Sony / Information Architecture Research & Recommendations
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The Global Web Transformation team received many requests from business units to make changes and enhancements that they felt would increase customer satisfaction. It was our team’s role to consider their change requests and make recommendations that would meet both user and business goals. For this project, the business units requested that we re-categorize our navigation structure to separate televisions from the Television & Home Cinema product category. (To view the structure on the live site, go to sony.co.uk.) As the design team, we wanted to explore new ways of organizing the product catalog while ensuring customers would still be able to find the right products.
The design team was challenged with determining the best possible product groupings that customers would understand. We tried several approaches and could not reach an internal agreement on the right solution. I identified the need to perform card-sorting research in order to make informed recommendations based on customer insights. I took the initiative to develop research protocols and conduct online card-sorting exercises. The research results gave clear direction and helped convince the business units to keep the site’s current architecture. After all, our customers associated televisions with home cinema products and did not want them separated.
PROJECT TEAM: Andrea Wagner, Associate Creative Director / Padraic Wheeler, Content Specialist / Julia Framel, Interaction Designer / Amy Huang, Web Marketing & Analytics Specialist
ABOUT THE CLIENT
Sony is a globally recognized brand whose business focuses on high-end consumer electronics including much-loved products like PlayStation and αSeries cameras. The Global Web Transformation (GWT) team was established to reshape Sony’s online presence—aimed at transforming multiple, fragmented web experiences into one unified, global system. The GWT project provides a common and human-centered experience that builds lifetime value for customers across all of Sony's digital properties. On a day-to-day basis, the design team followed digital design principles of “simple, human, original, and social” to influence and inform our work. GWT’s largest project, Sony’s responsive marketing website, is now live in 60+ countries with record customer satisfaction levels. You can view the site at sony.co.uk.