How do you make a good website great? This case study outlines the redesign and development of Brooklyn Ballet’s website using a simple and straightforward approach to understanding your brand and how it connects with your audience.
Brooklyn Ballet’s original website was unique and intriguing, but was in need of a revamp to update and refresh the brand and improve functionality.
Original home page:
The new design by PirtleDesign was built on key elements of the original design: lots of white space, use of black and white photos and the color green.
New design:
The new design looked fresher and like the original stood out from the many other dance company sites on the web. The developer was working with this design concept when an early version was sent to me for my thoughts and suggestions.
I felt that the design was not fully expressing the Brooklyn Ballet brand. I also considered that it was not speaking to Brooklyn Ballet’s key stakeholders and that it may even be alienating their community base.
Together with Artistic Director, Lynn Parkerson, we explored what the website intended to achieve and who it needed to inspire and serve.
We also looked closely at the Brooklyn Ballet brand, not the logo, but the image and feel that was coming across through the website. Lynn was very clear about what the site needed to express: juxtaposition of styles, cultures, and dance forms, reaching across cultural and class divides, quality, world class, connected to community, bright, joyful, positive, vibrant, youthful, celebration.
This combination of brand and stakeholder analysis provided a powerful insight into the purpose, functionality and visual impact of the site.
We then met with web developer Beth Sullivan to work on the site structure and resolve any technical issues around design and functionality to ensure that the site could deliver on the needs we had identified in our analysis.
Finally, we pulled together the brilliant brand and design work by PirtleDesign, photos of the range of work the Brooklyn Ballet is involved with, videos clips and copy. I worked up a simple strategy with a step by step implementation plan to guide the build. Beth got to work and created a wonderful site.
What I found interesting about this intervention is that the same team of excellent people worked on both designs. Three days of consultancy, provided them with clear direction and vision for their work. Their talent and the spirit of Brooklyn Ballet really shine on this website.
Browse www.brooklynballet.org to see the final result!
