The Sub Rooms • Website
Enhancing an independent events venue's website
The Sub Rooms appointed 16i to complete a redesign and build of their existing site to primarily optimise the digital processes, improve the user experience, and ultimately boost ticket sales.
Originally supported by WordPress, the site needed to be moved to a more bespoke, customisable platform; with a key challenge being to integrate with Spektrix (an automated sales and ticketing system), to avoid shows and ticket availability having to be manually updated.
A design and user journey restructure were required to streamline the navigation, enhance the homepage, and ultimately drive conversions through increased call-to-actions (CTAs).
Following an initial planning session, the recommendation was for the site to be built on Umbraco (the leading open-source content management system (CMS), to enhance the integration of the interface between Spektrix and the website. Refined designs and updated navigation structure were prepared to provide a feature rich CMS with additional logic, ahead of the project moving through the various front- and back-end development stages.
The sound of Stroud. Loud and Proud!
We wanted to get the concept behind the Sub Rooms across clearly from the start so opted for a hero section that would allow the proposition to stand out. We then wanted to showcase the upcoming events in a consistent and clear format, something that was missing from the previous iteration of the site whilst providing access to the full catalogue. The final piece of the puzzle was getting across that the Sub Rooms is available for so much more than just gigs or concerts which we achieved with a card accordion that presents the various offerings available.
Easy to use catalogue of events
At the heart of the Sub Rooms site was the need to present a clear catalogue of wide ranging events. From concerts and comedy gigs to workshops and festivals, for all ages, in a number of venues. To help users find what they are looking for we created clear and easy to use search and filtering. We combined that with colour coded tags and an improved card format to make the information as clear as possible, easy to find and even easier to book direct from this page.
Creating clarity to ease research.
For all events we wanted to make the investigation of detail as clear as possible. We created an availabilty banner in the hero that would provide immediate notice to a user in deciding whether to book or not. For the content we provided a single large content area for the Sub Rooms to put the longform details and other media in. On the left we showcased key information about the event such as pricing, suitability, times etc. To help with viewing this locks in place as the user scrolls so it's always in view.
Spektrix Integration
The most essential aspect of the project was the integration of The Sub Rooms cloud-based box office and marketing software, Spektrix. We opted for a custom integration with APIs to enable the ability for updated availability and show information to pull through to the site in real-time. It also allowed us to create a seamless user experience when booking tickets and make the management of event information and ticket sales as easy as possible for The Sub Rooms.
