Alaska Communications Website

December 2010 – Keywords: Website

The new Alaska Communications website makes it easier to quickly find the most relevant and important information.

Variate Labs worked with Alaska Communications, Revere Group, Vitro Agency and Prompt Interactive to design the user experience and functionality for the new Alaska Communications website. After an extensive rebrand by Vitro, Variate worked closely with the client to create a new user experience that makes it easier for customers to find content in both a direct and exploratory way.

Navigation Bar and Smart Features

As part of the user experience strategy, we created a consistent navigation bar that enables customers to access any section at any time. The homepage and each second level category page has a simple banner feature, at the top, that highlights features from each section. From any page, customers can also access the support area or navigate to frequently asked questions.

New Homepage

Simple is better. The new home page experience enables customers to quickly see newest features and products across the site in a simple visual way. Visitors can navigate to specific sections through the menu bar at the top of the page or access specific functionality by relating to imagery on the page. Customers are encouraged to browse and explore the website and as they drill in deeper they find more detailed information.

Smarter Organization

We performed an audit of the existing website structure (over 500 pages) and worked with the client and branding agency to simplify and condense the user experience. The new site architecture was simplified to 230 pages with 85% of the content less than three clicks deep. A new sidebar structure offers new ways for customers to jump between sections with one click.

New Online Support Features

The new online support section enables customers to get answers to their specific questions through browsing content on the site. Customers can identify with the imagery or browse frequently asked questions. At any time, customers can call ACS to speak to a representative.

New Online Shop

The new ACS shop makes it easy to learn and compare phones. Customers can filter their results be selecting various option from the menu at left. All devices are shown in a highly visual way in the middle of the page. A customer can learn more about a specific phone be selecting the phone. Customers can also select multiple phones to compare their features.

New Cart Functionality

The new online cart makes it easy to find a phone and pick the right plan for you. Customers can add a phone or plan to “their cart” from anywhere in the site. A simple navigation breadcrumb makes it easy to know where a customer is in the checkout process.

Optimized Design for Touch Based Devices

While working on this project we were extremely conscious that the website would be viewed on many different mobile devices. We made sure to design the button sizes and general layouts to work well with touch based devices to make it easy to browse while on the go.

New Ad Campaign

As part of this project, Vitro Agency, developed a new brand identity for Alaska Communication. Here are some of the advertisements for the new identity.