CREATING AND MAINTAINING A WHOLESALER COMPANY’S BRAND IDENTITY
Great Buy Products Website Development
WEBSITE DESIGN · BRAND IDENTITY · RESEARCH
Overview
Great Buy Products, a startup (founded 2018) in the wholesale industry, boasts low prices on closeout goods for retailers to sell at a higher price. As the sole designer, I worked to revamp their outdated website, which was originally created on a budget during their founding moments.
TEAM
Sole UX/UI Designer
MY ROLE
Conceptualization, research, designing, prototyping
TIMELINE
July - September 2023 (3 month internship)
TOOLS
Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Video Overview
Problem Space
When big name competitors like Costco and Sam’s Club exist, it’s more difficult to stand out than you might think as a startup in the wholesale industry. One thing we can say for sure? The aesthetics of an ecommerce store matters.
Source: National Library of Medicine
While designing, I also wanted to keep in mind that Gen Z—the first fully digital generation—has a large impact on ecommerce retail, currently accounting for 17.1% and expected to reach 20% in 2030.
Source: NielsenIQ
Source: Statista
PROBLEM STATEMENT
How can we retain the brand identity of Great Buy Products, while improving the UX/UI on a budget?
Constraints
Source: sagapixel
Great Buy Products is still a small company on a budget. In redesigning the website, I had been given a few constraints:
DO NOT change the design of the website excessively, especially outside of the homepage, for budget’s sake.
Continually check in to ensure the design aesthetically aligns with my supervisor’s vision.
Retain a strong brand identity.
First Steps
After offering a couple of font and color suggestions that retain the brand identity but modernize the website, my supervisor finalized their choices, allowing me to create a style guide to reference throughout the design process.
Hypothesis
If Gen Z is increasingly coming into play in eCommerce, and Gen Z values authenticity, it’s critical to evoke a sense of stability and authenticity for the user in any way possible. In order to do this, I analyzed color psychology—emphasizing the brand color, blue, would be valuable in creating such an atmosphere.
Furthermore, a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine emphasizes not only the importance of an aesthetically pleasing design, but also the specific details that caught the eyes of the individuals. This is what led me to focus on revamping the navigation bar while using colors in eye-catching places.
Source: NielsenIQ
Source: eagle
Source: National Library of Medicine
Source: Psychology Today
While my supervisor outlined a couple of brands he wanted to take inspiration from, I wanted to learn more about the competition and see what they were doing. In doing so, I conducted a competitive analysis. This helped me understand which features were more valuable than others in the world of wholesale eCommerce.
I wanted to do one final step before starting designing—understand the customers and potential users of Great Buy Products, or a wholesaler website in general. This is where Adam Rogers comes to my aide as my persona.
Now, with my research complete…
📦 Onto designing! 📦
Prototyping & wireframing
The design process was a lengthy one, resulting in over 20 iterations and close communication with my supervisor over the span of 3 months. I wanted the design to be as close to his vision as possible.
Iteration to iteration, changes were often made very logically, according to budget constraints and the company’s aesthetic preferences.
Video Overview
Final Sentiments
Looking back on this project, I learned the importance of being flexible and avoiding personal attachment to designs.
A large challenge I had with this project was that the market was completely unfamiliar to me. For this reason, I struggled with finding users to conduct interviews with.
I feel that the constraints I was given shaped the final design immensely—this design is far from my usual style, so I’d wish to revisit in the future.