Building the High End Neon Artist's Web Presence through Ecommerce
J1 ARTS – CASE STUDY
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.
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.
Big Cartel
- Within Client's Budget
- Custom Code (HTML, CSS, Ruby-on-Rails)
- Easy to use CMS for adding Artwork
- No Transaction Fees
SquareSpace
- Out of Client's Budget
- Easy to Edit
- Lots of Simple Design Solutions
- Not Inherently for Ecommerce
Big Commerce
- Intermediate CMS
- Expensive
- Made for Physical Retail Shops
Wix
- Fully Customizable
- Drag-and-Drop Interface
- Most Expensive
Weebly
- Ridgid Themes
- Ecommerce-First Solution
- Cheapest Solution
Shopify
- Most Popular Solution (Good Tutorials/Plugins)
- Expensive to Upkeep
- Easy for Client to Use
Data Input for Everyone
Ecommerce Solution Research
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.
- Types of Artwork Ranked By ImportancePaintings
- LogosGlow Box Paintings
- Murals
- Stickers
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 test brand 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 test brand 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.
- Home Page (Mobile)
- Products Page
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.
Solution
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?
