Brinker Brother Self-Storage 

My Role

• Sole UX designer

• Information Architecture

• Content Strategy 

Project Brief

Brinker Brother Self-Storage, A family-owned and operated business had been using outdated GoDaddy services, which was visibly dated and obsolete.

These pain points compromised the website's accessibility, intuitiveness, and potential customer satisfaction. 

My client's main goal was to update their website to contain updated service information that reflects Brinker Brothers' current business profile of services offered, and create a new website look and feel. This work was done remotely. 

Brinker Brothers Homepage: Before redesign

Brinker Brothers Homepage: After the redesign

The Goal

Navigating the old website customers were not able to view unit prices or a detailed list of what home furnishings could fit in each unit. 

1. I added storage unit pricing to decrease customer calls inquiring prices and empowering customers who do not have access to phones.

2. Updated content and services to an accurate company profile

3. Added white space to let the site breathe, allowing customers to navigate the website without additional noise. 

4. Customer reviews were also added. Since this client has serviced their local community, word of mouth, their longstanding reputation and trusted community name. Informing newcomers this is a buisness they can trust.

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These goals enable and empower customers with all information needed to feel educated on client services and products.

Brinker Brothers Homepage - Post redesign

Auditing The Old

The main opportunity here is to create a hierarchy to help the client highlight showcase their updated services resulting. This hierarchy results in a decreased cognitive load for the customer, empowering them to make confident decisions when purchasing content and services online with Brinker Brothers. 

The discovery phase started with the outdated GoDaddy website site.

This consisted of the identification and removal of outdated services, and the addition of essential content updates including their new location address,  a map to the flagship store, FAQ & space for storage auction details. 

Brinker Brothers Services - Pre redesign

The Process

I started this project off by taking inventory of the content Brinker Brothers' current website. I created a spreadsheet that captured each page word for word. ​

Brinker Brothers content audit

Market Research Inspiration

Research sparked the creation of a "size guide" that included detailed information on what furnishings would fit inside of offered units. 

How did other storage companies display unit sizes and inform customers of their prices?

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What language they were using to describe their services and products?

Unit costs cards were found to be the most common, effective, and visually appealing way to show pricing at a glance. 

Website Iterations 

Brinker Brother website additions included adding customer reviews, unit pricing, and website details. The previous site updates included the removal of snowmobile and RV services and the addition of new unit size, in addition to the new user friendly aesthetic. 

Reviews

1. Bring credibility to the company and its services

2. Increase new customer confidence

3. Stimulate decisions to buy

4. Improves SEO

1. Present prices, eliminate the hassle of calling or emailing

2. Help customers make faster decisions

3. Upfront transparency, showing honesty at first touchpoint.

Details 

1. Furnishing details of storage unit sizes

2. Map & storage locations added

3. Auction & FAQ page added

4. Locally owned context added

Website Architecture

Creating a site map helped structure the layout of the site, making it visibly clear what pages were needed and where they belonged within the website. 

Redesign Mockup Proposal

I created a mockup using Sketch to get a better idea of how the new components would fit into a final design. The client was pleased with the design, I proposed having an "about us" section with pictures of the owners to complete the locally owned and operated aesthetic but one of the stakeholders declined. We discussed website and brand colors which there was no existing style guide. 

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Due to accessibility for green colorblindness and blue color theory meaning of trust, we decided to change Brinker Brothers Self-Storage primary brand color to blue, seen in final website mockup

Homepage mockup proposal

Services mockup proposal

GoDaddy Mockup

I designed a new website using Godaddy's themes as seen below, after discussing the limitations of font size and choice, color, and customization with the GoDaddy cms my client wanted to change hosting to WordPress instead of GoDaddy. 

WordPress Mockup

Here is the final design using WordPress, my client was excited about the new website aesthetic and liked how clean it looked. I was able to provide a new look and feel in addition to updating outdated content.

By thinking of the customers' first, website visitors are now able to read about other customer experiences, receive detailed information regarding unit sizes and furnishings, view unit prices, and are provided with a map to Brinker Brother Self-Storage's primary location. I will be following up with my client in a months time to view site analytics and measure SEO. 

Takeaways

Market research was key in developing additional pages and components for this redesign. It helped me get acclimated to the storage industry and helped me suggest components to my client that provided as much information to their customers as possible.

This work was done remotely, which was a new concept for me. It was helpful to gain experience working in an environment that required additional attention in communicating designs and their rationale.