Kumon expressed the concerns above, and also provided examples of websites that showed their likes and dislikes.
Kumon’s parent company provided a style guide including fonts and colors that they created for their website. I was not permitted to use this guide exactly, but referenced it closely for the design of their website so there would be a common thread across the two sites.
Kumon provided their own images for use on the site, and I sourced some free images as well.
Kumon was also eager to gather information via a customer survey. We wanted this to be prominent on the page, but also not distract from the rest of the page, so we placed it as a small header above the menu that clicks into the survey.
The menu structure is pretty straightforward. It is bolder and simpler than the menus that were on the previous site.
In conversation with other parents, whenever I mention the name Kumon, I hear “Oh! I LOVE Kumon!”. I wanted to play on this reaction. I initially designed a header image that would include customer testimonials as the main graphic. The concept was the quotes would be varying sizes and animate across the screen, as “voices” of parents familiar with the brand. The intention was to build trust with a new visitor, and camaraderie with returning customers. The concept was rejected, so I instead created a collage of those quotes and used them as a background graphic for the header and main headline to sit on top of.
I created a featured titles area so that new products could be promoted there, followed by a “Shop by Subject” section and a “Shop by Grade” section, to help shoppers navigate through the large catalog of workbooks on the site.
I brought the “About Us” section to the home page too, to highlight the story and heritage of this brand. The page ends with a quote from a satisfied customer, and the opportunity to sign up for the company’s email newsletter or visit their social media pages.
The footer includes a series of links directly to category pages. It also includes all of the standard business information, like address and links to legal information.
After the home page was reviewed and approved by Kumon, I created a product page template that related to the style of the home page. The structure of the product page is different from the structure of the product page on the previous site. Product description and details are up higher on the page, making for easier browsing of products. The categories of each product are also highlighted on the page, to help the customer understand the content of the book they’re looking at.