Overview
Bord Bia is the Irish government agency responsible for promoting Irish food, drink, and horticulture in international markets - supporting over 2,000 Irish food businesses and driving €15B+ in annual exports. Their digital platform serves two distinct audiences with very different needs: Irish producers seeking export support, and international buyers discovering Irish food suppliers.
I led the engagement from Discovery through to delivery - running generative research sessions, facilitating journey mapping workshops, and presenting IA recommendations directly to Bord Bia's digital leadership team. The project required close cross-functional collaboration with the client's marketing, technical, and product stakeholders, with design decisions presented and validated at each major phase before moving forward.
160+
Export markets supported
2k+
Irish food companies
€15B+
Annual exports
WCAG
2.1 AA compliant
UX Research Framework
The research was designed to understand both sides of the platform - the Irish producers trying to navigate export support, and the international buyers searching for Irish food suppliers. The gap between these two mental models shaped the entire IA strategy.
Stakeholder Interviews
8 interviews with Bord Bia staff, Irish food producers, and international buyers across 4 market regions.
Journey Mapping
End-to-end journeys for 3 primary user types: SME producer, enterprise producer, and international buyer.
Card Sorting
Open card sort with 12 participants to uncover mental models for how users categorise Bord Bia's services.
Tree Testing
Validated the new IA structure with 20 participants - measuring findability before any visual design.
Accessibility Audit
Full WCAG 2.1 audit of existing platform - 47 issues catalogued across 5 severity levels.
Analytics Review
12 months of GA4 data analysed - identifying drop-off pages, search query patterns, and top exit points.
Process
01
Research
User interviews, analytics review, card sorting, and a WCAG 2.1 audit of the existing platform.
02
IA Design
New site structure designed and validated through tree testing. Taxonomy aligned with Salesforce data model.
03
Design System
Component library built in Figma - brand-aligned, WCAG compliant, with Salesforce integration specs.
04
Test & Handoff
Usability testing of key flows. Developer handoff via Figma Dev Mode with Confluence documentation.
Information Architecture
The existing site had grown organically over years - content duplicated across sections, no clear distinction between producer and buyer journeys, and a navigation structure that reflected Bord Bia's internal organisation rather than users' mental models. The IA was completely 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
brand.primary
#1B6B2F
brand.primary-mid
#2E8B47
brand.primary-lite
#E8F5EC
brand.gold
#C8A84B
brand.gold-lite
#FAF3E0
surface.default
#F7FAF8
semantic.error
#D32F2F
semantic.success
#1B4D1E
Component Library
Navigation
Search & Filter
Showing 142 results for "Dairy · Export Ready"
Dairy · Cheese
Cashel Blue Creamery
Co. Tipperary, Ireland
Dairy · Butter
Kerrygold Creamery
Co. Cork, Ireland
Dairy · Yoghurt
Glenisk Organic
Co. Offaly, Ireland
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
- Delivered a research-validated IA restructure - first-click accuracy improved from 38% to 74% in tree testing, presented and signed off by Bord Bia leadership
- Led the full Discovery process - interviews, journey mapping, card sorting, tree testing - translating raw user insight into an actionable design direction
- Presented findings and recommendations in structured stakeholder sessions, ensuring client alignment before each phase of design work began
- Built a WCAG 2.1 AA-compliant component library and delivered Salesforce field mapping specs through cross-functional collaboration with technical teams
- Design quality ownership across the entire engagement - every component, pattern, and interaction validated against research findings and client requirements before sign-off
Due to privacy and confidentiality policies, original design assets, screens, and client materials cannot be shared publicly. All visual elements shown in this case study are faithful recreations, not the original production designs.