I redesigned the website of Ä°pekli.co, a Turkish entrepreneurship based in Istanbul focused on 100% silk clothing products.
Timeline: 4 weeks, Fall 2024 Tools: Figma & Wix Studio
In this freelance project, I redesigned the entire website for a driving school based in Vancouver.
1. Discovery Phase
Problem
User research revealed these key issues with the startup’s website:
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Essential info (price, size, stock, delivery) is missing or requires multiple clicks, leading to high drop-off rates.
The brand’s vision of silk as a valuable, high-quality, and health-beneficial fabric isn’t well-communicated.
The website’s aesthetics don’t reflect the brand’s high-end, elegant identity.
Goals
1. Ensure essential product information (price, size, stock, delivery) is visible on product cards or accessible with a single click.
2. Simplify the shopping experience to align with familiar e-commerce patterns, while ensuring customers can get instant answers to their questions or quickly reach support.
3. Enhance the website’s aesthetics to immediately reflect a high-end, elegant brand vision and communicate the health benefits of silk.​
Once again, before diving into my design process, here's a direct comparison of the redesign:
Before
After
1.1 Market Research
I analyzed the existing website and provided recommendations. After that, I researched key industry trends, identified key competitors both in Turkey and globally, and created a market segmentation. The conclusions I drew from this process are:
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1. Users find the use of high-quality visuals missing on the current site important, with 67% rating it as very important.
2. There is a growing trend towards slow fashion.
3. Discounts influence purchasing decisions, with 64% of users being guided by them.
4. Social commerce increases site traffic and provides social proof.
5. Silk stands out as a luxurious and sustainable material.​​
1.2 Competitive Analysis
I selected 4 competitors and analyzed their websites to identify their strengths, weaknesses, unique selling propositions, opportunities for our brand, and potential threats to our business.
2. Ideation Phase
Based on my research in the 1. Discovery Phase and the user pain points identified, I used the 'How Might We' approach to reframe these challenges into questions that help brainstorm ideas and potential solutions.
2.1 User Flows, IA and Wireframes
After brainstorming ideas using the "How might we" approach, I created new user flows for ordering a silk shirt, getting in touch with customer services and accessing FAQ page. After receiving approval from the owners, I proceeded to create wireframes. Some Examples:
Reflection
Key Takeaways:
This project was my first freelance project, and I realized how important it is to understand the vision and goals of the brand and product from the stakeholders' perspective. I aimed to reflect their vision on the website. Additionally, I understood how effective the 1.Discovery phase was in resolving many uncertainties, both from my point of view as the designer and from the stakeholders' perspective.
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Post-Launch Results:
Our Wix Dashboard shows a 66% sales increase in the first 60 days post-launch. While startups typically experience sales variations, the consistent revenue growth and longer user visit durations confirm that our enhanced shopping experience and stronger brand communication are producing measurable results.