site also has little content and experience to offer on the website beyond basic product information.
- Create content for future lifestyle relevance that truly reflects the fun in dog life.
I brainstormed on how to align SEO recommendations and the new branding guidelines with the product categorization.
Audit and Recommendations
I audited each high level page and gave recommendations, such as improving content hierarchy, and changing some designs and functions.
Solutions
Based on the research and audit, there are 3 main improvements: product updates, design improvements, and content strategy.
🦴 Product Updates
- Improve nomenclature and categorization
- Pull product types to the top of the nav
- Add attributes to easily distinguish between products
🖊️ Design Improvements
- Change colors and text to comply with ADA standards
- Reflect the fun dog life with content
- Increase the presence of "healthyness" across the site
📝 Content Strategy
- Incorporate more content around dog ownership
- Add accesssories and gifts subpages
- Link content articles throughout the site
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I started on creating high-fidelity wires and a UI design guideline to handoff to designers after client approval.
High-Fidelity Wires
Since there were many pages to be created in a limited amount of time, I started immediately on high-fidelity wires.
UI Guidelines
I started a style sheet for the designers.
Designs
Designs are now live on Milk-Bone.com
