Project Showcase: VicBlends Academy

A laptop, phone, and tablet displaying a website for VicBlends, a barber shop designed by Newman Web Solutions Agency of Atlanta GA.

VicBlends Project Overview

The VicBlends Academy website redesign and development project aims to create an innovative online platform tailored to individuals interested in pursuing a career in barbering. This comprehensive project is estimated to span 8 weeks, encompassing extensive research, design, development, and testing phases.

The Project

VicBlends Academy seeks to provide a cutting-edge learning management system by offering a wide range of courses, tutorials, and resources related to barbering. The project entails a complete website redesign, focusing on improving user experience, fostering greater engagement, and enhancing the overall learning process.

Project Duration

The project is expected to be completed in approximately 8 weeks, allowing ample time for in-depth research, meticulous design work, seamless development, and thorough testing.

The Problem

The VicBlends LMS Barber Academy website presents a number of significant challenges for its 60K+ students. Predominantly, the issues stem from an interface that lacks intuitiveness, limited interactivity, and obstacles when it comes to accessing the necessary course materials. Additionally, the process for seamlessly checking out and subscribing on a monthly basis proves to be difficult. As a result, these obstacles impede the website's effectiveness as a valuable learning resource for both its users and owner.

The Goal

The primary objective of this case study is to revamp the VicBlends Academy website, ensuring a seamless, efficient, and enjoyable user experience. By addressing the identified problems, our aim is to elevate user engagement, satisfaction, and retention, ultimately cultivating a superior learning environment and seamless checkout.

Our Role

Our dedicated team comprises web developers and UX designers. Our role involves a multifaceted approach, including redesigning the user interface, optimizing navigation, reorganizing content for improved accessibility, and implementing technical enhancements to place user needs at the forefront.

Responsibility

As a web designer and UX specialist, our core responsibility is to lead the design efforts. This encompasses the creation of wireframes, prototypes, and the final design, all while adhering to a user-centric approach. Collaboration with developers is pivotal to ensure the seamless realization of our design vision.

Understanding of the User

User Research

To gain invaluable insights into the needs and behaviors of website visitors, we will undertake extensive user research. Our UX metrics will encompass:

  1. Evaluating Website Performance: Examining the User Experience.
  2. Analytics: To analyze user behavior, traffic patterns, and conversion rates.
  3. Facilitating user communication: Enabling comprehensive dialogues with the owner to gain a deeper understanding of their unique challenges and expectations.

Summary

Based on the initial findings of the user research, it has been identified that users are facing obstacles while navigating the course, accessing relevant course materials, and completing the monthly recurring subscription checkout process. These difficulties not only undermine the overall quality of the learning experience but also impact the owners' recurring revenue.

Pain Point

The primary pain point users face is the arduous task of finding and accessing valuable course content. Additionally, the lack of interactivity and community engagement opportunities curtails users' ability to connect with peers and mentors effectively, diminishing the platform's potential for learning and growth.

Personas

To better understand our target audience, we have crafted a user persona, "Aspiring Barber Ben." Ben is a young individual passionate about pursuing a career in barbering. He is actively seeking a user-friendly platform that grants access to high-quality learning materials and facilitates interaction with a supportive community.

Problem Statements and User Journey Map

Problem Statement: Users grapple with locating and accessing relevant course information, which results in frustration and reduced engagement.

User Journey Map

  1. User lands on the website.
  2. User endeavors to explore available courses.
  3. User encounters difficulties in finding desired course content.
  4. User may opt to leave the site due to mounting frustration.

UX Structure

To address these issues effectively, our strategy entails redesigning the website's information architecture, introducing an intuitive navigation menu, incorporating interactive community features, and reorganizing learning resources for effortless access.

The Impact and Lessons Learned - VicBlends Academy

By the culmination of this project, we anticipate witnessing a notable enhancement in user engagement and satisfaction. We envision reduced bounce rates, increased dwell time on the platform, and the increased subscriptions of aspiring barbers. This case study underscores the paramount importance of continuous user research, responsive design, and user-centric development in the creation of thriving e-learning platforms that cater adeptly to diverse user needs.

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Lori Newman

Hello, cyber explorers! I'm Lori Newman, the proud Creative Director and co-founder of Newman Web Solutions, where we don't just build websites; we craft digital experiences that captivate, convert, and conquer! At Newman Web Solutions, we're committed to making Atlanta a hotspot for groundbreaking web design and innovative digital strategies.

Sheila Stegall
Sheila Stegall
Paisley Voice Agency
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From start to finish, Newman Web Solutions' team was prompt and professional! They designed a beautifully unique website for my new company that is user friendly for my clients and for me. I really appreciate how responsive they were to my requests and also for alleviating the time it would have cost me to build the site myself.
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Angie Dutch
APEC Learning Center, Atlanta, GA
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To be honest, the Newman Team had been telling me to update my website for quite some time. I was reluctant to change and only regret I did not listen sooner. The new site is amazing! My parents rave about how much easier it is to navigate especially when accessing from cell phones. Completely shifted the energy of our online experience bringing us into the future. Update was a gamechanger! Thanks Newman Web Solutions!
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Betty Marchan
CIB Home Remodeling Marietta GA
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This company is not only great at creating a website for you and doing your marketing job. Sam Newman and his team will help you and give you all the support you need and make your company known faster and more efficiently. That is what they have done with us and we are happy to have the service they offer. We recommend them 100% and appreciate all the support they give us.
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Brian Galgon
Galgon HVAC Atlanta, Ga
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Awesome company to work with. Whole team is very responsive and can always speak to them when I need to. They do an amazing job at managing our social media and created a great website that has led to a lot of great leads for our company.
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