The Project at a Glance

The Challenge

To rebuild and update the SOUNZ website to match their recent brand refresh, as well as making search and sales more user friendly.

The Solution

A new website with Shopify integration and a new search that made it easier to discover new music.

The Tools

Design
Development
Ecommerce integration
Data migration

The Outcome

Increased site usage.
Increased user happiness.
Increased digital revenue.

A new look and feel

Ackama redesigned and redeveloped the music library and search engine for the SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music website, the core of which is a vast collection of music composed by NZ artists. SOUNZ wanted a simple, easy-to-use and engaging website that would draw audiences into the amazing music on offer. This was a major enhancement of their online catalogue and an integration with Digital NZ.

Fully Responsive

SOUNZ had a huge database of music that included different resource types. Ackama rebuilt the repository which would record metadata in several ways, including by collection, artist, type of music, year of creation etc. It also allowed for search results to be ordered in different ways and content to be tagged. Each entry could include information such as a photo of the artist, a performance history of the piece and the ability to buy or borrow it. The website also surfaced related works, so that people can discover new music that they may not have known to search for but might be of interest given their other searches. 

SOUNZ was rebuilt as a fully responsive website. Surveys conducted before and after the update show that users find the new website easier to use and to quickly find information they are looking for. Sales also went up in the first half of the following year and SOUNZ is planning to add even more improvements to the site.

Responsive website designs for SOUNZ