Creating a new brand identity
ROLE
User Experience
Information Architecture
Web Design
Branding Implementation
CLIENT
m.a.d. furniture design
CHALLENGE
The user experience of the existing m.a.d. furniture design website suffered from obtuse placement of core user journey elements, low-contrast color combinations, and confusing navigation. The site also employed a highly minimal aesthetic, which erred on the side of too little information. For example, product listing pages excluded product names except on hover, and product purchase pages hid the “add to cart” button at the bottom of the page. The goal of this project was to improve usability, make exploring and purchasing m.a.d.’s offerings an enjoyable and intuitive experience, and infuse the new visual identity to the entire site.
By the end of this project, I had addressed all of these issues, and coordinated with their in-house development team to deliver a new website that they can be proud of.
APPROACH
I began the project by helping m.a.d think through the user experience. What information is important and useful to their site visitors What are the users’ goals when visiting the site, and how can each page help them achieve that?
These information architecture and sitemapping exercises laid the groundwork for me to then begin the wireframing process, which ensured all important information was present, that each page had a natural flow, and that all key user journey elements were prominently and intuitively placed.
DESIGN DECISIONS
After the wireframing was complete, we moved on to the visual design of each page, and the overall look and feel of their new digital presence.
As during the rebrand process, we had only a handful of staged product photography and had to mostly rely on computer generated product images. Having already solved this challenge during the rebrand by layering masked texture elements in brand colors, I used these textures throughout the site to add cohesion. The juxtaposition of the intricate textures beside the bold brand typography creates an engaging visual experience that translated well to the digital platform.
I chose intuitive locations for essential user journey elements such as the “add to cart” button, and navigation bar elements to make user journey effortless and more enjoyable. I also paired well-contrasting colors within the brand scheme to ensure website accessibility.
I applied their new color scheme and typography across the website, and created custom collages for each page to infuse their new visual identity into every aspect of the site. In doing so, the site leans away from it’s previous minimalism and provides all the information the user needs as they navigate the site.
RESULT
m.a.d. furniture design’s new website feels true to their brand personality and visual identity. It infuses the creative spirit we tapped into in their rebrand in every page along the user journey and users will enjoy a seamless pairing of desktop and mobile experiences with a smoother, more friendly purchasing pipeline.
After the redesign of their brand and visual identity, m.a.d. asked for a new web experience to match.