Case Study - Panavision

Goals

In early 2010, Panavision sought to redesign their website in order to improve connections with their audience, targeting cinematographers, film students, and film studios. They wanted to better organize company products and specs while developing a stronger online presence. Their goals involved creating a more coherent catalogue easily navigable for users to browse and learn about their cameras. To improve their online presence, Panavision wished to combine disjointed pages, refresh their sites' outdated style, and to integrate more interactive media features.

Challenge

Creating a thorough and coherent navigation menu was a complex process due to the depth of Panavision's product categorizations - an exhaustive inventory involving as much as 3 to 4 sublevels. The challenge required careful site-mapping and flowcharting to develop appropriate menus and tab navigation that would be accessible for their audiences.

Furthermore, Panavision wished to alleviate the disjointed feel of their previous site by joining their media pages with Panavision's main site to create greater consistency and unity.

Strategy

For Panavision's extensive product list we chose a left-hand accordion style navigation. It is integrated with pop-up lightboxes to further delineate sublevel categorizations. By using a Drupal CMS platform, we created templates enabling Panavision to easily add, update, and modify their product lists in the future.

The right-hand column features multimedia links including Panavision's live Twitter feed, a media center showcasing Panavision's video posts, and links to their latest news updates. We also integrated social media functions on each product page with email and Facebook buttons for users to easily promote and share Panavision products with others. Lastly, our design updates the look of Panavision by using a sleek monotone color scheme along with textures referencing the feel of camera equipment.

Results

The end product is an intuitive and cohesive website that enhances Panavision's complete company image. Their product list combined with news updates, and social media integration allows users to easily browse products, share information, and interact with Panavision. By using a Drupal CMS Panavision can easily maintain and update their content for their audiences. Overall, the redesign successfully condenses and organizes Panavision's various features into one comprehensive central website.