A+R • Global Design. Re-Edited.

Story: With the world of design, there truly is no beginning and/or end, as design can be envisioned as abstract as a cyclical concept, utilizing past designs for inspiration or as an infinite ideology, allowing the mind to create sublime, but more importantly, new experiences. For business owners and design enthusiasts, Andy Griffith and Rose Apodaca, good design is expressed through the attributes of innovative, worldly, and edited, as their store prides in selling products with “design that charms, functions and inspires.” Further, A+R functions off the philosophy that they not only overcome all sorts of challenges to find the newest and most innovative items, but that they also familiarize themselves personally with said products, thus affirming that each has the great potential to complement home and/or work spaces alike. And yet, their e-commerce website communicated their colorful story with a sort of lackluster, displaying a rather basic and cluttered space for such a design-centered brand. 

Problem: The feel and functionality of the website is not cohesive with the creative, yet human-centered vision of the a+r brand.

Role: lead ux designer

Tools used: pen, pencil, paper, white-board, markers, post-its, gliffy, balsamiq, and photoshop

Process: 

• user persona creation after conversing with the store owners about their clientele, branding, and aesthetic

• user scenario creation to hone in on the psyche of a+r's clientele and to understand their work flow

• card-sorting the different elements on the e-commerce website to better organize the sections (information architecture) 

• create a specific user flow (gliffy)

• sketch out lo-fi wireframes on paper before transferring them to digital for prototyping via balsamiq

Solution: A revamped a+r store website with a better flow and cleaner aesthetics.