Reviving Creedence: Bridging the Gap Between Fans & Artist
For decades, Creedence Clearwater Revival has been the soundtrack to American life, but while the music and message has endured, the connection between the band and its fans became fragmented across unofficial platforms, scattered stories, and entrenched in unanswered questions about their legacy.
This case study explores the effort to create something CCR has never truly had: a digital home. A place where fans old and new can celebrate the music, discover the stories, and feel part of a community. More than just a website, this was a chance to unify a legacy, honor the band’s history, and engage a new generation of listeners.
Background:
Who is Creedence Clearwater Revival?
Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) is an iconic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band. They found success by blending blues, gospel, and rock music to create one of America's most celebrated catalogs. Known for hits like "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," "Proud Mary," and "Bad Moon Rising." CCR achieved remarkable success, selling over 30 million records, headlining Woodstock, and embarking on multiple sold-out world tours.
Product Exploration
Understanding User Needs
The study aims to evaluate how the absence of a centralized platform affects fans and determine whether an official CCR digital product is necessary or if social media efforts alone are adequate.
Consideration will also be given to assessing fan's perceptions of the brand and how the band member's tumultuous history with one another has impacted the community.
Defining Deliverables
To validate user needs and better help shareholders understand the problem's impact; user research was conducted with a wide pool of diverse fans. Early pain points included the need for a centralized location to watch videos, listen to music, and purchase merchandise, infrequent content, and division regarding the band's legacy. Users confirmed initial hypotheses: that a lack of a centralized CCR hub was hurting our consumers and that fans had sweeping opinions of the band's legacy and narrative.
Target Users:
Legacy Fan: Users who grew up listening to CCR during active years.
Next Gen: Users introduced to their music after the band's breakup.
Social Finder: Users introduced to CCR through movies, television, and social media.
New Wave: Users who have yet to discover CCR.
Pain Points:
Process: Fans cannot interact with products outside third-party platforms (Spotify, YouTube, Instagram).
Product: No product currently exists, so fans must use multiple platforms.
Brand: Users have sweeping opinions of band members and succession.
Financial: The lack of an official shop results in lost sales & fans purchasing unofficial merchandise.
Choosing the Product
Upon reviewing the findings, Shareholders agreed that a solution was needed, so research was conducted to consider what platform would best suit their needs, including a web application, an app, a website, improved social media, and a forum. Most consumers favored a website because it allows them to access content from multiple devices without needing to download an app or use a third-party platform. Added attention will be given to ensuring the product can resize seamlessly between devices and viewports.
The Solution
The goal is to establish a consistent online brand that celebrates the band as a whole and enables fans to connect better; this implementation will be completed in 3 phases:
Launch Website: Utilizing a WordPress CMS for construction and administration ensures content simplicity and longevity while maintaining visual alignment with our existing social media aesthetic.
Establish a Cohesive Narrative: Cultivate a cohesive image centered on celebrating the band's music over history, while maintaining a tone of gratitude and joy.
Launch Shop: Due to Legal's need to broker a shareholder agreement, this will be the focus of a later iteration, which will develop a platform for fans to shop for music, clothing, and merchandise.
Design
Visualization
Considering the client's objectives and incorporating insights from user card sorting conducted in the discovery phase, I collaborated with developers to create a site map to optimize flow. The map demonstrates a commitment to simplicity and ease of navigation, featuring an uncluttered home page that utilizes single hero tiles to avoid the need to scroll and a simple locked menu for accessing content.
Wireframing
Utilizing the site map, I created low and mid-fidelity wireframes built to easily translate to different viewports. These initial wireframes allowed for rapid client and developer feedback, avoiding costly redesigns.
Throughout the wireframing process, I prioritized ease of navigation, usability, and consistency. The designs were reiterated to incorporate user and client objectives.
The product's design approach varied from page to page: the home hub mimics apps like TikTok by prioritizing left-to-right swiping over long scrolling, whereas the music and video hubs were built as an adaptive gallery for easy resizing.
Aesthetic Design
Drawing inspiration from the vibrant colors, bold textures, distinctive typefaces, and iconic imagery of the 1970s, the product embodies the decade's essence within a modern layout.
Incorporating retro-inspired typography, I selected fonts prominent in newspaper printing in the decade to evoke nostalgia. Headers rely on bold sans-serif characters, which ensure readability and clarity, while the body fonts utilize a slightly serif font reminiscent of the newspaper aesthetic.
To craft the color palette, I spent ample time researching the fads of the era. Tawny Orange and Wild Blue Yonder were chosen due to their popularity in the 70s and modern iconography and their use in CCR socials, album covers, and posters. True Black and White Smoke will be used as the foundation of the product to keep it bright and ensure user visibility.
Motion Design
To help add an additional level of sophistication to the product, I collaborated with our social media team to leverage existing assets made for social and integrating them into the new product. By implementing assets we already had, we were able to reduce production time and avoid accruing additional costs to hire a new motion designer.
Prototype
High Fidelity Protoype
Synthesizing the full design, I created this using Figma; like the rest of the product, it prioritizes clean layouts and ease of use.
User Testing
Testing & Results
Once the initial design was approved, I met with three returning users and two new ones to perform usability testing. Users were asked to complete basic tasks, including listening to a song and signing up for the fan club. Due to the product's simplicity, all five users were able to complete tasks on their first try.
They were also asked to rate their website experience and their likelihood of using it. Overall, the product was given a cumulative rating of 4.8/5, with users across the board confirming they would use the product and sharing how much they enjoyed the design and its ease of navigation. However, a common point of feedback was the absence of a shop, with users expressing a desire to purchase merchandise directly from CCR.
As mentioned, implementing a shop will require legal considerations and thorough approval from band members. The added interest provides valuable insight and revenue opportunities for future iterations.
Looking Forward
The created product solves our users' basic needs for a centralized location to access content, listen to music, and watch videos. It does so in an easy, engaging experience and has content that focuses on celebrating the band's triumphs and unifying fans. The product serves as a solid starting point but additional work needs to be conducted to better understand how user perception of the current brand can be further improved. Cultivating a cohesive brand narrative will prove challenging due to the conflicting interests of band members, but it remains essential to ensuring CCR's legacy and meeting user expectations. By taking these next steps, we'll ensure our users' needs are met, and we can position the brand for sustained growth and success in the future.
Central Platform Needed: The lack of a central hub for accessing content is a major pain point for users, especially those who don't wish to use social media. By creating a product for them we'll ensure more users can connect with the brand.
Mixed Perception of Band Legacy: Fans remain divided on what the brand means today. Continuing to understand & address these viewpoints will be crucial in cultivating a cohesive brand image and fostering a sense of unity.
High Interest in Official CCR Shop: The lack of an official shop results in lost sales and frustration for fans wanting to own official merchandise. Incorporating a shop is essential to fulfilling user needs and building a wider audience in the future.
75%
said site "Greatly Enhanced," their understanding of the brand.
65%
Affirmed they would shop from an official CCR Shop.
100%
Task completion rate.
“I liked it a lot, it looked good too. Easy to use, easy to enjoy, just like CCR's music.”
Jason
Lifelong CCR Fan, Construction Manager
Conclusion & Pitch Deck
By prioritizing simplicity, storytelling, and accessibility, we've been able to create a product that respects the past and invites new listeners in. The response from fans has made it clear that there’s a real demand for an official shop and a deeper connection to the brand.
Though this poses a legal challenge, it will be imperative to push forward until we're able to secure this for our users. Until then, through steady research, ideation and collaboration with band members and management, we've laid the groundwork for delivering more of what fans love, finally home on an official platform.