Amarula

Website redesign for the famous South-African brand

Services:

Product Design

Year:

2020

Link

amarula.com

Project Summary

Project Overview

The Challenges

UX Design

UI Design

The Results

PROJECT OVERVIEW
It is a Marula-based alcoholic drink from South Africa and the onlycream liqueur which uses real Marula fruit, harvested from Marula treesthat grow wild and uncultivated in the subequatorial regions of Africa –the only place on the entire planet where they grow.
This was a short turnaround project with a limited budget. The client focused on delivery within a strict timeline.
THE BRIEF
Amarula’s website was outdated and painfully slow, which has led to local markets going rogue with creating their own sites. I have been briefed to design one global website for Amarula with some local markets variations that brings their ‘real free spirit’ brand essence to life and inspires their consumers.
The brief was to redesign the entire website using existing copy and content. The approach was to reuse modular components as much as possible as the dev resources were limited.

The Challenges

Amarula brand faced mutiple challenges:
- Losing cultural relevance in their lead market (South Africa)
- Low awareness and consideration in the rest of the world. Mainly due to being massively overshadowed by the more popular Baileys.
- From a UX perspective the previous site was not well thought out. The site was not mobile friendly and this led to a major drop-off rate with a poor conversion.
UX CHALLENGES

Poor usability and non intuitive user journeys

The previous website had usability issues, specifically on mobile

Low engagement & adoption

Low conversion & adoption rates. Short user sessions length

Poor navigation & IA

The previous website navigation and IA had to be simplified. Simpler navigation can lead to better metrics
BRAND CHALLENGES

Low awareness

Low brand awareness especially amongst the Gen Z generation

Low retention

Amarula brand is overshadowed by the more popular Baileys. The customers were not staying loyal

Brand identity

Inconsistent identity in visual design, branding elements, and messaging across the website

Mapping key user journeys

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

Amarula website sitemap

As part of the website redesign process, we revisited the sitemap with a focus on the target audience. By considering the preferences of Amarula's desired demographic, aged 25-34, we prioritised a mobile-first approach to ensure optimal accessibility and engagement.
WIREFRAMING

Redesigned main user journeys and existing content

Excessive content can overwhelm users, leading to confusion. Despite the richness of Amarula's brand history, users encountered complexity in navigating through multiple layers to access the website's primary offerings.

Design

AMARULA PRIMARY COLOUR PALETTE
Amarula White
#FFFFFF
Amarula Cream
#FFFEF9
Amarula Vanilla
#FEF4E3
Amarula Light Sun
#F9D48D
Amarula Yellow
#F5B844
Amarula Dark Yellow
#B78628
Amarula Sand 200
#CEC9B8
Amarula Sand 400
#FFFEF9
Amarula Sand 600
#8E7B55
Amarula Orange
#E26335
Amarula Orange 400
#C24C21
Amarula Magenta 600
#67102C
Amarula Grey
#A4A1A1
Amarula Dark Grey
#FFFEF9
Amarula Black
#3D3C3C
Amarula Red
#A2392B
Amarula Magenta 400
#821638
Amarula Magenta 600
#67102C
AMARULA GRADIENTS
Amarula $gradient-blue
#387f96
#88C3DD
Amarula $gradient-yellow
#DD8B4A
#F5B844
Amarula $gradient-orange
#BE4A20
#E26335
TYPOGRAPHY
UI DESIGN
A set of template screens have been designed following the Amarula branding guidelines

The results

Project outcomes

- Website sitemap has been revisited and redesigned to simplify the main user journeys
- Optimised navigation has led to a 40% increase in usability
- Internal linking increased the number of indexed pages by up to 78%.
- Mobile-first design optimisation has not only increased SEO rankings but improved website usability from a UX perspective

Roadmap clear but the UI isn't?

I'll connect the dots. Tell me what you're building.
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