• Concept design
  • E-commerce
  • UI/UX

Grafia.fi web service and online store

Grafia is an organisation for visual communication designers. The community of nearly 1,300 professionals advances the field of visual communication design and advocates for the interests of its members.

The updated Grafia website showcases graphic designers, shares information about the field, and provides updates on current exhibitions and events. Grafia also has its own exhibition space, Luonnos, and organises the industry’s most renowned visual communication competition, Vuoden Huiput, which has its own website.

Explore the Grafia website

grafia.fi

Starting point

The Grafia website and the Vuoden Huiput website, to be updated in the same project, were nearly 10 years old, and their content management system was outdated. Content production was challenging, and the e-commerce functionalities were inadequate. The e-commerce features, member communication, and membership application process required a lot of manual work. Additionally, there was a lack of targeted content available for members.

Solution

Grafia took a bold approach to comprehensively revamp their website. Redandblue and Grafia collaborated on the service concept and technical features through several workshops. Service pathways, including the membership application process, were reviewed, and the previously manual process was automated to interface with the Gruppo system, which functions as both a CRM and a newsletter system.

User-centered concept design

During the concept design phase, the need to better serve existing members was identified. It was decided to build a dedicated intranet section for members on Grafia’s website, allowing them to log in with their membership credentials. Membership is recognised through the Gruppo CRM system. The intranet serves members with events, materials, and Grafia media articles available only to logged-in users. Interactive features were also created for members, such as the ability to suggest their own events, like exhibitions, for inclusion in Grafia’s event calendar.

  • Katja Ojala

    Communications Manager, Grafia ry

“The Grafia website had not seen a major overhaul in ten years, and there was a strong need to modernise both the system and the user interface. Grafia.fi presented a complex project with its member area, “Tekijät” (Creators) site, e-commerce functionalities, and extensive content. We wanted to migrate the site to WordPress, even though it required extensive customisation. The overall result turned out to be very successful.

At this stage, we did not want to make significant changes to the visual design. The new look of the site is based on a ten-year-old design by TSTO for Grafia. Redandblue provided a fresh and updated implementation of this design. Improvements in usability, a refreshed visual approach, and new illustrations made the site’s appearance airier and more modern.

A special thanks to the friendly team at Redandblue for their project management! Website overhauls can be a nightmare for communication managers, but this process was smooth. We stayed on schedule without major issues, and Redandblue was patient in guiding us through the use of the new system and highly customised WP site. I warmly recommend Redandblue as a partner for even the most challenging web projects!”

  • Katja Ojala

    Communications Manager, Grafia ry

E-commerce and integrations

A new WooCommerce-based e-commerce store was integrated with the WordPress website. The purchasing process has been automated, and store promotions can now be added to relevant sections of the website content. Paytrail is used as the payment service provider and interface.

The main site also includes current news and events, and the “Tekijät” (Creators) section, where profiles are generated directly from individuals who have joined as members. Members have the option to enhance their profiles with portfolio links and work samples. They can also update their information directly through the website via the Vue application, which interfaces with the member registry Gruppo.

Grafia uses the “Tekijät” section to provide a marketplace for visual design expertise.

Newsletter subscribers are directly transferred to Gruppo’s subscriber registry. The website meets AA-level accessibility standards and is available in two language versions.

Deployment and further development

During the deployment of the new website, a substantial content migration was performed from Crasman’s publishing system.

Grafia.fi is under the maintenance and further development by Redandblue. We are currently working on the new site for Vuoden Huiput, where initial judging will now be managed through the system.

Explore the website:

grafia.fi

Contact us

Reeta Laamo

Managing Director, Co-Founder

Reeta is one of redandblue's founders and a Senior Designer, who is an expert in user-centred design and accessibility.

Phone: +358 44 362 7714