Case Study

Redesigning the GALA Choruses Website

A Web Design, Development & Design System Project

Overview

The GALA Choruses website, over 10 years old and built on the WordPress platform, was visually outdated and difficult to maintain. Because it's a large site that hosts a lot of information resources, visitor experience is key. Migrating the site from WordPress to Webflow, optimizing the information architecture, and implementing a design system and component library not only streamlined site maintenance, but also improved visual consistency and enhanced the overall visitor experience.

Timeline

  • April 2026 (1 day): Initial consultation and brainstorming
  • May 3-9 (1 week): On-boarding, wireframes and high-fidelity designs
  • May 10-31 (3 weeks): MVP Webflow site build and initial content migration 
  • June-July 2026: Content migration, additional features added, ongoing support and troubleshooting

Context

Gala Choruses is an LGBTQIA+ organization that spans North and South America. It encompasses nearly 200 choruses and over 12k singers. They host annual leadership development conferences and large, well-attended a quadrennial music festival. Their site contains a wealth of resources for choral development, including a library, podcast, and academic journal.

Problem

The previous GALA Choruses website, built on the WordPress platform over 10 years ago, was a challenge for the site owner to maintain. She often struggled with outdated plugins and a poor page-builder experience. When the board expressed an interest in a full-site redesign, it seemed like an optimal time to migrate to a modern platform—namely, Webflow—and create an enduring design strategy.

Solution

After an initial consultation, the site owner and I agreed that Webflow would be an ideal platform for their site because of it's advanced CMS tools. We collaborated to identify opportunities to enhance the visitor experience and streamline her site maintenance workflow. I outlined a design system and component library to meet these needs, produced high-fidelity design mock-ups, and built the site in Webflow. My designs were informed by existing brand and social media assets to ensure visual consistency across platforms.

A sample of the high-fidelity mockups I delivered for the GALA Choruses project.

Challenges

GALA Choruses had a limited budget and needed a rapid turnaround on this project, so I had to do quality work at breakneck speed. Modifying and expanding an existing Webflow site template helped to streamline the process. In planning the extension of the template's component library, I prioritized the development of components that would allow the site manager to build out additional pages on her own.

Outcome

The new site was launched in July 2026. Stakeholders were pleased with the exciting new design, and the site owner is thrilled with the ease of site maintenance.

A laptop frame with the final design for the GALA Choruses homepage on the screen (scrollable).

Thanks for reading!

If you have unanswered questions or would like to see more design artifacts for this project, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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