Context

Soura is a queer film festival spotlighting talents from South West Asia and North Africa.
For its 5th edition, the festival invited me to make it easier for visitors to navigate film listings, schedules, and event details. I volunteered to redesign and optimize core sections of the website, enhancing user experience and clarity. Additionally, I supported domain management and web administration tasks.

Decisions & Results

1. Layout & Style: The color palette was refreshed based on the 5th edition’s artwork, setting the visual tone and hierarchy for the entire site. Key information like dates and locations was given stronger visual prominence to support fast information retrieval.
2. Navigation: I merged redundant pages (e.g., About and Team) and minimized the number of CTA buttons to streamline the user journey. On individual Film Pages, text was reduced and grouped on one side, allowing the film visuals to take center stage and give each page its own distinct presence.
3. Performance: I compressed assets, reduced reliance on plugins, and optimized media delivery. The original site lacked robust and centralized styling, taking a tight deadline in consideration, I implemented a lightweight system using classes, IDs, and CSS variables to maintain consistent spacing, typography, and layout without slowing delaying delivery.

Outcome and Learning

The rebuild raised the site’s performance score from 80 to 95. While no other metrics were tracked, multiple visitors mentioned navigating the film programme very easily, and Soura’s team was very happy with the visual and performance overhaul. This fast-paced project, shaped by real-world festival constraints, taught me to prioritize usability over polish, adapt quickly, and communicate effectively with a team that wasn’t design- or tech-oriented.