Grand Bahama Port Authority

Case Study

The Client

The Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) is a quasi-governmental organization responsible for nurturing and regulating all commercial and residential development within Freeport City, and the 'Port Area' of Grand Bahama Island.

GBPA is responsible for Building and Sanitary Codes, Inspection, Environmental Compliance, Town Planning Regulations, Business Licenses, City Management and Maintenance, Utility Rate Regulations and is also charged with economic development in the City of Freeport.

Our Roles

Web Design and Development
Creativity
Content Development
Consumer Journey Mapping
Search Engine Optimization
UX Design
Platform Security

The Challenge

For many years, the corporation had a standard brochure website that didn’t completely serve its primary target audience as effectively as they desired. Their common expression was there were missed opportunities for improvement in public engagement and getting all of their necessary documents online in a way that worked well.

We evaluated their existing internal processes pertinent to the website, and held various discovery workshops to create a plan forward. During these discovery sessions, they presented their goals aesthetically and functionally. They communicated what was and was not working, the public and internal effects, risk factors and key opportunities. From these discovery sessions with them, we created a definitive plan and the goal were set to:

  • Create a network of websites that each serve a different business function and sub-branding.
  • Earmark the primary corporate website as an important tenant in the delivery roadmap for improving corporate functions, public engagement and reducing administrative effort.
  • Consolidate their business units and operational arms that would have their own individual website, cohesively into the corporate website

In summary, make every and any piece of information the public needs from them, effortless.

The Solution

First we started out by examining their past designs for previous versions of the website. And then we looked at where the design choices fell short, and even contributed to the lack of a representation for consumable content.

GBPA

We produced several wireframes built off of an information architecture / sitemap that allowed us to communicate to them what went where before building it out in the browser. Once that was done, we created visual colored concepts, based off of the wireframes, and began designing them in the browser.

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Incorporating accents of blue from their logo scheme to establish a color scheme and branding consistency was another component. Then we put together all of the pages from the website sitemap and information architecture and began laying the content: text / written and imagery into the bodies of the pages, properly headlining sections with descriptive titles, so that the end user would understand its relevance to them was key across various pages. 

One of the core pages was the Vision page, which effectively articulates what the corporation's goal for the island is, and giving that an element of prominence in the website's navigation. 

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Next we started taking pre-existing paper forms and re-constructing those as digital forms. In some instances the digital signing ability was added in, so that it can be sent directly to the respective department without requiring another need to physically sign. This part of it was critical as it significantly reduced administrative time and effort for both the end user and the client. 

Within the information architecture, we also built out and categorized the corporation's departments and oversight in a more readable fashion. So that the public who may or may not be completely familiar with what goes where, and to whom is responsible for what could be more clearer. By identifying those departments by names, giving them individual pages, any pertinent information conclusively regarding their individual oversight and how to contact them directly. 

The business licensing section was a major part of this project, and ensuring that the presentation of how someone can start a business, the procedures and requirements, process from A-Z, the process for becoming a licensed vendor, how to receive funding and more, was here on the website in a moderately condensed fashion. Within the greater delivery roadmap, or network of websites, it would exist in a more expanded version.

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All forms and information are provided in a more streamlined presentation with the visuals given to aid the end user into locating and comprehending it even easier. Some company resources were compiled into their own specific section. For ease of access account based functions were also given the same layout. And we created the ability to have a knowledge base of frequently asked questions that covered a wide range of categories and department functions. 

All digital forms were compacted into a single location. All contact information and methods of interacting with the corporation's specific department representatives were consolidated into a Help Desk.

The Results

The result of launching this new website, with all of these enhanced functions:

  • Significantly decreased the internal workload by 20-30%
  • 25% decrease in bounce rate and 18% decrease in exit rate compared to previous periods
  • Increase in overall website traffic and pageviews by over 40%
  • Increased the public's positive perception of the corporation, their vision, and methods of disseminating information and forms.
  • A simplified, streamlined and effective online platform for the public and corporation
  • A positive affirmation of the company’s commitment to serving and bettering the lives of the Grand Bahama community
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What they had to say:
Ian Rolle
Ian Rolle
21:56 12 May 20
Brinard is a true professional who believes in consistently delivering quality service, and has very unique and creative skills. I look forward to working on another project with his team.

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