"Branding and identity"
A UX Design-turned-brand strategy client project for Marianne Graber.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The brief: Marianne Graber, numerologist and healer, needed a professional online presence to represent the brand and facilitator authentically, to offer bookings for her service offerings and make it easy for customers to identify, relate and connect to the brand.
The set up: A three week design sprint, working directly with the client. A graphic/web designer was included in handover.
The process: User research through to service and website design, including synthesis and iteration.
Key methods:
● Competitor and comparator analysis.
● Business analysis.
● Heuristic analysis.
● Sketching, wireframing & prototyping.
● User testing.
Key tools: Figma
My role: Owned all deliverables, presentations and communication with the client. Led all user research, synthesis, design, testing and final recommendations.
The problem: Marianne had not yet established her spot in the market, the business was not sending a unified message online and the logo and website was outdated.
The solution: The solution was to refine the brand’s strategy, identity and logo and re-design the website, making it easier for users to connect to the brand, understand the services offered and complete any of their desired tasks effortlessly.
Delivered: Service, brand and identity and website design recommendations, documentation of the research and synthesis and a 30-minute presentation handing over the final deliverables and recommendations to the client and the graphic/web designer.
RESEARCH
Target customers were consulted and thorough analysis completed.
The initial findings presented many opportunities.
● Undefined target audience and difficult to read logo.
● Website was outdated with an excessive amount of content, lacking intuitive Information Architecture or navigation and the service offering was unclear.
● Online platforms lacked consistency or familiarity with each other.
● Unclear business value proposition, brand slogan, voice and vision.
● No linkedin business profile or business email signature.
SOLUTIONS
Removing, synthesising and creating new website content.
● Reduced copy by 80% which reduced cognitive load for the user and simplified their experience with the site.
● Reduced amount of images by 60% as many images gave no added value or meaning to the user and were not reflecting the brand consistently.
● Gathered all photos that the client had in her possession and found a series of great shots, all from one photoshoot, which I used for the website to strengthen brand identity and bring meaning to the accompanying copy and content on the web pages. .
● Created purposeful copy for the website speaking directly to the target audience to satisfy users needs.
Setting the foundations for the brand.
Name – Mary Graber.
Website- www.marygraber.com
Target audience – Women seeking to find their purpose and feel empowered.
Business slogan – “Find your purpose”.
Vision – To empower women worldwide to live to their full potential through overcoming traumas and limiting belief patterns to be their authentic selves.
Brand voice – Empowering and inspiring, yet sincere.
Brand values – Community, courage and empathy.
Brand Statement – My personal healing journey has taught me that the power of changing our reality lies in our own hands. My job is to remind you and reconnect you with your true essence that is light and pure love to help you vibrate this frequency in your inner and outer world. With 4 years experience and practicing in a range of healing modalities I draw from a different selection of healing treatments to best suit the healing journey of each individual. My core areas of expertise lie in theta healing, quantum being and numerology.
Sketching, wireframing and prototyping.
I started with lo-fidelity sketches, which I then developed into mid-fidelity wireframes and prototypes, before creating high-fidelity mockups and prototypes.
Solutions were designed, tested and iterated on.
User testing helped us to deliver our MVP.
Before
After
Where to from here.
There are important next steps for the business and for the graphic/web designer continuing the project.
● Finish new logo design “Mary Graber” (bolder text, brand colours, high contrast & reflecting brand’s values and purpose).
● Design new website “www.margraber.com”(following my mockups).
● Create email signature, business page on linkedin, update linktree, and delete old website.
● Update online platforms with new branding and website (Instagram, facebook, gmail and linkedin).
Upon reflection...
There was a lot to consider in a small amount of time. Therefore, strategy, business thinking and prioritising tasks was important to achieve the best experience for the user. After going through this process the client was delighted with the outputs and I felt very confident that my UX recommendations would help establish Marianne’s place in the market and increase return business. Marianne has since updated her website and adopted many of my recommendations. She has 3 x more followers on instagram since we started this project and continues to grow her clientele.