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Art Gallery Mobile App

Art Gallery App Mockups

Project:

Art Gallery Mobile App

Role:

User Research, Branding, Mobile UI/UX

Duration:

4 Months

Project Vision

This is a mobile app made for artists and art enthusiasts who want to share their work online and eventually make a living out of it. It’s meant to facilitate the connection and making of community interested in art.

Challenges

The Goal

Our art gallery app will let users showcase their art, make online exhibitions, create a fanbase and connect with people which will affect independent artists who want an uncomplicated and fair option to make money from their art by getting financial support on a monthly basis from their fans & keeping 95% commision of the sales they make with from their artwork. We will measure effectiveness by tracking the number of new artist profiles created, monthly fan subscriptions and sales made by each artist.

Understanding The User

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. I identified through research that people interested in art don’t often visit museums because they find it inconvenient, boring and expensive.

Also there are many artists who want to sell their art or want to make an exhibition, but they don’t have a huge budget to make it at the beginning. According to research, an online platform would make things easier for them and could support them by giving them visibility and helping them sell their work.

Digital Artist

Meet the Users

Primary

Sendaya López, 28, Digital Illustrator

Sendaya is a digital illustrator living in a foreign country who needs an easy, language accessible and cheap way to present her art & make money out of it because normal exhibitions are expensive to do and doing it alone in a tight budget is too complicated.

Secondary

Matt Noori, 31, Developer

Matt is a developer & art enthusiast who needs a convenient way to contemplate art without visiting a museum exhibition because museums are too expensive & time consuming, besides one can’t interact directly with the artists.

User Journey Map

Sendaya

Matt

Paper Wireframes

Before moving onto high fidelity wireframes and mocks, I wanted to get a feel for what the core of the app would look like when put in front of me. Paper Wireframes can be a bit messy because it’s the perfect way to put your ideas into life and make quick iterations 😉

Low-Fidelity Wireframes

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Wireflow

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Results

Accesibility Considerations

I used a lot of contrast in the color palette I chose. It is very easy to read the info with the dark mode app design. Also the brighter green attracts the user’s attention for example of the buttons.

The typefont I used is very legible and also the size I used for the titles and main info is also very readable.

The user flow is very clear and straightforward. There isn’t much that the user can do wrong and the user can navigate from step to step backwards and forwards thanks to the navigation bar.

Small Style Guide

I defined a color palette together with the right font to give a singular personality to Artgall. This colors are vibrant, modern and full of energy, just how the app is too.

Takeaways

Testimonial

The App is a great opportunity to get to discover new art and at the same time give the artists the recognition and compensation they should get in “The age of mechanical reproduction”. – Maximilian Grunwald

What I learned:

I learned so much about the user research process at the beginning and how much time you need to invest on the iterations for your high-fidelity prototypes. The design is very important but it’s just based on the previews insights found by the research.

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Healthy Restaurant – Branding & Website Design

Green Deli, Green Fit

Corporate Identity Design & Website Design

About the client:

Green Fit is a Fitness Studio located in Mainz, Germany before known as “Sporttreff”. Right next to it is Green Deli, a restaurant that offers high-quality, regional cuisine with a large selection of modern and vegetarian dishes. They both are a subsidiary company and are own by the same person.

Healthy Restaurant Brand

Challenges

Company's named changed

The company used to be called “Sporttreff” and now they wanted to turn that into “Green Deli” and “Green Fit”.

2 Different Companies yet still belong together

Although Green Fit and Green Deli offer different services, they still are right next to one another and people should understand that both concepts belong together

Attract younger generations/ Modern Look

“Sporttreff” was thought for an older audience. Now Green Deli and Green Fit should attract younger generations without losing their current loyal clients.

Strategy

Bring Green Deli and Green Fit to life and let people know despite their different services, they still belong together.

