Basia's portfolio was my first project going into digital design, my redesign stayed only in a concept form, but the minimalism and concentration on UX of the site has been translated to later Basia's sites.
UX /UI Designer, UX Researcher
Stakeholder
I’ve interviewed the stakeholder to learn about websites’ issues, the clients’ needs & desires and the target audience that she had in mind. I've understood that there's a need to find a visual direction for the website, that's supposed to feel professional & invite people from all walks of life.
To understand the user’s point of view, I’ve tested the previous design with non-ideal users, asking them to explore particular user journeys. They users pin-pointed more and less obvious flaws of the website. Even though the art was compelling, the users' feedback about the website was focused on the feeling of confusion & frustration about WIX.
I've learned that non-ideal users find issues that can make the website more user-friendly, but it is the ideal users that can make the website feel customised and meet the correct expectations.
To understand what’s wrong with the previous design, I’ve went with a heuristic analysis of it.
I’ve found: unclear information architecture, technical issues related to WIX, blog articles that were published as JPEGs, forms were not working properly and there was a pop-up about a non-existing newsletter that was used only to collect emails. It meant for the users – frustrating experience on mobile, getting false expectations regarding the newsletter & general feeling of being lost.
Lack of visual hierarchy & consistency – every subpage is a bit different, creating confusion for the user
Failed WCAG contrast recommendations – some of the copy on the buttons was illegible
No responsive mobile version – making it possible to look at the portfolio only on desktop viewports
The stakeholder's priorities were: showcasing her art, sharing her blog, and selling basic photography lessons.
Therefore, I aimed for a simple design & a flat site map suitable for a small website.
I've prepared a comprehensive competitive research to understand how photographers' position themselves by means of their websites.
Inspired by top photographers, I found out that simple websites made the most professional impression, suitable for a diversified target audience.
I exercised my layout skills on different subpages to put the photographies front and center. Made with the support of common industry patterns and UX principles to elevate my design.
