The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) is nothing short of legendary in the fabled history of Boston. The non-profit is the official host and organizer of the Boston Marathon, as well as a half-marathon every October and the Mayor’s Cup cross-country races in Franklin Park. As every New England runner knows, they also maintain an active running club. The B.A.A. need was simple: Connect more effectively with their online audience.
www.baa.org
Silver Award Winner: Horizon Interactive Awards, Activism / Non-Profit category
Project Highlights
My role: UX Design lead, Strategist
Collaborators: Client, design team, front-end developers
The approach: XXXGet to know the detailed needs of the product’s users — not just those whose lives are made easier by the products, but the but their facilitators and caregivers
Research highlights: Surveys targeting physical therapists familiar with Rifton products; visiting Rifton development campus to see how their products are made
Featured deliverables: Market research, persona development, information architecture and clickable prototypes, design concepts
Considerations and learnings: Is a responsive approach the right mobile strategy for an e-commerce site with highly personalized and customizable products? Would a native mobile approach be more effective in satisfying customer needs? Often, the need to hit sales benchmarks make this a difficult but high-priority consideration.
The Outcome
How do you approach the re-design of a 125-year-old non-profit that owes as much to the past as the future? I combined the hip and the historic by utilizing a century’s worth of photography to tell the B.A.A. story, and relied on their tried-and-true color palette — instantly recognized by its members and admirers. The newer site and its deep asset inventory was migrated onto a Sitecore CMS, enabling site administrators to manage and edit content, and allowing B.A.A. officials to highlight and prioritize specific events throughout the year.