Problem

The CEVMA event website was redesigned several years before and wasn't functional for navigation of the site and registration. Several pages and links were redundant and broken.

Objective

1. Reformat the UX/UI of the CEVMA website to prioritize registration for events & awards

2. Redesign CEVMA site to increase brand identity and engagement

Process and Solution

Begin with a proposal that includes suggested changes, timeline, and a moodboard for the CEVMA board. Use their feedback to make gradual changes with approvals.

The CEVMA site now functions to prioritize images and video, which was absent before. A dark, cinematic and vibrant design captivates the users and pages are logical in flow.

Home Page Redesign

The previous home page featured the brand colors (blue, gold, white) but graphics and visuals were abstract and outdated. New homepage continues to use brand elements, but introduces color to highlight specific user direction. Images are now event photos or stills from award winning films.

Before, the home page was flooded with text that had little contrast and little hierarchy. The text focuses on history and future events without leading to a specific user action. The new home page has redundant, specific user action that ties to hierarchical typography.

About Page Redesign

Before, the “About Us” page featured all CEVMA information: history, event, and board members. All of this information was collected on this single page and the text was congested. On the new page(s), I separated “About us” into a general “About Us” Page that briefly summarizes the vision behind CEVMA, a group photo, and a word for the sponsors. The other pages are a “History and Mission” page, “Board members” page, and a “Our Newsletter” page.

History and Mission (see left image) uses typographic moments to guide the user through specific moments in the history and vision of CEVMA, ending with a featured photo reel from previous events.

Board Members has photos of current board members along with their information and location in Europe.

Our Newsletter is a brief page with a Mailchimp coded form to register for CEVMA’s newsletters.

Jewel Awards Page Redesign

Previous awards landing page had an outdated list of winners from a previous year, large blocks of text, and important information left to the bottom of the page.

The new Jewel Awards landing page immediately presents important information about submissions and provides a specific button for entering submissions and viewing previous winners. This is a useful change for users interested in learning more about the awards and wanting to submit their films.

Jewel Awards Winner Page Redesign

Old winner pages had an outdated graphic and featured YouTube links that lead to external sites to view trailers for award winning films. New page distinctly features award winning film posters at the header of the page that scroll and lead to trailers. Each award is featured as a card below and shows the film poster, film information, and a link to learn more about the film.

These choices not only prioritize film centered imagery over text blocks, they also lead users to a specific action of interacting more with award winning films. Furthermore, users can see the type of attention their own films would gain if they submitted and won a featured award.

Footer, Subscribe, Connect Redesign

The footer used to blocks of text without proper hierarchy to direct user engagement. The Logo and Mission of CEVMA is now primary but separated by a small line from important links. “Follow Us” social media links are in a separate column from “Contact Us” address and email. Another “Register Now” button is added for redundancy of the page’s most important user action: registering for the upcoming event.

New submission and connect pages are simple, featuring the primary function of filling the form and collecting information.

Results

I delivered this site to the CEVMA board and taught the staff how to maintain on wix. In the future, they will be able to maintain this site easier and have already seen increased engagement since redesign.

Conclusions

A focus on hierarchy and delivering a site catered to brand and purpose is impactful for reaching the key audience with enhanced user experience design. Cinematic events deserve vibrant, cinematic websites.