NAFEM

Here’s how Mightybytes helped the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) improve member access to an online library of important educational resources.

NAFEM approached Mightybytes for a website redesign in 2019. They needed a website that would:

• Help people more easily find resources
• Support a robust members-only experience
• Integrate seamlessly with an association management system
• Reflect a modern, professional brand

We facilitated workshops to clarify goals, define user needs, and establish a clear information architecture. This work shaped the project roadmap and aligned stakeholders around priorities.

Clickable prototypes were tested with NAFEM members to validate navigation and layouts early. Feedback directly informed refinements, reducing risk during development.

The design honored NAFEM’s brand while prioritizing clarity and usability. We created clear design standards that the stakeholders agreed on, minimizing the need for design revisions.

We provided tools and training to help NAFEM’s team confidently manage and update content, supporting long-term sustainability.

The new WordPress site was integrated with NAFEM’s association management system. Careful coordination ensured consistent styling and a seamless experience across platforms.

Following the launch, we continued to support NAFEM’s digital goals for five years through our monthly retainer, training sessions, and strategy workshops. Together, we worked toward continuous improvement of the website until it was time for a refresh.

In 2024, Mightybytes partnered with NAFEM on a focused discovery phase to assess whether the website required a full redesign or a more targeted evolution. Through facilitated workshops, stakeholder input, and user insight, we evaluated numerous criteria that align with both audience needs and NAFEM’s business goals:

• Site performance: Define and begin tracking measurable performance goals for the website.
• Content effectiveness: Improve how content engages members and delivers clear, ongoing value.

Navigation challenges: Simplify and refine site navigation to help users find information more quickly.

From the discovery phase, we emerged with a three-phased roadmap. These phases were:

Training and Data Governance: Following the launch, we concluded our engagement with NAFEM through three workshops aimed at enhancing NAFEM’s data capabilities and SEO readiness.

Content audit: We conducted an extensive content audit to determine what content should be kept, refreshed, or deleted.

Site Refresh: We conducted our standard refresh process, which included updates to key design elements and the addition of new custom blocks to help NAFEM better maintain and manage their website over time, ultimately improving the overall user experience.

NAFEM wanted to build on its website by introducing more color as part of the refresh. Through several design iterations, we landed on layouts that featured:

• A vibrant visual system built around gradients and flexible, mix-and-match color options
• New custom blocks to improve the usability and ongoing management of NAFEM’s advocacy tracker
• A dedicated hub for NAFEM’s #NAFEMFightingHunger social purpose campaign, making it easier to communicate and showcase their social impact

Once the design was approved, we built out pages and features to specifications defined during discovery and improved during the design process. 

The biggest site change was to support NAFEM’s goal of spinning their member dashboard into an independent web portal, increasing usability and moving away from using iframes. We again collaborated with their third-party vendor to ensure content consistency and functionality between the website and membership portal.

Post-launch, we facilitated a series of workshops with NAFEM to define a clear path forward for strengthening data governance and maturing their digital strategy in the context of AI. This work continues through the ongoing retainer and targeted projects.