Overview
International Market Centers is the leading global provider of premium showroom space for industries such as furniture, gifts, home décor, rugs, and apparel. With ownership and operation of nearly 20 million square feet of top-tier exhibition space, International Market Centers has a significant presence in High Point, North Carolina, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.
The Challenge
My task involved redesigning six legacy market sites, the market mobile apps, and the exhibitor portal. Due to legacy code and limited development resources, the project had to be executed in incremental steps. Additionally, I collaborated with the marketing team to develop strategies and brand style guides for both the market sites and apps.
My task involved redesigning six legacy market sites, the market mobile apps, and the exhibitor portal. Due to legacy code and limited development resources, the project had to be executed in incremental steps. Additionally, I collaborated with the marketing team to develop strategies and brand style guides for both the market sites and apps.
MY ROLE
Lead UX/UI Designer
What I did:
As the lead UX designer, I spearheaded the redesign of their six market websites, market mobile apps, and exhibitor portal. My responsibilities included conducting site audits and implementing comprehensive UX processes for the UXP team, covering documentation, Jira for UX, feasibility reviews, style guides, and libraries. Collaborating closely with marketing, development, and product owners, I ensured alignment in site strategy and direction. Furthermore, I developed research plans for various user flows and designed a survey to gather both quantitative and qualitative research data for the market sites.
Lead UX/UI Designer
What I did:
As the lead UX designer, I spearheaded the redesign of their six market websites, market mobile apps, and exhibitor portal. My responsibilities included conducting site audits and implementing comprehensive UX processes for the UXP team, covering documentation, Jira for UX, feasibility reviews, style guides, and libraries. Collaborating closely with marketing, development, and product owners, I ensured alignment in site strategy and direction. Furthermore, I developed research plans for various user flows and designed a survey to gather both quantitative and qualitative research data for the market sites.
TOOLS USED
Adobe XD, Miro, Adobe CC, Jira, Confluence
DURATION
Jan 2021-Nov 2022
1 year 11 months
Jan 2021-Nov 2022
1 year 11 months
THE TEAM
1 UX Designer, 1 Project Manager, 1 Front End Developer, 3 Back End Developers
1 UX Designer, 1 Project Manager, 1 Front End Developer, 3 Back End Developers
Business Constraints
Business Requirements
01 Legacy Code that was hard to work with
02 Not enough development resources
03 Disconnect between marketing and UX
04 no UX process in place
05 not much user data available
01 redesign of all market sites and apps
02 Redesign of the exhibitor portal
02 Redesign of the exhibitor portal
03 THE JUNIPERCREDIT MARKETING PAGE
04 put UX processes in place
Project Lifecycle
01 gather requirements from product owner and marketing team
02 set up UX processes including, documentation, feasibility reviews, and Ux presentation
03 audit of all sites for usability and accessibility issues
03 audit of all sites for usability and accessibility issues
04 redesign parts of the exhibitor portal
05 architecture and design for the market sites
06 redesign of the exhibitor and event directories
07 design of page templates for the marketing team
08 design systems for all market sites
09 hand-off and collaboration with developers
10 research plan and survey for market sites for future state
Research
I formulated a research plan and survey for the market sites to envision their future state before the mass layoff at IMC in November 2022. Unfortunately, I couldn't proceed with the research process due to the layoff. Additionally, I lost access to all my research data as a result of being locked out of accounts.
Las Vegas Market
I worked on the redesign of the Las Vegas market site, which was one of the six market sites under my purview. My goal was to enhance their design and branding for greater cohesion. Additionally, I addressed accessibility and usability issues across all the sites.
View screens here
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Market Sites Architecture/Navigation
Main Navigation
Users encountered challenges in locating the information they needed through the navigation system. To address this issue, I collaborated with stakeholders and the marketing team to revamp the site's architecture. I reorganized menus into more meaningful groups, streamlined the navigation by condensing it into two main sections instead of three, and implemented a sticky bottom navigation on scroll for improved usability.
Users encountered challenges in locating the information they needed through the navigation system. To address this issue, I collaborated with stakeholders and the marketing team to revamp the site's architecture. I reorganized menus into more meaningful groups, streamlined the navigation by condensing it into two main sections instead of three, and implemented a sticky bottom navigation on scroll for improved usability.
Before
Desktop
Mobile
After
Desktop
Mobile
Interactive navigation prototypes
Footer
To optimize space on the page, I reorganized and restyled the footer, which was previously occupying a significant amount of space. To maintain consistency across all market sites, I standardized the footer's color to white. The first screen below shows the footer before the redesign, while the second screen illustrates the updated version.
Before
Desktop
Mobile
After
Desktop
Mobile
Exhibitor Directory
I overhauled every element of the Exhibitor Directory page, starting from the filters to the exhibitor cards. The previous design posed numerous accessibility issues, prompting me to devise a cleaner and more user-friendly design.
View prototypes here
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Before
After
Market Events
As evident in the initial image (bottom left), the Market Events page faced various issues, including scalability concerns with the tab design, accessibility issues, and an unappealing and cumbersome user interface. To address these challenges, my solution (bottom right) involved incorporating a calendar widget with sorting and filtering options, along with tabs dedicated to IMC events and Exhibitor events. Additionally, I introduced a section highlighting featured events.
View prototypes here
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Before
After
Events Detail Page
The initial event details page presented accessibility challenges and required improved usability and styling. In the screenshots provided below, you can observe its appearance before and after my redesign efforts. As part of the redesign, I introduced a "Similar Events" section at the bottom to enhance event promotion.
View prototypes here
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Before
After
Category Pages
I crafted these category pages as templates for utilization across the market sites by the content team. Each site's branding was incorporated while maintaining a consistent base layout for all.
View prototypes here
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Scroll through them using the arrows at the bottom
Next Steps and Project Outcome
Before my departure from the project due to layoffs, the upcoming tasks for the IMC sites involved the ongoing implementation of new style guides. The plan was to continue redesigning all pages to ensure consistency across all six market sites. The long-term goal was to unify the sites under the Juniper branding by completing the redesign of each one.
Our team achieved significant progress in enhancing the sites' usability, introducing a new navigation system that was conceptualized (though not yet developed) at the time of my departure. Additionally, we implemented a newly designed exhibitor directory, revamped event pages, established new templates for universal use across the sites, and introduced a comprehensive style guide. Various user flows were also improved, contributing to a doubled engagement on the market sites between 2021 and 2022, ultimately attracting more buyers to the physical markets.
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