Solution

Services provided:

• Corporate Identity (Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)
• Social Media Content Creation
• Landing Page Design (High-Fidely Mockup)

Benefits

Modern & Fresh Look

Green Deli & Green Fit image was taken in a good way by their audience and with the new more modern branding they could attract younger clients.

Former clients returned and new clients were gained

Many clients that used to support Sporttreff kept on visiting now Green Fit. New clients were also acquired during this process for Green Deli.

Social Media Success

Sporttreff had no Social Media presence. With the new Banners and other Social Media Templates, Green Deli & Green Fit could slowly build an online community.

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Canva, amazing tool or a threat to designers?

Canva Design Tool

Canva: Amazing tool or a threat to designers?

Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and publishing tool with the mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere.

I must accept that when I first heard of Canva some years back I didn’t take it so seriously and I thought it was going to be like any other pseudo “design” platform that tried to make “everyone” a designer, but wouldn’t be successful. With the pass of time more and more people and surprisingly also companies started using this platform 😨.

I might not speak only for myself when I say that when this platform slowly started to feel like a threat to us designers, that it might steal our jobs with the passing of time 🤡 BUT whenever you are most afraid, you also have to be the breavest and that’s when I tried Canva myself to understand why this thing was so popular and whether it was really that good?

After using Canva for some social media content planning and template designs, I can honestly say… It is pretty cool and I totally understand why people like it. 😂

Well… To that I have 3 Pros and 3 Cons of using Canva, that I’ve learned from using Canva for some time 😎.

Pros


1. It saves you tons of time for certain tasks:

For example resizing social media posts to different platforms, or applying your brand identity with a few easy clicks.

2. It’s really user friendly:

As a designer I have quite some experience with other professional design programs, and I have to say that the UI of Canva is really fun and easy to use.

3. You can share your projects easily with clients:

Making feedback rounds is surprisingly easy with Canva since you can share and give editing permissions to your clients. You can even leave the designs pre-finished so they can edit texts or some little details later.

Cons

 

 1. You get to the limits fast:

As a designer I achieve Canva’s limit to design and edit pretty fast. I realized this is a platform where you can edit pre-finished stuff really quickly, but whenever you want to create something on your own from scratch it turns into a pain in the ass and doesn’t save you time at all. On the contrary it often takes longer.

2. Canva edits, a designer thinks:

Well, this one is pretty obvious but still worth to say it. There is just no comparison between using Canva and working with a real designer. Normally, all finished product are based on lots of user research, target group analysis and many other strategic processes involved while designing. Getting a finished logo and just editing the name isn’t exactly what a designer does, it’s actually just a small percentage of it.

3. Cheap can be expensive in the long run:

Some entrepreneurs/ companies might think that they can solve anything with pre-finished templates. Even take a logo and just edit the name and that creates a whole brand identity. Well, as you might’ve expected this is not the case and going for the cheapest option in the beginning might not be the smartest way to go if you have some bigger plans for your company. Investing in a professional to create a good strategy right from the beginning will probably save you time and effort.

In conclusion…

 

For designers

Don’t see Canva as a competition, rather see it as an ally. Try to work together with your clients or your colleagues and try to guide them to which is the most useful tool in order to get the best results.

If Canva is a tool people in your working environment are familiar with, try to do the real from-scratch design process somewhere else and use Canva to do the sharing and feedback. It doesn’t make you any less of a designer to adapt to your environment’s needs and it can actually make these last steps go smoothly! It’s often not worth to enter the discussion whether Canva does the job of a designer or not, because as we saw it clearly has big limitations and it won’t replace the expertise of a designer.

If you position yourself as a design consultant or a design expert, your job clearly goes way beyong editing pre-finished templates 😉

For companies:

I can recognize the benefits of using a cost-saving tool such as Canva. Nevertheless, give a good thought if you might need a real designer to help you establish some guidelines and most importantly the strategy of the design before starting to create graphics.

