Thule has launched a redesign of its award winning website thuleracks.com. The new site’s design is based on the look of Thule’s marketing materials and the results of a comprehensive usability study conducted by Adaptive Path of San Francisco, CA.
“The usability study recognized that though two categories of people visited the site, perspective and current customers, the site communicated with them in the same manner which meant we werent serving either group effectively,” said Steve Doviak, Thule Inc. Marketing Manager.
Adaptive Path conducted a number of internal interviews at Thule, did a page by page heuristic analysis of the site, and had a user group perform a series of tasks to evaluate user interaction. Based on their findings Thule redesigned the navigation, organization, and interfaces of the site.
The new thuleracks.com provides better graphical navigation and rack system education for those not as familiar with the category and short cuts for those visitors more familiar with the product.
“Thule is known for developing innovative products that are easy to use, functional, and stylish, and our website now better reflects this,” continued Doviak.
Thuleracks.com was the last component in a collateral redesign project, which included the redesign of all of Thule’s marketing materials including packaging, catalogs, POP, and websites. Thule Inc. recently re-branded its trailer division as Thule Trailers and launched the Thuletrailers.com website with branding and layout consistent with Thuleracks.com.
When thuleracks.com was last updated in 2001 it introduced new functionality such as consumer direct sales of accessories, in-depth product demos, and interactive product knowledgebase. The site was recognized for excellence in web design by the Axiem Awards and MIMC award.
