Messana O’Rorke
Website reimagined to minimize clicks and streamline navigation.
When Messana O'Rorke’s monograph Building Blocks was published by Rizzoli, the founders wanted a website that reflected the same clarity with which the firm presents its work. Their key priorities were reducing the number of clicks, making navigation easier, and streamlining the user experience.
Role
This is a concept project where I assumed the following roles:
Interaction (IxD) Designer
User Experience (UX) Designer
User Interface (UI) Designe
Deliverables
Interaction Design: High-fidelity interactive prototypes for key tasks on
desktop and mobile.
UX/UI Design:
Competitive analysis
User surveys and One-on-one interviews
Site map
Personas
UI kit
Low-fidelity wireframes
High-fidelity mockups and prototypes
Usability tests and findings
Project Specifications
Duration: 6 weeks
Tools:
Figma
Whimsical
OptimalSort
Octopus
Photoshop
Illustrator
Overview
In 2022 Messana O’Rorkes monograph Building Blocks was published by Rizzoli,
The problem: During the design process, the principals emphasized the importance of maintaining consistency across all touch-points print, digital, and social. However, their website, which was eight years old, received complaints from visitors about requiring too many clicks to find information.
The solution: Create a new site that offers a seamless user experience, focusing on reducing clicks, enhancing navigation, and simplifying the overall structure. This approach ensures that visitors can effortlessly explore the firm’s projects while experiencing the same thoughtful design and attention to detail that defines Messana O'Rorke’s architectural philosophy and monograph.
Research
I began my research with competitive analysis to understand the approaches of the boutique design Architecture firms website. Additionally I wanted to identify functional and usability gaps by looking at alternative solutions. User surveys would help me understand what information potential clients are looking for in an architecture, so I could prioritize their needs. And lastly, one-on-one interviews One-on-one interviews offered valuable qualitative and emotional insights into critical moments of the users' journeys.
Messana O'Rorke has a strong reputation in the architecture community, which needs to be effectively communicated to distinguish the firm from its competitors.
On average, users spend 45 to 55 seconds on a website. To maintain engagement, it’s crucial to focus on relevant content and improved usability.
A top priority was addressing concerns about the number of clicks it takes for users to find what they’re looking for
Finding
Increasing User Empathy
The user persona for Sasha was developed by integrating quantitative and qualitative data from user surveys and interviews with official demographic data. This personas will serve as key reference points to guide design
decisions moving forward.
Sasha is a first-generation immigrant
English is not her first language
Sasha is able to navigate digital platforms like websites, social media
platforms and is tech savvy
Understanding the Journey
By mapping out this journey, the redesign process will stay focused on the goals of reducing clicks, improving navigation, and creating a streamlined, user-friendly experience.
Crafting a Seamless Integration
Multiple rounds of quick paper sketches were crucial in simplifying key tasks, creating a seamless user experience, reducing clicks, and enhancing navigation, all while refining the overall site structure.
Uncovering areas of frustration / pain points through wireframe prototype
To simulate user interactions and test the site’s structure and functionality, I transformed the initial sketches into low-fidelity, clickable wireframes. This approach helped identify potential confusion points and usability issues early in the process.
Bringing New Issues to Light
The high-fidelity prototype provided users with the most realistic experience yet, uncovering several issues. It allowed participants to navigate the site naturally, fostering curiosity and deeper engagement. While most users appreciated the reduced clicks, some raised concerns about the page length, while others preferred deeper navigation layers for a greater sense of exploration.
(Clickable prototype to the left, and also available on Figma)
What can be improved?
Issues that can be addressed at a later date
Simplify the the menu and navigations even more
Streamline copy for clarity and legibility
by reducing text length, ensuring potential clients aren't bogged down by
long paragraphs.Improve upon the photography and reduce the amount of projects and photographs per projects.
Lessons Learned
1. Creating an intuitive menu structure that prioritizes content was crucial for reducing clicks on the new site.
2. Don’t assume that everyone knows that the three lines in the corner of the site is the menu and that you can click on it.
3. Don’t assume