Although this option seems more expensive in the begininng, see it as a long-term investment. You can’t solve everything with pre-designed templates and if you have future plans to be recognized as a well-established company, you might want to save yourself some frustration, time and money and hire a proper designer from the get-go.

After your brand has been established you can always use Canva for template creation and sharing! 👍🏽

#graphicdesigner #visualdesigner #webdesigner #design #fucsiadesign #canva #designtool

Fucsia Design_Freelance

Did you find this post interesting? Get in touch with me!

Alexa Nieto Manzano
Visual & Web Designer
Mannheim, Germany

Follow me on LinkedIn and don’t miss any new blogposts!

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Florian Brunsberg – Website Design

Florian Brunsberg Consultant

Florian Brunsberg

Website Design

About the client:

Florian is a service & after-sales expert and systemic organizational developer. He supports the internal processes of small and medium-sized companies whose goal is to further develop their organization.

Florian Brunsberg Consultant

Challenges

No structure for website content

Florian didn’t know how to communicate everything he wanted without being too much content and overwhelming his audience.

Website wasn't alligned with branding

Florian had already an existing branding (logo, color palette, etc), yet it wasn’t reflected in his website. 

Complicated navigation/ UX

The current website was very hard to navigate since there wasn’t a clear content structure. Therefore people often didn’t find what they were looking for.

Strategy

Support Florian to structure the new website’s content in a clear way and present it with high-end design.

Solution

We worked together for a couple of months, and after a web design workshop, some look & feel proposals, a wireframe and some rounds of corrections here is the final product .

Services provided:

• Web Design Workshop
• Sitemap & Content Structure Guidance
• Wireframes & Low-Fidelity Prototypes
• WordPress Site Building (Tablet + Mobile Adaptation)
• Basic SEO Optimization for Google

Benefits

Clear structure of the content

User experience is much more intuitive & makes it way easier to navigate

Scheduling appointments is a no-brainer now

Basic SEO for appearing in google is now optimized

More visibility and leads

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Case studies during interviews, questionable practice?

Young female candidate is interviewed by employer businesswoman

Are free design samples during a recruitment process necessary or advantageous?

Imagine you apply for a job, have the first and second interview, everything is going fine but suddenly the company asks you to deliver a detailed design task to test your skills. 😮

This is a real example of a “work sample”

A colleague of mine got this task while going through an interview process:

  • Task 1: Create a landing page for the company. Send it as PDF.
  • Task 2: Create a print ad in DIN A4 and create a text proposal for it. Send the open InDesign File.
  • Task 3: Start an order in Flyeralarm to print a pen with the company’s Logo. Send the open InDesign File.

I myself have experienced this first hand not only by handing in tasks per mail with the raw files, but also have even completed full 8 hour working days at the company’s office, just so they can test my skills as a designer.

From the company’s perspective

I can totally understand that companies:

  • Don’t want to hire the wrong person for the job
  • Want to make sure the person has the skills they need for the job
  • Want to have multiple samples from candidates that they can choose the best from

On the other hand,

From the applicant’s perspective

These expectations could bring  some ethical and professional issues with it:

  • Ideas are hard to protect and our intellectual property is at high risk
  • Our work can be used later without our permission, and it’s practically impossible to do something about it
  • We are working for free for a lucrative company without any remuneration
  • We have an extensive portfolio we invested tons of hours in making as proof of all our years of experience 

Hiring someone or in the case of the applicant accepting a job offer is always a risk, for BOTH parties. But taking the risk and hoping for the best is just a normal part of the process, don’t you think? And to minimize risk, the company still has 3 insurance measures on hand: the portfolio, interview questions, and if thats not enough the company still can get rid of an unqualified employee during the trial period.

Companies shouldn’t abuse their position of power to force applicants to deliver work for free. 👆🏽 There are sufficient and proportionate means for a company to determine wether the applicant is the right fit even without free “work samples”!

