Bulgarian Cultural Institute Digital Transformation
The client is a representative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture. It's primary mission is to promote contemporary Bulgarian culture abroad.
The Institute's objective was to move from mostly print to digital by 2018.
Overview
The digital transformation included a brand new responsive website to include the Institute's calendar of Art events (exhibitions, theater, opera, concerts, workshops etc.); Digitally documenting the Institute's 50 year history; Newsletters and newsletter sign up; Publishing the monthly program online and enabling users to print it directly from the website rather than sending it by post; Creating a dedicated online space for the Institute's library books; Boosting the Institute's social media presence; Becoming compliant with EU digital legislations.
Challenges
1. The vast amount of content that needed to be migrated online in two languages - Bulgarian and Slovakian.
2. Designing for an audience that I was unable to talk to directly due to location.
3. Understanding the cultural and behavioral impact the digital transformation will have on users and Institute's staff as they adapt to the new unfamiliar technologies.
My role
I worked with the Head of the Cultural Institute to define the digital vision & strategy of the institute through to 2021. This included all digital touchpoints.
I worked with the developers to shape the final digital products.
Website
I created wireframes and worked with the development team to execute them.
Initial wireframes
The "What's On" page included the programme of events happening at the institute, such as concerts, exhibitions, workshops and talks. Based on remote user testing we simplified the page to a feed of events that can be sorted by event type.
Past Events
Being able to find past events was extremely important for the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture to be able to monitor the performance of the Institute.
Events
Events description page includes detailed information, social media RSVP, links to the next and previous events, calendar linking to all the monthly activities and a newsletter sign up.
Newsletters
Allowing users to sign up to the mailing list was crucial. Previously the Institute was gathering email addresses via a physical guest book.
Now exhibition goers can sign up for relevant news and receive the monthly program via email.
Responsiveness
Unlike the old the new website was designed to be responsive from the start.
Tablet Mobile
Results
Users embraced the new technologies. The website visits have increased by 425% for the same month compared to the previous year.
Yet To BE Done
Despite the amazing results there is a lot more to be done...
1. We now have proper analytics in place and are able to monitor in detail how the website is performing so that we can focus on continuous improvements.
2. Improve SEO.
3. Continue to boost the Institute's social media profiles.
4. Redesign the last of the print material to match the new branding which came about with the new digital experiences.
Branding
The old branding was not suitable for digital preview. Therefore, we went through a rebrand exercise.
In the past I had created the new logo for the Institute and some marketing materials. The new digital brand elements were inspired by the previous brand work.
