A mockup showing the Wave Business TV website on a Macbook laptop.

How a website revamp helped Wave bounce back post-pandemic

Two minute rundown

If you're in a rush, I created this quick video summarising the whole design process I followed for the Wave project.

To dig a bit deeper, the full case study is available below.

Problem statement

Wave is a TV and Audio production company focussed on internal communications. As they focussed largely on filming in-person events, it was tough for Wave during the pandemic as these conferences went on hold. They wanted their new site to show off their impressive client list and range of services. Their old site wasn't fit for purpose; it had a cluttered navigation, confusing structure and a misleading visual design.

The goal of the redesign is that this will encourage both new and existing clients to feel confident booking Wave for their next project.

Users and audience

Typically leaders of internal communications in high profile businesses.

Often they are also existing Wave clients - or have arrived on the website from a referral.

They need to feel confident that Wave will deliver a quality production, on time and on budget.

Roles and responsibilities

I was the sole designer and carried out all UX research, analysis and design activities. I worked alongside the client very closely and we collaborated on some of the analysis tasks together, such as identifying the key points of focus. We worked both remotely and in person, and seamlessly communicated via email and messaging platforms. I also built the final site in Wordpress.

Scope & Constraints

I completed the Wave website from research through to live site in one month. I hadn’t built in Wordpress before, so this also included some time learning the tool.

I had no additional budget to work with on this project, so all the time I used had to be effectively managed.

Design process

The original Wave website

1. Research

I started by carrying out four research methods to try and get a firm understanding of Wave's users. These were heuristic analysis, competitor benchmarking, card sorting and stakeholder interview.

Key problems identified:

A lack of visual hierarchy makes the site hard to understand and navigate.
Industry standards, such as a clear 'About' and 'Contact' section are missing.
Trust needs to be built by highlighting well known clients and the approachable Wave team.

A Figma walkthrough. Open in Figma

3. Design

I begun the design process by sketching wireframes. These then became an interactive Figma prototype which I took to the client for testing. I built a simple design system and made sure to include existing Wave fonts and colours to keep consistent branding - increasing the credibility of the website.

While designing, I had to consider a business constraint from Wave which is that their current site is built in Wordpress. I had to research and identify a suitable theme which would fit with my design and the style requested by the client; something simple, clean and not too artistic or complicated.

Information architecture for the new website. Open in Figjam

2. Analysis

Following the research, I hosted a stakeholder workshop with Graham, Founder and Jacky, Business Director. We analysed the research so far and worked together to plan out a solution to the issues identified.

Main points of focus identified for the redesign:

Navigation to be improved through developing Information Architecture. This will include a prominent 'Contact' button to drive enquiries.
Client list to be clearly shown on its own page, demonstrating wave as a trustworthy and reliable provider.
Presence of NDAs restricts the content that an can be shown; new Case Studies and Sector pages will show Wave work without videos.

Outcomes and lessons learnt

Wave have seen a notable boost to their projects since the site launched, including filming at an international conference.

I learnt a lot during this project about how to adapt my design process to be flexible within the constraints of a client project. I embraced the challenge of working to a minimal budget and enjoyed the process of restructuring the site to utilise the information already there.

Next time, I would like to spend more time talking to users of the site. It was tricky to get in touch with any of Wave’s clients for a user test or interview, so next time (if time and budget allowed), I would book these with a platform like Maze or Userfeel.

Client feedback:

“Ellie took time to really understand our business and the challenges we face, the final reworking of our website really reflected those key points and has resulted in a much more coherent and client friendly layout. Business is up and I feel that the website redesign has really contributed to that”

Graham, Director at Wave Business TV