The Genossenschaftsverband Bayern e. V. (Cooperative Association of Bavaria) has represented the interests of Bavarian cooperatives since 1893. "Helping members succeed" is the goal the association sets for itself every day. Whether it's providing support in day-to-day business, advising on business management, tax and legal matters, or helping members gain further qualifications - the GVB is committed to Bavaria's cooperatives in a variety of ways.

 

In the relaunch process, we consolidated and prioritized existing functions and designed them into a new platform. The goal here was to make the GVB's expertise as well as its range of consulting and services more easily accessible on a clear information platform.

  • User experience concept
  • User interface design
  • Content strategy
  • Technical concept & implementation
  • Newsletter feature
  • System interfaces
  • E-Commerce integration
GVB UI design

Addressing the different target groups in two ways

  

With the relaunch, we realized the vision of the GVB and established it as the most modern and attractive ecosystem for associations. An essential decision in the website concept was to distinguish between two information architectures with a public and an internal area for members.

 

The public site primarily serves to present the association to the outside world: What services does the GVB provide? How does the GVB work? How does the GVB support the founding of cooperatives? Current news in the form of articles make the public area interesting for a broad target group.

GVB information architecture
GVB UI design styleguide

A tool for daily work

  

The internal area serves as a tool for members' daily business: Here, users can find news from the GVB's specialist areas, useful working documents and buy digital products in an individually developed store.

 

A complex rights and role system allows a categorization of the members. Depending on the role assignment, users see a tailored portal. In a second step, the individual content is also sent out in a tailored newsletter - which of course also appears in a brand new look.

 

GVB iconography
GVB mobile UI Design
GVB internal section - ui design

Dynamic and order through geometric shapes

  

The predominantly blue color scheme in the design reflects the regional aspect and the GVB's home - beautiful Bavaria. A striking orange tone acts as an accent color and highlights individual elements and areas. To reflect both dynamics (exchange, ecosystem, network) and structure (order of information) in the UI, we worked with a geometric mosaic grid that can be used as a background element in various places.  

 

Internal and external sites are separated by a differently structured navigation. While the public area features a mega menu, the complex information architecture in the member area is integrated in a sidebar.

In terms of the visual language, it was important for us to get as close as possible to the respective target groups. The people are in the foreground. As cut-outs in front of a colored background, they appear even more dynamic and modern. 
GVB design sprint
GVB design wireframes
The nerdy stuff
 

The platform is based on the content management system Neos. The complex rights and role structure, the numerous individual interfaces to various third-party systems and the large scope of the individually developed modules made the project a particularly exciting task. Protected downloads, an integrated store, the individual newsletter system, newsletters with workflow management as well as a contact person management are just a few examples of these modules, which were customized for the customer.

GVB ui design