Diddly-Squat Farming
Overview
Diddly-Squat Farming LLC engages in multipurpose farming, is eco-friendly, and will provide high-quality specialty crops such as hemp flower, lavender, and culinary mushrooms that commercial customers can depend on and rely on, with services they can trust.
The amazing owner reached out to me about a redesign that would help with rebranding the site, increase traffic, and add functionality to improve the user experience.
Role
Product Designer
Visual Designer, Researcher, Information Architect
December 2022-January 2023
The Challenge
While Diddley-Squat Farming has successfully created a great bond with commercial businesses, my challenges were to explore different ways small businesses and individual users can support them as well. The new contributors need to be well-informed about the products and services, be able to explore the website without confusing information architecture or missing data, and build a bond with the business.
Vision and Solution
Re-design the current Diddley-Squat Farming website to provide visitors with more updated and meaningful information, create an interrupted navigation flow, and include consistent brand design that strengthens trust on reputation. This will empower individuals to get involved!
Redesign Before and After Snippets
I redesigned each page with user flow, updated products and service information, and branding consistency in mind. Below I highlighted the homepage redesign.
This is the original home screen viewed on a desktop.
The See More button linked to About Us page. It blends in with the background.
The Instagram button was not link to Instagram. It blends in with the background.
This section lacks content informing users about products or services. The pictures are not linked to other pages.
The Gallery and Contact links functioned and linked to the correct pages.
I suggested adding a navigation bar so that users can quickly see what information is available and navigate self-sufficiently.
This is the top portion of the scrolling screen. The new layout template includes a jumbotron. This allows the space to highlight the greenhouse and branding on the truck, which were special requests.
The logo now appears in the top-left corner of each page. The tracker element of the logo shows the uniqueness and purpose of the business- farming.
A navigation bar is at the top of each page. The bolded page title informs a user where they are on their navigation flow.
The ‘See More’ and ‘Instagram’ buttons were given color to stand out and encourage exploring. Green is a primary color for the farm’s brand and is seen as a representation of plants and nature in agricultural businesses.
The ‘See More’ button now leads to the Gallery. The Gallery contains photos of the main crops, seasonal crops, and the farm. The ‘Instagram’ button leads to the farm’s Instagram page.
This is the bottom portion of the home screen.
Products and Services label was placed above the photos to inform the user the purpose of the photos
The marketing titles for the photos were added
The footer was updated to contain social media links and the farm’s address.
A PDF of the entire redesign is linked Here
Final Takeaways
The biggest challenges I found in the project are:
Learning the constraints of the website builder. There were times the client and I discussed designing a specific section a certain way and the website builder templates would not allow it or change other areas that did not need adjusting. Also, the website builder would not allow me to differentiate the home page button colors.
Implementing CashApp as a donation source. The website builder does not partner with CashApp. I found a way to by add a url link that will open a users' CashApp on their mobile device.
Making sure there was no visual clutter on the mobile application view while redesigning the desktop view. The website builder simultaneously updates the mobile view while updating the desktop view.
There was not enough time for Guerrilla Usability Testing to get real-time feedback on the re-redesign. This was a quick turn-around project and I had to make informed designs based on user thought-processes and assumptions.
The challenges encouraged me to think outside the box as this was a solo project. I kept open communication with the client so we could find a solution at every endpoint. The essential goals were: making sure the user did not encounter confusing information architecture, the information was accurate , and branding consistency.
Since project completion, the client has expressed how please they are with the redesign. Seeing consistent brand design throughout the site excites excites them during each visit. The site's traffic has increased since the update.
Here is the client’s website: https://diddlysquatfarmingllc.com/ . Check it out!
