01 Feb RAGBRAI Microsite redesign

Since 1973, the Des Moines Register has organized an annual event called RAGBRAI, which stands for “Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa”.

In the beginning, when a few friends got together for a casual bike ride across Iowa in 1973, no one imagined that a tradition would be born, let alone that it would become the longest, largest and oldest recreational bicycle touring event in the world.

Every year, 8,500 riders are chosen by lottery to participate in the race, which goes from the western edge of Iowa to the east – each year taking a different route.

We were asked to freshen the design of the site and make it responsive, so that it would be functional on mobile as well – which was a huge complaint of cyclists during the event.

There were also mobile apps on Android and iPhone, but they hadn’t been downloaded by many people, so we concentrated our efforts on a fully responsive web site. The thinking is that there are many new riders every year, and they didn’t seem to be interested in downloading an app that they would only use for one week.

Galleries were an area of emphasis, since riders took many photos along the route. The redesigned galleries allowed for much larger images on desktop, and the improved commenting functionality allowed for a more robust community conversation among the riders.

We also took the opportunity to drastically improve the shopping experience, which resulted in a dramatic uptick in sales year-over-year.