Case study · marketplace modernisation
Welcomia. A new home for stock media.
We modernised the Virrage Images stock-media platform. A new interface went hand in hand with migrating data, media files and the product’s existing URLs.
- Storefront
- Discovering and searching for media
- Amazon S3
- Migrating the media library
- SEO
- Retained historical URLs
Starting point
Not a new store from scratch. A rebuild of an existing product.
Welcomia sold stock photography and footage to small businesses and individuals. Virrage Images returned to GMI to renew a product built more than a decade earlier, including its database, media library and public interface.
Inside the product
A library accessible on desktop and phone.
Search, themed categories and a media grid formed the entry point to browsing the library.
Product decisions
A polished customer journey. A back office focused on function.
The client supplied static interface views. A workshop connected them with guest, user and administrator journeys. Public-facing pages called for visual polish; the back office needed a focus on function.
The central challenge
Move the library, not just redesign the interface.
The legacy database did not fit the new model, and some media files were corrupted. We built a migration proof of concept for Amazon S3, with thumbnail and watermark generation. Small, resumable batches allowed work to continue after a problem with an individual file.
- 01
Existing database and files
- 02
Resumable migration batches
- 03
New data model and Amazon S3
Inside the product
Categories, the offer and the customer’s next step.
After discovering media, users encountered the licensing offer. The public interface explained the purchase model and pointed to the next step.
Product continuity
Old URLs belonged in the new application.
We retained historical slugs and routing structure. The migration covered not only data and files, but also the paths people used to reach the library.
Delivery and outcome
From workshop to public release.
File migration took longer than estimated and delayed the release. The beta launched at the end of March 2020, followed by the public version two weeks later. The new interface worked with the migrated database and media library.
- 01
Workshop and scope
- 02
Migration proof of concept
- 03
Beta
- 04
Public release
- Product workshop
- New interface
- Database and media migration
- Retained routing