Ernesti Niemi - Case Itis

An entirely new direction for Finland's most well-known shopping center. Itis was revived with the intention of becoming more than merely a shopping complex. This new focus as a regional hub of culture and activity compelled us to completely rethink the function and direction of our web services. A challenge that I was delighted to take on, with initial proof of concept prototypes leading to project sales and detailed layout and content strategy design.

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Client

CC Real Finland OY, Kauppakeskus Itis

Project role

Concept- and UX/UI design & content creation

Developer

Into-Digital Ltd

Date

Released in 2022

Our client's whole visual and tonal identity, as well as the associated business tactical direction, were reworked and brought up-to-date. Armed with these conditions, we were entrusted with transforming these visions into a practical online presence. Taking the standard information-based company page concept back to the drawing board, we developed a new and inventive solution for our clients' requirements. What if we could guide our users to fulfilling experiences rather than leaving it up to them to figure out what to look for?

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Sales and concept design

Through proof-of-concept prototypes and visual presentations

User flow design

End-user need-based user paths and customizable topical content landers

Mobile first layouts

Modern and clean layouts with easily digestible content and modular presentation

On-site photography

Gritty street photography for the marketing department's needs

The main challenge was to find a way to identify, and to respond to, our users' needs in a proactive and productive way. Our approach revolved around a few important questions: why, when, and with whom will our end users interact with the service in question. It was critical to translate these user-driven requirements into logical and maintainable online components. How can we best serve our consumers by addressing their individual use case demands, without sacrificing user experience for our more deliberate users.

Finding the solutions for a myriad of use cases was an exciting task to accomplish. Addressing the fundamental requirements, such as comprehensive and adaptable opening hours and easy-to-use yet functionally filled business categories, was quite simple. Finding the optimal way to integrate these user flow-based relations was where the real fun began: Topical, and reproducible, lander content mixed with relevant business and sales information mixed with featured events and current news & local announcements. And everything tied together with innovative, user direction based, interface solutions combined with the fresh and clean brand visuals into a modern, mobile-first, end result.

Our solution aimed to redefine what a shopping center as a service can be - both online and in the real life physical world. Building a high end web service from the ground up, I implemented our clients trendy brand guidelines into stylish and modern layouts. Everything from the site structure to content presentation was done in support of our users' need based experiences and supplemented by traditional business search and informational content. To top it all off, a comprehensive intranet was constructed to meet our client-to-tenant communication needs and to allow tenant-created sales content to be easily released to customers.

What we managed to create is a modern and elegant service for our clients and end users alike, filled with stylish and clean layouts, mobile-friendly UX solutions, and subtle but effective user flow management. We set out to reimagine what a shopping center can be, and as far as online services go, we succeeded admirably. We managed to solve everything from fundamental usability and communication concerns to larger-scale corporate content management needs and the deployment of new, revised brand guidelines. Finally I completed the project with a series of additional on-location photoshoots and a wealth of new professional experience.

Even though several of our suggested features, such as user-posted and lightly monitored event notifications, had to be cut midway through development due to financial constraints, the project resulted in a world-class online service that met our project team's high expectations. The service itself achieves all of the objectives and expectations set forth, and it proudly stands out as one of the greatest of its kind in the entire country.

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Key takeaways and lessons learned.

itis.fi

As cliche as it sounds, it's sometimes best to approach given challenges from a new direction. Reinventing business-specific traditions by offering content to users based on their topical needs can be extremely beneficial for all parties involved. It is critical to understand why our users connect with the provided service and how to effectively meet their demands. Sometimes we should avoid competing with standardized services, such as search engines for basic business information, and instead concentrate our efforts on creating unique value that no other platform can deliver.

Furthermore, the project served as a test pilot for newly created internal design concepts and cross-team collaboration techniques. These experiences proved to be quite beneficial, taking our project team's capabilities to the next level. These standardized design methodology and technology approaches improved everything from quick iteration to quality assurance and responsive layout scaling, all the while resulting in a world-class web service.

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