Ballet for Topanga Case Study

Website design for a community ballet studio.

Project Type: Freelance

Role: Solo Product Designer

Deliverables: Research Insights, Site Map, Style Tile, Squarespace Website Designs

Tools: Figma & Microsoft Word

  • Problem

    Ballet for Topanga was founded by Sherry Jason in 1979. Since then Sherry has taught hundreds of students and put on the annual Nutcracker Ballet for 39 years. Sherry had to stop teaching during the pandemic and since returning she has been struggling to find students for her studio.

  • Solution

    Design a website for Ballet for Topanga which showcases the studio’s history and advertises its current classes. This website will hopefully encourage potential new students to contact Sherry about taking classes at her studio.

Competitive Research

I conducted competitive research to gain insights into the features and solutions of our competitors. Identifying 5 of my direct competitors was the first step. Then I went through their websites and created a list of strengths and weaknesses for each competitor. This research helped me come up with some features and design ideas that would help position my product above the competitors.

Competitor Strengths

  • Strong Branding

  • Clear advertising of current classes

  • Simple and easy navigation

Competitor Weaknesses

  • Too much/not enough information

  • Outdated UI

  • Not very many images of classes

Site Map

I worked with the client to figure out all the different features and information she wanted included on the website. Then I created a site map to figure out the best way to organize all the features and how users would navigate the website. Based on my competitive research and the clients’ business goals I went with a simple universal navigation that is functional and easy to navigate.

Style Tile

Next I worked with my client to create a style tile for the website. This document would provide the guidelines for the style of the website and how the business wants to represents itself to users. Here were the priorities for the style tile that the client and I came up with:

  • Lots of bright color, specifically pinks and purples.

  • Elegant and classic.

  • Simple, clean and professional.

Squarespace Designs

I decided to use Squarespace as my website host and for designing the screens. I had previously used Squarespace and so I was familiar with how it works and I like how easy it is to play around with different template to create custom designs. My goal was to create a visual identity that’s aligned with the brand’s values and message. Here were my main design priorities when creating these Designs:

  • High quality images to be a main focus of the design so users are excited about taking classes at the studio.

  • Simple, clean and professional so users know the company is legitimate and it is easy for users to navigate the website.

  • Emphasize the history of the studio so users are interested in being a part of it’s legacy.

Conclusions

  1. One of the biggest things I learned while working on this project was how to balance my clients wants and the users needs. There were some design choices that my client wanted that wouldn’t have been my first choice but because she was the client, I did my best to accommodate her preferences. However, if I felt that any of the clients desires did not align with the users needs then I would express that concern and luckily the client listened to me when it came to those concerns.

  2. One of the biggest challenges with this project was being limited in my designs with Squarespace. While using Squarespace did help me design faster, I was more limited than I usually am with my designing. I decided to not design wireframes for this project because I didn’t want to get too set on the designs and then not be able to perfectly remake those designs in Squarespace. So instead I took my time playing around with the different template options in Squarespace until I came up with designs that I was happy with.

  3. Something I would’ve done differently with this project is conduct user tests. I was limited in the time I had for this project and so I chose not to conduct any users tests but looking back, if I had more time that is definitely something I would have done. I think it is always so beneficial to get feedback from real users on designs and then make any changes accordingly.