Bord Bia
Irish Food Board

Overview

Bord Bia is the Irish government food authority responsible for promoting Irish food, drink, and horticulture in international markets - a regulated agency supporting 2,000+ Irish food businesses and €15B+ in annual exports. The digital platform is a multi-persona workflow with two distinct user populations whose mental models barely overlap: SME and enterprise Irish producers navigating export support, and international buyers discovering Irish food suppliers.

I led the engagement Discovery-first through to delivery - running generative research, facilitating journey mapping, and presenting IA recommendations to Bord Bia's digital leadership before any visual design began. The roadmap shifted on the back of research, not assertion: the new IA was validated in tree testing (first-click accuracy 38% → 74%) before a pixel was drawn. Cross-functional collaboration with marketing, technical, and product stakeholders; decisions presented and signed off at each major phase. Design quality ownership end-to-end - every component, pattern, and interaction validated against research findings and presented to client leadership before sign-off.

Discovery & personas

The platform serves four distinct user populations whose mental models barely overlap. Discovery was run before any visual design started - the gap between Irish producers and international buyers shaped the entire IA strategy, and the roadmap shifted on the back of research findings, not assertion.

Personas served

• SME producer - Irish small & medium food businesses seeking export support
• Enterprise producer - larger Irish food companies with established export operations
• International buyer - global buyers searching for Irish food suppliers across 160+ export markets
• Bord Bia staff - internal users managing programs, content, and producer relationships

Discovery methods I ran

AI-augmented practice on this engagement

Toward the second half of the engagement, I started using Claude for interview synthesis - surfacing themes from raw producer and buyer interviews faster, then cross-referencing with the tree-test data to validate the new IA. Perplexity for desk research on competitor agency platforms across export markets. Visual moodboards explored with Midjourney before settling the food-photography direction. AI accelerated the loop between research signal and design decision; final IA was validated by users (38% → 74% first-click accuracy), not by the model.

UX Research Framework

Research designed to understand both sides of the platform - Irish producers navigating export support, and international buyers searching for Irish food suppliers. The gap between these two mental models shaped the IA strategy.

Process

Information Architecture

The existing site reflected Bord Bia's internal organisation rather than users' mental models - content duplicated, no clear distinction between producer and buyer journeys. The IA was rebuilt from research findings.

New Site Structure

Design Tokens

The Bord Bia design system is built around a green-forward, nature-inspired palette reflecting the brand's Irish provenance and food authenticity values. The token system separates brand colours from semantic and interactive aliases.

Color Palette

Component Library

Navigation

Search & Filter

Button System

Salesforce CRM Integration

A key requirement was seamless integration with Bord Bia's Salesforce CRM - producer profiles, export records, and contact data needed to flow from the backend system into the website's producer directory with no manual duplication.

• Mapped Salesforce data objects (Account, Contact, Product) to website component fields
• Designed the producer profile page to dynamically render from Salesforce data - no CMS editing needed by staff
• Created field mapping documentation used by the Salesforce integration team for API alignment
• Designed conditional display logic - showing/hiding certifications, export markets, and media assets based on data availability
• Produced data validation specs for required fields to prevent incomplete profiles appearing publicly

Outcomes

• Findings and recommendations presented in structured stakeholder sessions - client alignment secured before each phase of design
• WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant component library delivered with Salesforce field-mapping specs through cross-functional collaboration with technical teams
• Design quality ownership end-to-end - every component validated against research findings and client requirements before sign-off