Overview

**My Role:** UX Designer, Visual Designer
**Tools:** Sketch, InVision, Adobe Photoshop
**Timeline:** Oct. 2019-Dec. 2019

Background

Power Costs Incorporated (PCI) is an energy trading software provider, working closely with energy companies to meet an ever-evolving ISO/RTO market. Every year, PCI hosts a conference for their clients called the INFOCUS Conference. While contracting through Spire Digital, I was asked to update the website for the new upcoming conference.

The Goal

In past years, the basic layout of the site remained the same; a long scroll with all the pertinent information in one page. Detailing the design provided additional information which surfaced additional requirements and constraints. A couple of constraints, (lack of venue details and scheduling details) posed a bigger challenge than anticipated. My method of working around these constraints was to work very closely with the product manager and the client to ensure that the essential information was simple and informative.

Mood Boards

Finding a theme that was fresh and spoke to PCI stakeholders was very important. I created 4 mood boards, each depicting different focuses for PCI to choose from: Green energy, light in the dark, sunset, or abstracted energy sources. PCI elected the sunset theme, as it aligned with their company color scheme. From here, redesigning the website became a little more clear.

High Fidelity Prototype

While it remained more feasible to stick to the original template, there were still parts of the page that needed some updates. In previous years, layouts missed key pieces of information, such as details on training/conference topics. While the experience was a long scroll page, I made sure the top nav was sticky so users could always navigate where they needed to.

Masthead

It was very important for PCI to show their commitment to sustainable energy and wanted to illustrate this by showing renewable energy. A link to register was put in plain sight for higher click ability. All of the pertinent details, as well as a place to register, are all in plain sight.

About the Conference

Why INFOCUS? It was important to show all of the cool events and networking opportunities attendees would get to be a part of.

Showing Past Experiences

PCI created a video of their past conference, something that was very important to them to show new and returning attendees. It was important to explain the purpose and passion behind the conference, and lead attendees to explore PCI’s offerings.

Conference Agenda

It was important to give attendees a good idea of all the trainings and workshops the conference would be offering. This section gives a brief overview of the conference offerings at large.

Key Topics

Here, I wanted to give attendees a preview of presentations at the conference. I used a tab menu at the top to show a high level glance at speakers and topics, which functioned as a carousel to see even more featured speakers.

Next Steps

In March of 2020, print designs were being created for the conference such as large banners, badges, labels and more. However, due to COVID-19, the conference and all other endeavors were canceled until further notice. I learned a lot from this experience. Not only did I begin to understand what it was like to work with limited time and constraints, I got to work in a real design setting. When the time is right, perhaps we can revisit PCI and iterate further on the existing design, making it even better.