Ben Franklin Crafts Site Update

Ben Franklin Crafts Hawaiʻi (BFC) is a family owned business with locally managed stores spread across Oahu, Maui, and Big Island. They are primarily a brick-and-mortar store that participates in various community engagement activities like in-store workshops/classes or their myLocker program that allows local crafters to both display and sell their items at their store locations. However, current capabilities for this business is somewhat limited with unoptimized social media presence and an outdated website. This project assesses online avenues that can be implemented to help Ben Franklin Crafts reach a newer, digital customerbase. For confidentiality purposes, I will mainly highlight our social media and website updates.

Online Expansion

In addition to other solutions, our group proposed creating high-quality reels and an updating visual aesthetics of the website, alongside additional site features. Our group came to this solution by performing interviews with customers and BFC-related staff, comeptitive market research, and general market research. For enhanced social media content, we suggested various optimizations distinct to the short-form content platforms used (i.e. Instagram Reels). With these examples, we produced the following reel, which outperformed average engagement metrics. Moreover, we found that customers are seeking convenience-related features for the website like digital sign-ups, coupons, and community interaction. Such feedback resulted in a prototype (i.e. wireframe) made in Figma, with capabilities that allow for a navigational demonstration:

Contributions

As a project manager, my main duties for this project was to coordinate, plan, and execute solutions within an agile project management methodology. This entailed setting up meetings with our sponsor (upper management of BFC) and performing lengthy research so that we could plan prototypes and test it with a small group of customers for additional feedback.

On top of coordinating efforts, communicating with all required parties, I helped document our research, and documenting research, I also assisted in creating/presenting slides for weekly updates of the project. I was also the main contributor for the wireframe, dictating the layout and style of the updated website.

Skills

The main skills learned throughout this project are ones related to project management: time management, leadership, coordination, hosting online meetings, and oral presentations are some skills I have extensively practiced. Such capabilities are very practical in the real world as they are not exclusive to software/computer engineering.

I also used a lot of graphic design skills, like Figma to prototype the wireframe, as well as Adobe Photoshop to create a coupon promoted through social media. Altogether, this project has helped me develop in the direction of project management while allowing me to gain some real-world business experience through working with a team, as well as an established sponsor.