Zeus Jones is a guiding light for Purina, bringing smart strategy and beautiful design to their online properties. Zeus was charged with drafting a new website for Pro Plan, and they brought me in to lay the groundwork. I’ve worked on Purina project with Zeus on and off for the last 2 years, so we hit the ground running with an aggressive timeline.
Pro Plan makes premium pet food. It’s expensive — loved by Westminster champions and people whose dogs and cats are serious business. But Pro Plan didn’t know how to explain itself. Their website was a collage of pretty pictures and marketing jargon that did nothing to describe why their formulas lead the market. Their science and craft was never shown, and potential customers passed them over for brands who explained their value better.
Unlike the ever-popular agile method, we decided to draft the new Pro Plan we site with a staggered waterfall model. I’d lead off with an analysis of current content, and draft a new content map that would outline the narrative and flow of the new site, then I’d create wireframes in batches based on site priority. Once my first batch of wireframes was approved by the client the Zeus Jones designers began creating design conventions and styling the wires - these designs would be edited and approved as representative of the site as a whole.
The drafting phase of the Pro Plan site is complete, with wireframes for 19 approved pages along with user flows for coupon signup, adaptive navigation and a complex product comparison tool. The client is happy, and the designers are racing ahead on some of the most lovely site designs I’ve ever seen my humble wires transformed into. The final site will be developed by the Nerdery, SEO optimized by OglvyNEO and tested for engagement and conversion by yours truly. Stop by again soon for the complete case study after the site launches this fall.
Client: Purina Pro Plan
Project Lead: Peter Petrulo
Project Management: Bridget Charon
Design Lead: Gordon McIntyre-Lee
Visual Design: Stacia Burtis