Updates to wedding website builder (modal) – Zola
Community Vows – Zola
The challenge
Seemingly simple, with lots of complexity underneath! This modal had to communicate significant updates to Zola’s wedding website builder (both in function and look), while also reassuring users that none of the website they’d been working so hard on had been lost in the transition process.
The solve
Lead with the pain point and provide reassurance. Sandwich the finer details as scannable bullets between two broader statements that help frame the new experience. Finally, offer easy access to customer support, if needed.
The challenge
Create a set of rules users must agree to before participating in Zola’s online and in-app Community forums. Make them feel low-lift enough to avoid drop off, yet bold and memorable enough to encourage good behavior. Incorporate various legal requirements.
The solve
Keep it ultra conversational! Lead with scannable, easy-to-remember statements (“be kind,” etc.) and follow with the finer details. Keep legal language in check with approachable examples and a friendly, upbeat tone.
Post-auth dashboard – Zola
The challenge
The first post-auth home redesign in years, this dashboard had to bring together products new and old in a cohesive narrative keeping with Zola’s new branding. Each module has multiple states, triggered by actions along the user’s journey. In total, 50+ permutations can exist—side by side, how do we make them feel unified, but not repetitive? How do we inspire action without being pushy?
The solve
Whenever possible, take a moment to celebrate progress before pushing the next action. To help with cohesion, relate the action of one module to progress in another—watch those gifts roll in and know it’s time to start your thank you cards, for example. And, of course, keep it short and sweet to avoid cognitive overload.
Couple-facing onboarding – Zola
The challenge
Along with Zola’s rebrand came the opportunity to rethink the couple-facing onboarding experience. How do we relate it to our new “For all the days along the way” positioning? Given we want to capture even more information, how do we make it feel low lift and non-committal? With so many screens, how do we keep things moving and avoid drop off? We also wanted to incorporate some value props, without feeling overly pushy.
The solve
The collaborating designer and I decided to incorporate our “All the days along the way” positioning into a photo-forward tab on the left. The “day” referenced (“teamwork,” “cheers,” etc.) helps frame the informational part on the right. To keep things conversational and fun, the first screen sets up the onboarding process as the the start of a relationship with Zola—much like their relationship with their partner. And any good partnership starts with some casual getting to know each other. Acknowledgements and transitional phrases help keep things cohesive and moving, while subtle subcopy sprinkles in moments of education.
Budget tool – Zola
The challenge
This brand new feature came highly requested by Zola couples. We wanted to provide an alternative budgeting solution that didn’t involve multiple spreadsheets, post-it notes, and crumpled receipts strewn about. With so many competitors out there, we also had to stand out from the crowd and offer something more. In an ideal world, the tool would connect with and link out to other Zola features, too.
The solve
To stand out, we incorporated moments of education that couples have already come to expect from Zola. These appear in “Team-Z tip” modules, as well as popup modals throughout. Making good use of hyperlinks, we also linked out to our Expert Advice articles for more detail. Testing language was also vital to our success—words that were commonplace to wedding vendors, often who couples are paying and budgeting for, often didn’t resonate with couples. The language we ended up with is conversational and cuts through the clutter—no econ degree required when budgeting on Zola!