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WHO

JEN CASTELO MAKEUP ARTIST

WHAT

Reimagine her existing branding and online presence to reflect her move to Hawaii

ROLE

Rebranding, UX/UI design, Visual design

GOAL

Gain new clientele in her new location

JEN CASTELO MAKEUP

Effortless beauty services on Maui

ITERATIVE APPROACH TO DESIGN

An iterative approach is to create a design, test it with users, analyze the results, and then make improvements based on that feedback. This approach allows for a more flexible and user-centered design process, as it allows for testing and feedback to be incorporated throughout the design process, rather than waiting until the end.

BUT FIRST, RESEARCH

I performed a competitive analysis to gain understanding of the strengths/weaknesses of other beauty artists on the island followed by in-depth interviews to understand user thoughts, feelings, and feedback about Jen’s current site and one competitor. 

SUBJECTIVE BEAUTY

I conducted four in-depth interviews with females age 36-47. I asked them to explore Jen's current site as well as one of the competitors sites from the analysis above. 

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Because hair and makeup can be so subjective, there were a range of thoughts and feelings about the presentation style of the services offered.

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I was able to parse out three themes from the interview and take this feedback as data to apply to Jen's redesign.

SIMPLICITY

  • Users didn’t want to click/scroll past a certain point (1-2 clicks/scroll movements) to find what they were looking for

  • They preferred one gallery/portfolio with a range of hair/makeup ethnicities and styles

  • Users preferred to not spend much time reading content; keep it short and sweet

VISUALS MATTER

  • Users see and predict what kind of experience they are booking based on photos

  • The photography (including artist bio headshot) tells a story of price point, professionalism, and the quality of service they will receive

TRANSPARENCY

  • Users preferred to see price points up front, they don’t want to spend time inquiring if it’s a waste of time

  • Credentials, experience and awards matter; they provide a level of trust and expertise

  • Users want to see what kind of work the artist excels at and are looking for a personalized experience unique to their features and needs

The top two things would be the gallery and pricing. Pricing, does it fit my price range? I like that she (Jen) has her pricing up front.

(Jen's site) doesn’t grab your attention, the fonts are inconsistent, some parts seem repetitive.

(Jen looks) professional, she has awards and credentials, she looks approachable..I would also look at testimonials

ALOHA, JEN

Jen has worked as a freelance hair and makeup artist for over 10 years in Long Beach, CA and recently moved to Maui, Hawaii. She feels that her website looks dated, is too complicated, and doesn’t reflect her new location to acquire local clients.

OUT WITH THE OLD

Jen's current site is over 8 years old, and she created it herself using Wordpress. She has the basic pages with pricing, FAQ's, about, testimonials and her portfolio. It seems like all the information that a potential client might need on the site, so the question becomes: how is an actual user experiencing the site and how can we convey she is located in Maui? 

IDEAL CLIENT

Armed with this user feedback, industry data and Jen's personal experience, I created a user persona to help frame the new direction for her branding and site. 

A SWING AND A MISS

After creating the sitemap, sketching out a layout, working on new visuals and deciding to use Squarespace to build the site, I knew I was going to be somewhat limited in my design because of the templates on Squarespace. I wanted to head full force into creating a working prototype to test.

 

Keeping in mind the research takeaways of simplicity, transparency, and image presentation, I wanted to have Jen stand out from the crowd. I then got some user feedback that was...less than stellar BUT very useful.

SETTING THE MOOD

Jen requested bright, happy, Hawaiian colors and feeling with a pop. I wanted to modernize her current site’s pastel color way with more saturated palette inspired by nature. Also on deck was simplifying and updating her logo while portraying her fun-loving spirit. I started playing around with typeface options, color palettes and since I was actually going to be creating her new live site, exploring website templates. 

I like the simplicity but it’s not warm or inviting.

I want it to be more elegant somehow.

Seems too dark...this FAQ is confusing

60%

Weddings in Hawaii that are "destination"

#2

Maui is second the most popular island for HI weddings

33

Average age of brides who opt for a destination wedding

$32-35k

Average cost of a Hawaiian wedding

EDIT, CURATE, FOCUS

Based on this feedback, I kept the pop of pink (the color of Maui), and focused on an easy, straightforward, clean user experience that highlighted Jen’s aesthetic.

After testing the new site with users and keeping in mind my key research themes of simplicity, visual delight and clarity, I found a few key areas to implement changes:

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HOMEPAGE​

  • Hero images replaced with more on-brand imagery: bright & colorful

  • Sticky banners to: Show awards/social proof & give users a variety of content without clicking to find it

FAQ​

  • Anchor links removed, there was confusion about this layout

  • There were so few questions, users preferred to see all answers

*Note since publishing the site in late 2022, Jen has made changes to the initial design

BEAUTY IN YOUR POCKET

Having a responsive design was vital for transition to a mobile view. Keeping clicks minimal, with no pulldown menus in the navigation was priority.

LESSONS LEARNED

  • Coming up with a design and sketches is a whole different ballgame when you're limited with an existing website template and limited coding experience

  • User feedback and testing is a critical step to producing a digital product, even when you're not a huge company

  • The process of communicating feedback to the client in a productive and gentle way is critical to working together to produce an end product everyone can be happy with

  • This is just a simple design that Jen can update with her own future branding and differentiation 

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