SociologicalYOU
My Role
Tools & Methodologies
Challenge
SociologicalYOU had been working for years to promote their textbook. They were having a difficult time getting peoples' attentions and gaining new leads. While they were marketing their product as a cutting edge and innovative textbook, their branding and website were outdated. Given that most introductory sociology professors are the youngest generation of professors, having a non-modern interface was hindering them. Additionally, their marketing collateral was inconsistent and unclear.
Solution
Having a brand script would help the company communicate to its target audience the ways in which it helps them. New branding guidelines would promote SociologicalYOU as a cohesive and legitimate brand. Additionally, redoing the visual branding would help portray the product as innovate and modern.
Process
Discovery
Competitive Analysis
Challenge
Solution
Define
Brand Script
User Personas
Mood Boards
User Flow Diagram
Refine
Brand Guidelines
Wireframing
Design
Visual Design
Responsive Design
Define
After analyzing competitors and addressing the project's challenges and solutions, we moved onto the define stage. In this stage, my partner and I defined how the brand will communicate to customers and who the customers will be. We then decided on a mood board to represent the brand and user flows to identify the website's key functions before moving onto producing wireframes.
Refine
After defining the brand script, target audience, mood board, and user flows, we redesigned the company's visual branding and drafted brand guidelines to serve as an instruction guide. After the brand guidelines were composed, my partner and I developed wireframes for the company's website.
Design
In the design phase, we applied the visual design, defined in the brand guidelines, to the wireframes.
Discovery
The first stage of the design process is discover. In this stage preliminary research was performed. My partner and I conducted a competitive analysis, identified what challenge we needed to overcome, and presented a solution.
Brand Script
The first thing my partner and I defined was the brand script. Using the Story Brand framework, we created a script that directly communicated how SociologicalYOU helped solve its target audience's problems. This would serve as copy for their website and aid in their marketing campaign. Once we generated the brand script, we were able to further define who the target audience was.
User Personas
After drafting a brand script, we specified who the target audience was through user personas. We compiled three types of people that the company was trying to appeal to: introductory sociology professors, sociology department heads, and students. While students were not directly the target audience, it was still important to consider catering to them because they would also be users of the product.
Mood Boards
After we established a brand script and defined the target audience, my partner and I composed mood boards that served as options for the company's visual branding. Changing the visual brand posed some challenges in that there was some pushback. To overcome this obstacle, my partner and I created a mood board that represented the company's visual branding at the present time. Following that presentation, they were ready to modernize their look and chose option 4. Once a mood board was decided upon, we were able to move onto defining user flows.
User Flow Diagram
After determining which mood board best represents the company and its brand script, we put together user flows. A few important user flows were: read a blog post, schedule an appointment, and download a free pdf. Downloading a free pdf served as a lead generator for the company.
Brand Guidelines
Redesigning the visual branding for SociologicalYOU was a necessity if they wanted to paint themselves as an innovative company. They had an extremely outdated interface which did them a disservice. Taking into account the brand script, target audience, and mood board, my partner and I were able to formulate brand guidelines that accurately portrayed the company's personality. Included in the brand guidelines were a logo redesign and how to properly use it, color palette and gradient usage, typography hierarchy, imagery style, writing guidelines, and social media style. It was important to establish the brand guidelines before designing the layout for the website.
Wireframing
After compiling brand guidelines, we designed wireframes for the company's website. We designed responsive wireframes meaning users can view the website from any device.
Visual Design
Updating the company's visual branding was my favorite part of this project. The brand guidelines provided good direction when it came to applying the visual design to the website. Additionally, we used the brand script to write the website's copy.
Competitive Analysis
The first thing we did was complete a competitive analysis. It was important to understand how SociologicalYOU compared to its competitors. We looked into several products and found ways to make SY stand out. In doing this, not only did it give us a better understanding of the overall market, but also of the product itself. Once we had a good grasp on the product's features, we were able to pinpoint challenges the company was facing.
Reflection
This project taught me how to effectively communicate with customers and that sometimes I might need to educate customers on branding. Additionally, I learned how to explain the reasoning behind my design choices.
The next steps for this project would be user testing to see if the new visual branding resonates with the company's target audience. Additionally, it would be good to also test the visual style on students since they will be using the product.
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Overview
SociologicalYou (SY) is a digital introductory sociology textbook written by two sociology professors. The business started when a large publishing company dropped their book, but, being passionate about it, the two decided to go into business together and publish their textbook independently.
There are many competitor books out on the market. Professors are having a hard time getting students to read their textbook and students are having a hard time engaging with their textbooks. To increase reading rates of pre-class text, SY created a gamified digital textbook. As students read, they perform exercises which grant them points. These points, in turn, grant them access to things like study guides and practice exams.