Bitesize rebrand
Bitesize’s rebrand would be the biggest change for all of the core services, this case study looks at how the rebrand was applied to digital products while providing users with consistent and relevant experiences.
Role
Lead designer
Employer
BBC
Areas
Strategy, design, research, stakeholder management
Platform
Web (Responsive)
Bitesize’s rebranded homepage
The BBC as a whole was rebranding, these changes focused on all mediums not just digital products. This meant initial brand guidelines focused on the overall direction and changes, not on the details and application.
Part of the rebrand involved brand architecture and the outlining of ‘core services’ of which Bitesize was to become. Giving it parity with other services such as iPlayer, News and Weather. Meaning it was important Bitesize not only embraced the rebrand but became a key contributor to the overall brand.
Bitesize would also be required to visually change the most under the rebrand, providing a risk to recognition and consistency for users.
Along side the rebrand, work on tech migration was happening. Meaning I had to consider how the rebrand would be applied to both the old and new platforms.
Background
Previous Bitesize homepage branding
Bitesize’s rebrand guidelines
As there was such a shift visually, I wanted this project to be user focused from the start and agreed with Product & UX leaders to conduct research into brand perception.
The discovery phase was used to identify the scope of the project, a deep dive into the existing and new branding was carried out to identify problem areas. I also carried out a gap analysis on the new design system to identify any new components that might be required to help us apply the rebrand when migrating in the near future. The output from the deep dive was concepts covering key user journeys that would be the stimulus for the research.
The research findings formed the structure of the project, and a number of briefs were written in response to the user feedback. This process ensured all of the work and decision making would remain user centric though out.
This project required stakeholder management at multiple levels with colleagues from different departments across the BBC, my presentation and communication skills were key to ensuring I delivered the right messages to the right people.
Approach
Bitesize’s colour palette was expanded to accommodate user journeys and improve accessibility
Homepage photography concepts, used as part of the user research
Screen reader mark-up for the design of the new ‘dimensional image’ UI component
Art direction document shared with Marketing colleagues to ensure the photography met both the user & brand expectations
Bitesize’s rebranded desktop homepage
Bitesize’s rebranded desktop careers page
Having conducted the brand perception research and remaining user centric though out. We were confident the rebrand would be well received by users, the only true metric that would reflect this would be traffic to popular journeys.
Impact
+2%
Increase to key ‘phase’ curriculum journeys;
users have found the route to curriculum content via the homepage easier since the rebrand launched.
+20%
Increase in page performance & accessibility; provided users with quicker page loading, less errors and a higher standard of accessibility.
Want to hear more?
This case study is simply a snapshot of the work. If you would like to hear more about my processes, thinking and the challenges, please get in touch.
