Case study
Growing online impact for Buchanan’s Plants, Houston’s premiere garden center
BuchanansPlants.com
The client
Buchanan’s Native Plants is a garden center in Houston, Texas USA. They focus on native plants and organic gardening. They’ve been a client since 2012. Their website has gone through several redesigns over the years.
The problem
Back in 2018, the client wanted a redesign for their website. We focused on providing a good user experience for visitors. Whether they visited the site on mobile, tablet or desktop. The design needed to be inclusive, and visually appealing. They also needed improvements in the backend to make it easier to update weekly changes to their Homepage and What’s New page.
The solution
Research showed that over 50% of their visitors were coming from mobile devices. Our strategy was to design the site to provide useful information for all visitors. We focused on accessibility, site performance, and usability in general. At the same time, we kept a close eye on the budget for the project. We built a custom template for easy editing of the pages that required weekly updating.
Navigation improvements
We added phone and location navigation for mobile users at the top of the screen. This made it easy to tap and call. Or tap to visit the location page with all the information needed about the garden center, including an interactive map.
We incorporated beautiful and relevant icons in the navigation. These decorative elements add a touch of whimsy for their visitors.
Video background
The client requested a video background option for the Homepage. We built a custom template to enable video. On mobile devices the page displays a background image for a better user experience.
Meeting accessibility needs
Javascript added to the theme, also removes the autoplay of the video for users that have “Reduce motion” enabled in their accessibility settings. The video also has a pause / play button to allow users to control their own experience.
Site footer improvements
The site footer provides useful information for visitors including location and hours open. A mobile view is vertically arranged and group by headings.
Accessibility
We addressed accessibility issues including color contrast and headings. We added text for assistive technology to button labels to provide a better user experience for all.
Usability improvements for editors
We customized the backend with templates for the homepage and various other pages. Editors can easily update without having to fiddle with HTML or CSS styling. This enables them to quickly do their weekly edits.
The result
UX design is a process. As content, best practices and user needs change, we will continue to refine and improve. Our work here is ongoing and we are committed to focusing our efforts on aligning our client’s business goals with the needs of their users, all with the intent of creating delightful experiences.
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