Client

Greg Lewis

Role

UX/UI Research, Design, & Development

Completion Date

March 2021

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Chasing Wonder Case Study

The Client

EMMY Award Winning Poet and NBC Sports Commentator, Greg Lewis, recently wrote and published his narrative poem called Chasing Wonder. It is a 14,000-word insightful marriage of allegory, rhyme, wordplay, values, ideals, and joy.

Greg is most widely known for his commentary at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. During his commentary, he wrote and produced a poem called “Legs, Legs, Legs,” earning him an EMMY award for Writing.

Our Goals

The focus of this project was in two areas:

  • Chasing Wonder is a book for everyone
  • Traction for Chasing Wonder in Education

This site was meant to develop educational aspects of the book and give teachers the tools they need to engage with it’s contents, while appealing to the students reading it.

Understanding The Problem

This projects goals were interesting in that we weren’t trying to maximize profits or making sales. Our primary goal was simply to put Chasing Wonder in the hands of as many teachers and students as possible. The story is a delightful read, full of insightful life lessons meant for people of all ages. My task was to create a beautiful, empathetic, and educational experience for users of all ages.

Process at a Glance:

  • Created a research methodology to efficiently capture each user group through: interviews, surveys, competitive analysis, and heuristic analysis.

  • Defined personas and journey maps to accurately empathize with our users base.

  • Drafted wireframes, information architecture, and site mapping.

  • Established style guidelines and crafted a multi-page, responsive prototype to illustrate project vision using Figma.

  • Upon client approval, I developed the prototypes in WordPress, leveraging custom code, plugins, and theming customization.

  • Conducted usability testing to validate designs

This process was non-linear and required constant iteration, making adjustments based on collected data and consistent collaboration with Greg and a variety of teachers that volunteered their help.

Research

As part of my research methodology, I conducted interviews, surveys, competitive analysis, and competitive heuristic evaluations to establish data points to help influence and inform subsequent deliverables.

User Personas

Based on research, we determined there were at least three user types that our website needed to cater to. Because our main goal was towards the educational value of Chasing Wonder, I put an emphasis on teachers and their experiences.

Journey Mapping

After surveying and interviewing 3 teachers of varying experience levels and disciplines, I established a baseline story and translated this into a journey map, using the above persona to inform it. This exercise helped to define user goals.

Ideation

This phase consisted of creating wireframes, information architecture, and a site map to break down and prioritize content on each page, through atomic design practices. As such, we organized and displayed what content we had and determined what we needed.

Information Architecture

Despite being on the more simple side of webdesign, our information architecture was a high priority deliverable. We needed to capture and facilitate a seamless and intentional architecture that would translate to users in the most effective way possible.

IA is color coded to indicate cross linking throughout the site.

Building Site Structure

Started with low-fidelity wireframes and information architecture laid out. Followed by multiple review and feedback sessions with Greg and one of the teachers we worked with.

Pictured: Home Screen Wire Frame

Design

Style

Finding an identity

  • Facilitate Curiosity
  • Create a kind, enthusiastic, helpful, and user friendly way to find out more about the book
  • Clean, elegant, simple
High Fidelity Design & Development

Creating an elegant solution

After a few rounds of iteration and collaboration with Greg, we finalized the design and began development.

Before the site was launched, I conducted usability tests with teachers, students, and other users of varying ages to ensure their experiences were successful.

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Conclusion

After months of ideation and iteration, the project came to a close in March of 2021. Thanks to the consistent communication and collaborative efforts of Greg, myself, and the teachers that worked with us, this project was successful.

In retrospect, my design process was thorough but not perfect. If I were to complete this project again, I’d like to put more time into dedicated research and data analysis. Furthermore, I would have liked to bring on one or two more designers so that I could collaborate with a larger team. This project was especially challenging as a solo designer and would have benefited from more hands on deck.

What I learned

  • Collaboration on all fronts is an absolute necessity
  • Focus on the problem, design the solution
  • Feedback from stakeholders, users, and prospective readers is needed to validate designs more than anything else