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I’m Caleb, a multidisciplinary graphic designer with a passion for art direction with eight years of experience across agency, corporate, and freelance settings. I believe that successful graphic design lives at the intersection between art and communication and aim for that point in my process.

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Caleb Peters

Appalchian Ski Mountain

The struggles of jumping on a project midway through

2019–2020

USER EXPERIENCE

COLLAB W/ Ally Cizowski

Appalachian Ski Mountain is a skiing and snowboarding resort in Blowing Rock, NC, known for its proximity to Appalachian State University and its popular kids programs. Before I joined Overmountain Studios, a new kiosk and online reservation system for AppSki was in the works. My predecessor had begun plotting out the flow and aesthetic of the two systems, and had put enough work into it that it wasn’t sensible to make sweeping changes.

Round 1

GETTING ACQUAINTED

The client felt comfortable and confident in what had been shown so far and didn’t want any large changes. To begin, I recreated her screens in Adobe XD to make things a little easier to work with, then evaluated what had already been created and began to fill in any noticeable experiential gaps.

There were a number of things not accounted for in any of these screens or flow diagrams that needed to be created, so I tried my best to influence the project’s direction toward something that felt somewhat more competent.

Luckily, the client requested the project be expanded to add more features. This—plus the discovery of some pages the project planner left out accidentally—gave me an opportunity to loop back around and make more structural changes to what already existed.

Round 2

REWORKING PROJECT FLOW

After many more rounds of feedback with both the client and my supervisor, we finally found the spot we needed to be. All requested features were accounted for, the user flow was adequately clear, and the visual approach was satisfactory.

The mountain was going to open in less than two months, so development needed to get rolling. Our dev team began constructing the website and kiosk web app based on the provided screens, and after some front-end tidying, the final product was satisfactory for the mountain’s opening.

The client felt comfortable and confident in what had been shown so far and didn’t want any large changes. To begin, I recreated her screens in Adobe XD to make things a little easier to work with, then evaluated what had already been created and began to fill in any noticeable experiential gaps.

There were a number of things not accounted for in any of these screens or flow diagrams that needed to be created, so I tried my best to influence the project’s direction toward something that felt somewhat more competent.

Luckily, the client requested the project be expanded to add more features. This—plus the discovery of some pages the project planner left out accidentally—gave me an opportunity to loop back around and make more structural changes to what already existed.

Starting Over

LARGE-SCALE PROJECT PIVOT

After the season ended, we knew that at least on the back end, a lot would need to change. I managed to convince my supervisor that if we were changing all of the back end, we might as well make some large-scale changes to the front end, too.

This was an opportunity for me to wrest control of the project’s UX and visual direction, using what was made in 2019 as a conceptual foundation rather than something to mimic. This time, I was able to begin with digital wireframes in Sketch as I would have preferred originally. I quickly mocked up what we had already—but with improved hierarchy—and made the additions the client had requested.

Upon Reflection

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU ROCK THE BOAT?

When I joined the team and was asked to contribute to the project, it took everything in me to resist scrapping everything right then and there; I felt as though the flaws were too glaring to overcome. There was enough apprehension toward my large-scale suggestions that I had to pause and assess exactly what my role in this project was meant to be.

I tried to be aware of what influence I had and attempted to use it to guide us toward a more competent path. I was incredibly lucky to get as many opportunities to loop back around and revise pre-existing work as I did.

I moved on from Overmountain shortly after my last round of wireframes. I often wonder if whoever replaced me found themselves in the same predicament as I found myself in. I’ve not kept up with the project since then

Through the project, I came to understand that the client’s expectations, the quality of the work that had already been done, and the hours spent on it had to be respected, flaws and all. There was value in the effort, not to mention the monetary value of the project itself.

Working through this process altered my perspective pretty significantly. We should always aim for perfection, but missing that mark doesn’t make a project a failure—it just creates room for future improvements.