I started the research phase of this project by comparing the Maryland Renaissance Festival with other similar events, considering factors such as the age and demographic of attendees, as well as different reasons to attend the festival. I also compiled research papers and statistics which I took into consideration when wire-framing and re-designing the user flow.
Alongside re-designing the website’s user-interface and user-flow, I also designed a branding system and style guide for the Renaissance Festival and website. I decided to use the colors of Maryland’s state flag. I also integrated colors and textures from period accurate lamb-skin paper used in medieval manuscripts.
My research shows that Renaissance Festival attendees can be broken down into 3 sub-groups. These sub-groups are Patrons, Playtrons, and Rennies. Patrons are casual visitors who may not attend annually, usually don’t dress up, and may not be familiar with medieval history or culture. Playtrons are patrons who dress up in authentic medieval garb ( like me! ), and often create characters of their own, playing along with festival employees, even though they are not employees themselves. Rennies are people who make their livelihood by working at the festival.
After creating a user journey map, I developed three solutions for the website overhaul: An Intuitive User-Interface, a strong Social Media Presence, and an Interactive Event Calendar, as the primary new features of the site.
It was necessary that users have an intuitive understanding of everything on the site. Otherwise, they may miss key events, and may not have a positive experience at the festival. Therefore, I decided to change the website’s flow to be more instinctive and to highlight it’s core functionalities: sharability, providing a sharable schedule of events, and capturing the unique tone of the Renaissance Festival itself.
Capturing the excitement of jousting, plays, dancing, acting and merriment in a single site was a challenge. I had to take pieces of old concepts and apply them to modern design. Regardless, the finalized product should be easier to understand, promote sharability, and flow more easily. In particular, the addition of an intuitive event calendar made the site more user-friendly. It encouraged all site visitors to have a fun time at a great local event.