This is my proposal to make the creative industry a fairer and equitable world

If you are a company you can consider the next points: 

  •  Pay for the work

    If you didn’t love the work sample but still asked for it, pay a fair amount for the time the applicant invested in doing it. That way if the person is not hired, you still could show respect and appreciation for his/her time.  
  • Offer time compensation if hired

    If you loved the work sample and are sure this is the right person for the job, offer him/her some time compensation once this person starts officially to work at the company. 
  • Ask for a fictional task, nothing company related

    There is just no way to justify why a company would ask for a task related to current company projects nor why a company should need raw/ open files only to test your skills. To respect the intelectual property of applicants at least use ficitional tasks. 
  • Choose one project of the applicants portfolio to discuss together

    You can ask the applicant for more details about one portfolio project of your choice. How it originated, which tools did he/she use, how was the process from beginning to end? You can normally spot a good designer just by asking deeper questions.

These are some good examples of how you can value the time of the applicants and still know you are making the right decision. Creating a more human and equitable working culture is a sustainable strategy to keep employees happy and your inbox full of applications with the best talents out there.😉

If you are a company that has been doing this practice until now but didn’t know why it could be a bit difficult for designers, no problem. It’s not the intention to shame anyone. The intention is to work together for a fairer working culture 💜

Have you gone through similar processes like this? And if so, for which position were you applying for? I would love to read more about your experience in the comments below. 😍

#graphicdesigner #visualdesigner #webdesigner #design #fucsiadesign #recruiting #hr #recruitingprocess #workingculture #fairness

Fucsia Design_Freelance

Did you find this post interesting? Get in touch with me!

Alexa Nieto Manzano
Visual & Web Designer
Mannheim, Germany

Follow me on LinkedIn and don’t miss any new blogposts!

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Merkurist – Corporate Identity

Merkurist Content Creation

Merkurist

Corporate Identity Design

About the client:

Merkurist is an online regional newspaper focused on news from Mainz and Wiesbaden (two cities in the southwest of Germany.) Whether it’s local, politics, sports or the blue light: the local readers decide what merkurist.de reports on.

Merkurist Content Creation

Challenges

Company got sold and has now a new owner

The new owner of Merkurist has some different views about how the company’s direction should be. These new values should be communicated through the new design.

Lost their online community

Due to legal settlements their social media channels got erased and they lost all their followers. They had around 15K followers and had been innactive for around 3 months due to the company selling.

Need of a modern look to attract younger readers

Since Merkurist is starting a new chapter they want to have a renewed look to make a great comback, yet somehow mantain their old image so that loyal readers can still recognize its them.

Strategy

Help Merkurist get back on their feet and make a great comeback.

Solution

I added some new shiny colors to their former color palette and decided to mantain their old logo since many people recognized the Merkurist team thanks to this. I supported them to create a marketing campaign which involved the creation of print and digital media, creating content for their social media channels and making a promotion video. 

Services provided:

• Corporate Identity (Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)
• Social Media Content Creation
• Marketing Campaign Support

Benefits

Successful marketing campaign

The “Merkuretter” Campaign was live for about 4 weeks and it accomplish the money goal they were expecting. This success was of course not only thanks to the design actions, but it contributed in a big way.

Former clients returned and new clients were gained

Many clients that used to support Merkurist knew that they were back thanks to all the social media presence and decided to support them again. New clients were also acquired during this process.

Slowly regained their online community & still growing

Merkurist has gained back their only community day-by-day. Today they already have above 10K followers in their Instagram and keep on growing everyday. They have a wide resonance and their new brand is starting to get well-known.

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Glasny

Glasny Corporate Identity Business Cards

Glasny

Corporate Identity Redesign

About the client:

Glasny is a Children’s Neuropsychological Center that specializes in the diagnosis and monitoring of cognitive abilities in children. They focus on children ages 2 – 6 in their morning Institute and from 6 – 10 in their Center.

Glasny Corporate Identity Business Cards

Challenges

Company expanded to 3 new areas

Glasny expanded their services and now they had not just one area but three different ones.

