THE PROBLEM:
The Northern California Naginata Federation (NCNF) was established to administer the teaching of Naginata in the Bay Area. A decline in interest and attendance (possibly onset by the pandemic) is leading to less participation and morale throughout the existing and prospective membership.
THE SOLUTION:
Develop and execute a unified vision for NCNF moving forward to foster unity among dojos and members and improve morale
Maintain our website and content with the latest updates
BACKGROUND:
Naginata is the Japanese martial art concerning the use of the halberd (also called naginata). The weapon has existed since at least the 11th century and, similar to other Japanese martial arts, is now practiced in a modern sport-like martial art.
A wooden naginata
A modern naginata used in sparring competition
NCNF was founded in 1990 by Miyako Tanaka Sensei who was sent by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture in 1979 to help teach the then small, but growing practice of Naginata in the United States. Since then, NCNF has established three locations (dojo) throughout the Bay Area where the art can be practiced. As Naginata is unknown relative to other Japanese martial arts, spreading awareness has proven to be a challenge. Efforts by the NCNF have been taken to expand into the internet space via a website and social media. NCNF currently has a website, facebook, and instagram account. Unfortunately, due to various reasons, the NCNF has been inconsistent in its approach to spreading awareness of the art which has led to a decline in interest and attendance to its dojo.
A modern naginata practitioner in full protective gear (bogu)
RESEARCH:
Naginata is one of the lesser known Japanese martial arts relative to other martial arts like karate, judo, or kendo. As such, spreading awareness of the art can be difficult as very few are familiar with the art or even what the weapon looks like. It was important to first identify the “why” as to the reasoning of current practitioners find interesting about naginata and how they began their journey
““I was immediately drawn to naginata because of the beautiful sweeping motions and it really reminded me of ocean waves” ”
“I was absolutely impressed with how clean [naginata practitioners] moved, how beautifully they moved and how aggressively they moved” ”
“I was immediately drawn to the powerfulness and gracefulness with which [the naginata practitioner] moved”
From these interviews, it became clear that:
The appeal of Naginata is first discovered in the beauty of its movements
With this in mind, I looked forward into the logistics in discovering naginata through NCNF.
LOGISTICS OF DISCOVERY:
Seeing as how the website or Social Media channels would be the points of entry for prospective naginata practitioners in the Bay Area, I decides to start there.
The Website: A Heuristic Analysis
If someone were to visit the NCNF website, they would encounter the below:
The website, while packed with information, does not accurately represent what Naginata is nor does it convey how one may begin their journey to starting Naginata. Furthermore, there are a number of aesthetic issues which makes the landing page hard to look at and may frustrate prospective visitors. Most importantly, the website did not show the visual appeal of naginata and opted to “tell” about naginata rather than “show” what it looks like.
NCNF has also tried to modernize and utilize social media platforms to spread awareness; however, inconsistencies in managment and varying approaches in leadership has led to some brand inconsistencies.
Facebook page as of March 2022
Instagram account as of March 2022
In the above examples, we see that the facebook page likewise does not have many visual references to naginata. The copy on the facebook page is not consistent with the website which could be a deterrent for visitors and give the sense that NCNF does not regularly update. Furthermore, the instagram account has text in Japanese while facebook does not.
SOLUTION:
In order to both educate prospective members about Naginata, inform on training opportunities and visually showcase naginata, NCNF would need to standardize and refresh its website and social media platforms with consistent copy, images, and style guide.
Website:
Using user-centric design principles as well as current UX/UI design trends, I built a rough wireframe of how we might re-design the NCNF landing page.
I decided to use a scroll based experience so that users could navigate to their desired point of information with as few clicks as needed.
Compared to the original NCNF website design, this new landing page includes more imagery to show what Naginata is in conjunction with the written history allowing for a more cohesive experience in learning about the art. Furthermore, dojo locations and information is laid out readily so that visitors can find their closest practice location.
Considerations for Social Media:
Standardize Copy across all bios
Update links to be consistent
Facebook should be geared for the existing Naginata community
Posts should be tailored to engage with other federations or practitioners of other Budo
Content should assume the follower is familiar with Naginata
Can still have our basic info incase a new follower finds us
Instagram should showcase WHO NCNF is as opposed to WHAT it does
Can use the same content as FB, but again tailored copy for someone who might not know Naginata as well
Conclusion:
After presenting my findings to NCNF, we have agreed to move forward with standardizing branding across all platforms and have begun discussions to update the website based on my recommendations.