8 Weeks to Showtime…
Open Space, a non-profit performance space on Washington’s idyllic Vashon Island, is a community treasure. After a $1.8 million building renovation, they needed a modern website to match their 21st century vision. And they needed it fast.
Solution: New Theory layered custom integrations with top-tier content, events management, and payment solutions over a clean, user-focused design. Open Space now sells more tickets and attracts big-name performers, with the same small staff. And we built it all in 8 weeks.
Pleasing The Audience
We always ask: “What do users care about?” Most of Open Space’s website visitors wanted to see events—something their previous homepage didn’t show. We flipped the script, creating a homepage where events are the star, with clean design and compelling photography.
Rent, The Menu
Open Space’s other key visitors are people who want to rent the space. We made “Rent” part of the persistent navigation. An informative dropdown menu puts key details one click away for event planners.
Speeding Up The Show
When someone’s ready to buy a ticket to an event or class, they shouldn’t need to guess how to do it. New Theory improved the user flow with fewer steps and prominent buttons. Before the redesign, it took someone eleven clicks to get from the home page to completing a ticket purchase. We got that down to five.
That’s The Ticket
Once they buy, customers are automatically emailed a ticket that looks no different than one they’d get for a stadium concert. They can print the ticket out, or pull the email up on their phone at the door.
Now Starring
With a higher-quality branding and ticket processes to match its gorgeous new space, Open Space is attracting bigger names and larger audiences, and the box office sales to match.
A Touch of Class
Open Space owns their customer payment process from beginning to end. For recurring events like classes, it’s easy to show class times, prerequisites, and set the site to stop allowing signups once the class limit is reached.
Behind The Curtain
Open Space’s site uses the same technology as the big event spaces. Using proven technology like Stripe for credit card processing and WordPress for content let Open Space choose the experience that made sense for their audience. New Theory then customized the technology so it worked exactly how they wanted it to.
