Web-DOG Iwate: Azumamine Sake Brewery Site Renewal — Completion Report

This article reflects information as of 2021. For the latest details, please contact us.

Hello, everyone. Good evening. This is the Web-DOG Executive Committee.

The student competition "Web-DOG," which launched in July 2020, has finally completed its first project, "Web-DOG Iwate: Azumamine Sake Brewery Site Renewal"! Let's look back on the students' production process so far through the articles below, while seeing the before & after of the renewal!

Related articles so far:

1. Web-DOG Iwate: "Web-DOG," an industry-academia project advancing regional digital transformation (DX), holds its first student competition in Iwate.
2. Web-DOG Iwate: Kickoff Meeting Report
3. Web-DOG Iwate: Concept Brainstorming Report
4. Web-DOG Iwate: Regular Meeting Report
5. Web-DOG Iwate: Structure Document Report
6. Web-DOG Iwate: Design Concept Report
7. Web-DOG Iwate: Structure & Design Report
8. Web-DOG Iwate: Implementation Phase Report

1. About this renewal

Websites have a best-before date.

This time, with "340 Years of Digital Shift" as the theme for developing the future business, we significantly renewed the Azumamine Sake Brewery site and also redesigned the mail-order function. We held a design competition with evaluation criteria mindful of UI/UX, targeting students within Morioka Information Business & Design College, a major specialized school in the prefecture, and entrusted everything up through delivery to the students.

We reorganized the content, changed to a more readable design, and made the navigation menu more convenient to use.

2. Before renewal

3. After renewal

Build environment: WordPress URL: http://azumamine.com

4. Introducing the main changes

1. Rebuilding the top page

The top page is the "entrance to the homepage." Since many visitors often view only the top page, you could say the top page plays an important role in getting people interested in the content of the entire homepage.

For that reason, as you can probably tell from the image above, we added content to the top page as needed. Especially in this case, we newly established a news function for event and new-product announcements that we want users to know about and see, a picked-up-products introduction area, and so on.

2. Rebuilding the navigation

We reorganized the sitemap once more from the user's perspective, making it easier to browse.

3. Adding a news function

WordPress has various plugins, some of which are free to use. In Azumamine Sake Brewery's case, there are many event and new-product announcements, so this time we used free Instagram and Twitter plugins.

Each time the social media is updated, it appears on the page, so the whole website looks lively too.

4. Updating and registering the retailer and product lists

To make the retailer list easier to browse, we changed the layout and switched the store information to detailed bullet points.

For the product list too, we photographed all the products to make it clearer. This also leads to SEO benefits.

5. Integration with the EC site

Making it possible to go directly from the product detail page to the EC site is also a point of this renewal. In times like these, a company's own EC site will become necessary too.

5. Students' reflection video

This video is the reflections from the students of Morioka Information Business & Design College who were actually involved in the production and so on for this project.

Everyone, truly, great work. And thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oWhwxteYIA

6. In closing

Through "Web-DOG | Web Digital Open Group," not only do the bonds between each region's local companies and local students grow stronger, and not only does it contribute to the region for locally-rooted companies, but it also becomes practical work experience for the students.

As the executive committee for this project, we were greatly honored to be able to support everyone from the competition all the way to the final release.

Great work! Thank you!

Once COVID settles down, let's definitely have a drink somewhere—in Tokyo, Iwate, or anywhere!

7. Introducing "Web-DOG"

"Web-DOG | Web Digital Open Group" is a group for developing the ability of local students to tackle and solve the various challenges of each region, and for advancing regional digital shift through industry-academia collaboration.

Each region's local companies hold a competition, and local students carry out the actual site production, aiming to solve regional challenges.

Also, in Web-DOG, professionals in various fields support the students, aiming through the projects to develop human resources who will drive the invigoration of a Web local-production-for-local-consumption / regional circular economy.

Web-DOG promotional poster

Download the materials (PDF)

Web-DOG slides

If you'd like to know more about Web-DOG, please also see these slides. It's 11 pages in total, with the following table of contents:

1. What is Web-DOG?
2. Web-DOG's initiatives
3. Case study: "Web-DOG Iwate: Azumamine Sake Brewery Site Renewal" ・Results report
4. The future of Web-DOG and recruiting supporters ・Corporate supporters ・School supporters ・Operational supporters
5. Contact the Web-DOG Executive Committee

It takes about 5 minutes to read.

Download the explanatory materials:

Download the materials (PDF)

8. "Web-DOG Gunma" is in preparation

After "Web-DOG Iwate," "Web-DOG Gunma" is now in preparation!

We already have schools who have agreed to cooperate, and we're now looking for local Gunma companies to join us! Whether it's building or renewing your own site, why not entrust a local company's challenge to local students?

We're connected with schools within Gunma Prefecture, but if any other schools in Gunma are interested, please reach out!

If you have any questions beyond what's described in the materials above, please don't hesitate to contact the "Web-DOG" inquiry desk.