Beautiful website
Convenient App
Thorough Data
= Amazing Results
The Client
The Portland Blues & Jazz Dance Society is a nonprofit serving the Greater Portland Metro area. Before the pandemic, they put on dances twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. After the gathering rules relaxed in Oregon at the beginning of 2022, they needed to promote their events at their re-opening with promotional materials and a newly branded website.
The Results
I know results should go at the end, but I decided to violate a little information architecture etiquette to showcase the results of this effort. After various campaigns (shown below) the organization not only increased the unique site visitors, site visits and page views (as seen to the left) they also saw triple-digit increases to their membership numbers, their revenue quadrupled, and with the addition of a digital vaccination pre-check-in app, they threw several events with record-breaking numbers--even dancing masked in 2022!
Huge improvements were made to their exclusive content offerings, online event experience, and ticket checkout system, all of which played a role in the big uptick in ticket sales they enjoyed. See below under "Chronological Journey"
The Objective
Rebranding
Dark and Moody
Redesign Logo(s)
Maintain 1920s era colors
Improve Accessible/High Contrast
Monitization
Improve ticket purchasing process
Improve virtual event experience
Increase monitization opportunites
Increase Memberships
Increase Remote Engagement
Simplify sign-up
Provide exclusive features
Clearly communicate benefits
The Project
Rebranding
Since March of 2020, in-person events had been closed to the public. While folks were still reeling from the past year, it was an opportune time to plan something different and give the branding a new coat of paint. Here are some of the modernized logos I designed that are in use today.
Tuesday Blues Logo
Tuesday Blues for Live Events
Barefoot Fusion Logo 2022
Increasing Remote Engagement
Not only was the website was completely redesigned, when Covid restrictions began to loosen in August of 2021, folks were ready to contribute, but not yet dance. Why not involve them in the redesigning of the website by inviting their photo contributions? Making a contest out of it will drive motivation and excitement about the upcoming website launch.
August 2021: Photo Contest Forms
This form was created for the photo contest designed to bring in community photos for the development of the website. They required releases for both the photographer and those depicted in the photos.
- On-brand fields for user-input
- File upload section
- Digital signature option
- Link to legal contract
- Expandable fields depending on the responses of the submitter
- Receipt emails to the photo submitter
- Automatic emails with model consent form sent after photographer submission upon request of photographer
- Receipt emails to the model
- Custom thank you message with reminders, links to helpful information about the contest and a return to the website
November 2021: Drumming up socially-distant engagement
The organization wanted to be rebranded and redesigned with digital, in-person, and hybrid event information with relevant calendar and ticket checkout processes for applicable events. Until January of 2022, reopening plans were not even entertained until attendees were willing to get vaccinated. Prior to the availability of vaccines, events were exclusively offered online and, other than donations, were the organizations sole form of income.
This poster was created to advertise a special online event on the main page. It included a custom check-out process for purchasing ticket on square space, Paypal and Facebook. They were looking for something simple that would be on the front page of their site.
December 2021: Monetization (Making money while they wait.)
With digital events already underway, the checkout process for purchasing tickets online was a priority. It was expanded to include many payment options and several more choices for items to buy.
Branded Monetization Opportunities
For an organization that runs on events and donations, the chance to give needed to be plentiful. Branding donation opportunities as "Dance Cards" funds the scholarship fund. When they give a certain amount, their name is published on the dance card page where they are publicly thanked.
January 2022: Optimization and improving the user journey
Looking at how users were navigating the site and how they interacting with different components helped prioritize new features and squash bugs.
February 2021: Preparing for in-person events, involvement through volunteering, and monetization opportunities
With digital events already underway, the checkout process for purchasing tickets online was a priority. It was expanded to include many payment options and several more choices for items to buy.
As spring approached, the organization needed to start gaining traction in the area of buy-in. As a non-profit, they run on charitable donations and volunteers, so they needed a way to increase the opportunities to do both.
March 2022: "QuickStep" and preparing for regularity
Before everyone returned in person, the dance organization wanted a Covid registry and check-in system that was designed to make sure that everyone was vaccinated and had a booster shot before they could buy tickets.
This system was developed online and required patrons to signup for a online membership that gave them access to register their Covid cards. When they did so, members had their cards checked and sent a QR code that would verify their registration and allow them to preorder tickets and access the branded "QuickStep" line that would expedite check-in. The image to the right shows the version with updated graphics from May 2022.
April 2022: Social Media Campaign Launch with Facebook and Instagram Promotions
The organization needed promotional materials to announce their "Soft open" return and with it, a brighter marketing campaign. They had two danced to promote over the course of the week and wanted to make sure people felt welcome at both.
Event Advertisement
This poster was created for social media distribution and to feature on their website for the re-launch of their Tuesday Blues "soft-relaunch" in April of 2022 before their regular events would startup in May.
Event Advertisement
This poster was created for social media distribution and to feature on their website for the re-launch of their Friday Barefoot Fusion "soft-relaunch" in April of 2022 before their regular events would startup in May.
Things don't always go as planned...
Early in April 2022, it was clear that there was more that was needed to make the dance events safe. They needed to go on a short hiatus while the first variant gave the first round of vaccines a challenge. This was the time that a "returning in May" notice was needed in addition to training volunteers on the Covid registration system so they could properly handle the database.
Event Hiatus Notification
This poster was created for social media distribution and to feature on their website during a brief shutdown period for their regular Friday night event. This accompanied a notification that the event was on hold during April and was designed to suggest that this was not an active time but that the event would be returning soon.
May 2022: Relaunch
When their regular events began, the organization needed a social media campaign launched to announce that their regular events were coming back.
Weekly Event Advertisement
This poster was created for social media distribution and to feature on their website for the re-launch of their regular Tuesday Blues events in May of 2022.
This image was created to announce the return of an in-person event with a dance organization. This was designed to be displayed on their website and used for a variety of social media posts
Weekly Event Advertisement
This poster was created for social media distribution and to feature on their website for the re-launch of their regular Barefoot Fusion events in May of 2022.
June 2022: Large-scale events and the most-attended event in organization history
The organization needed a postcards printed for their summer event in June. This was the best attended event since their re-opening. Along with the usual features, the website complemented the event by including an online auction system, ticket promo codes, and preregistration system.
This poster was created to advertise a special in-person Friday night event to be printed on postcards to be handed out in person at the regular weekly event. It was the most-attended event since the pandemic re-opening.
Auction offerings for 2022
July 2022: The app with Jotform and Squarespace integrations
Along with the Covid registry database making people feel a little more comfortable to attend dances, making it easier was also a concern. With so much information needing to be collected, making it responsive and app-friendly was a must. To the right are a collection of screens from the app, including concept screens that would go into development later.
August 2022: Media Expanded with responsive design and print publications
July is a big month for the Portland Blues & Jazz Dance Society due to the many blues and jazz themed events in Portland at this time. This makes for good advertising but also competition for the month. Taking advantage of the former, reformatted website ads were run in the "Blues Notes" paper and it was also time for Facebook promos. Of course there needed to be several dimensions for different screen-sizes, making for a series of interesting layouts.
1/4 page newspaper advertisement
This poster was created to advertise a regular in-person Tuesday night event to be printed on postcards to be printed in Blues Notes, the authority on Blues music and dancing in Portland, OR. It was printed in the edition for distribution during the month of the famous Waterfront Blues Festival and Jazz Festival.
If print is more your thing, check out more promos from other companies here.
If you have made it this far, that means something!
Please consider reaching out and letting me know what you think. I would love to hear from you.
