J1 Arts
Ecommerce Site
May 2021 - July 2021
Turning on the Neon
J1 Vision LLC is a high-end neon artist who wanted to grow his potential output using internet sales. He had never managed a website, only selling his pieces in person, so I eased him in using a managed e-commerce experience.
My Contributions
I owned this project, taking the client from concept to completion. I used 'A/B testing' to perfect the rebranding and design, before developing the product using the service BigCartel. In addition, I facilitated the artist on utilizing their new site.
Data Input for Everyone
Ecommerce Solution Research
To start, I made a list of everything the client wanted, regardless of the practicality. Organizing the list, I found out what J1 needed which influenced the project's scope.
I scoped a simple CMS with cheap monthly upkeep to fit the client's requirements, which turned out to be BigCartel. Here are some of the options I considered while making this choice.
Building a Structure
Information Architecture
During our preliminary interview, I asked the client to categorize their artwork how they would like it on the site. While this didn't end up being the final layout, it helped start a conversation about what his audience usually bought from him. I constructed a sitemap to guide subsequent development. I used Miller's Law, which states that people can keep 5-9 items in their minds at a time, to limit the menu choices to less than 7 per page.
Branding the Client
User Interface Design
Since I was working with an artist, I was lucky to have a preliminary logo to base my style guide off. Even so, I felt like the logo didn't fully capture the essence of J1's art style. As shown above, I updated the logo with my favorite vector program to pop with neon.
This saved a vast amount of conceptualization and iteration, allowing me to quickly A/B testbrand elements with the client. I find that giving the client two options can help them decide based on comparison, where three or more options can obscure the client's desires.
This saved a vast amount of conceptualization and iteration, allowing me to quickly A/B testbrand elements with the client. I find that giving the client two options can help them decide based on comparison, where three or more options can obscure the client's desires.
These mockups allowed me to create the style guide shown below. I used this to build the site directly using BigCartel. While I usually perform wireframes and mockups, the client's time constraints dictated a more streamlined approach.
Customer Satisfaction
User Flow for Shipping
After launching the client's website, it was imperative that he understood how his audience would get the artwork. I had to consider the client's perspective from buyer checkout to delivery. The easiest way to show this off was a simple User Flow, which is laid out below.
BigCartel and J1
I had to answer a few questions in this user flow for J1 to optimize his business and focus on making art.
+How does the user buy a piece?
+How does J1 get notified that a piece is bought?
+How does J1 get paid for a piece?
+How does J1 ship the piece?
Some pain points I ran into:
+How does the customer know their piece is on it's way?
+Where should shipping be calculated?
+How should the customer's address be securely communicated?
