AWCI
Industry
B2B, Association, Construction
The Association of the Wall and Ceiling Industry (AWCI) represents contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, and design professionals in the industry. AWCI partnered with Getfused to transform its website into an interactive hub that serves multiple audiences, promotes the value of membership, and builds a stronger sense of community online.
AWCI needed a website that could balance the needs of very different user groups. Contractors, suppliers, and design professionals approached content differently, but the site also needed to highlight the full value of AWCI membership and create opportunities for cross-promotion of programs and services. The challenge was simplifying navigation, organizing sprawling resources, and ensuring users could quickly find the most relevant information.
Understanding the Audiences
We began with in-depth user research to uncover how different groups organized and prioritized information. Card sorting exercises revealed distinct patterns in how visitors navigated content, while tree testing validated proposed content models. First-click usability testing ensured our designs guided users down the right path immediately. This discovery phase gave us insights into creating an information architecture aligned with audience mental models.
Designing with Clarity
With these insights, we developed a new information architecture and UX strategy that distilled thousands of articles and resources into clear categories. Interactive wireframe prototypes and interface designs showcased intuitive navigation, multiple user pathways, and streamlined access to AWCI’s essential tools and benefits. Every design decision reinforced clarity while promoting programs and services to increase member engagement.
Building a Digital Community
The redesigned website goes beyond being a resource library. It now functions as an interactive community hub, enabling members to find information quickly, engage with AWCI programs, and recognize the full value of membership. By validating our decisions through usability testing before development, AWCI avoided costly missteps and launched a site that delivers measurable improvements in engagement and user satisfaction.
The redesigned site improved navigation, increased engagement with member benefits, and transformed AWCI’s digital presence into a true community hub.
Navigation clarity improved, validated through testing.
Users were more likely to find key resources on their first click.
User satisfaction scores improved, based on usability feedback.
Getfused provided research, strategy, and design to simplify complex information, improve usability, and highlight the value of AWCI membership.
- Information Architecture
- User Interface Design
- Interactive Wireframe Prototypes
- UX Strategy
- User Research with Card Sorting
- Usability Testing with Tree Testing & First Click Testing
UserResearch
We demystified the information architecture and identified audience-specific user flows with some of our favorite research tools: card sorting and tree testing. Then we validated the interface to move through this information by using first click testing to confirm we had the right layout for the navigation and key pages.
Card Sorting
Card sorting is a research exercise for discovering how people understand and categorize information. We use card sorts to ensure we are grouping and labeling tasks and information in a way that aligns with the audience’s mental models.
This is especially helpful for sites with sprawling directories of articles that cover many topics. We found that there were cohorts of visitors who organized information differently depending on their role within the construction industry.
TreeTesting
Armed with these new insights into the users’ needs, we distilled thousands of articles, tools, and resources into a few main categories, with multiple navigation paths allowing users to move through information based on how they intuitively understood it.
We examined our proposed content model with tree testing, a technique for evaluating the findability of topics within an information architecture independent of user interface. User research before costly design and development initiatives always pays off.
Usability Testing First-Click Testing
We validated designs by showing them to users with a prompt and measuring how many people successfully begin moving down the correct path to the information. This allows us to make informed iterations to designs to ensure we’re showing the right information at the right time.