Reesctructure and name change

Glasny gave a new name to each new area and didn’t know how to communicate this to their clients without confusing them.

Company's initial branding was almost 5 years old

Glasny already had a branding, but this was the very first image created back then when the company was just starting. Many things had changed.

Strategy

Give Glasny’s new areas a unique personality but maintain Glasny’s look as the main brand.

Solution

I used the already existing color palette, though I changed the brightness of some colors to give them more power. I mixed the colors in pairs and created that way 3 different areas with a very clear distinction.

Services provided:

• Brand Strategy Workshop

• Corporate Identity (Logo, Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)

Benefits

Instant brand recognition among competition

Glasny has a very unique design among the children psychology centers in Monterrey, MX. It is easy to recognize among all others.

Clear communication to their clients

Clients of glasny understand that there is a company restructure and know in which direction it’s going. They’re not lost and confusion is unusual.

Up-to-date image with current company's values

After many years of constant growth, it’s just normal that the initial branding doesn’t apply anymore to the current company’s state. This redesigned identity communicates better Glasny’s vision and mission!

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The Hackathon Company – Corporate Identity

Corporate Identity The Hackathon Company

The Hackathon Company

Corporate Identity & Website Design

About the client:

The Hackathon Company offers hackathon events & recruiting services for big corporates of different regions in Germany. They focus on recruiting people from the IT sector, since companies struggle currently to find programmers.

Corporate Identity The Hackathon Company

Challenges

No consistency/ No brand recognition

Since there was not a specific design-line followed, clients didn’t recognize nor remembered the company’s name nor the brand in general.

Aiming the wrong target group

This company has two different target groups: 1. Managing Directors of big companies, 2. Students/ Under-grads. Their image was not speaking to both these groups but just one.

Services not clear

They were struggling to define which services they offered and define if “sub-brands” were needed or everything would be part of the “mother-brand”.

Strategy

Establish a brand consistency and harmony across all platforms.

Solution

I created a short but powerful color palette that communicates the company’s values. Redefined the order and hierarchy of the services, and created a mother brand and sub-brands accordingly.

Services provided:

• Corporate Identity Creation (Logo, Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)

• Website Design

Benefits

A clear design-line

The new branding was succesfully applied to their website and all their other social media. There’s a clear harmony and recognition now.

More applicants for their recruiting events

The new website and social media attracted more applicants to be part of their hackathons. The applicants are a key piece in their business modell.

Gaining more leads

Having many applications of IT-personal is proof of success and this fact attracted therefore more companies as clients as well.

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Daniela Hölzer – Branding &Website Design

Daniela Hölzer Coaching & Consulting

Daniela Hölzer

Branding & Website Design

About the client:

Daniela Hölzer is an independent coach and consultant. She supports private in their day-to-day life, as well as business owners who need a strategic and targeted support with communication inside their companies. 

Daniela Hölzer Coaching & Consulting

Challenges

Not taken seriously

Clients often didn’t take her services seriously or didn’t fully trust them. Her digital prescence lacked professionalism. 

Esoteric image

People had a strong esoteric/ guru perception of Daniela, eventhough she is a highly specialized consultant.

Current color palette doesn't reflect her personality

As many other solopreneurs, the colors she had didn’t reflect the services and values she actually offered.

Strategy

Create a solopreneur consulting brand that communicates professionalism and trust.

Solution

I created a vibrant color palette that represented Daniela’s energetic personality, keeping in mind the professionalism. The logo’s intention was a very minimalistic shape to be taken seriously by big concerns, and at the same time could be placed anywhere and get a direct brand recognition with the pass of time.

Services provided:

• Brand Strategy Workshop

• Corporate Identity (Logo, Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)

• Website Design

Benefits

Faster appointment scheduling

With the new website design, it is now easier for clients to make an appointment with Daniela without so much searching and trying.

More potential leads through the right key words

Having the right key words in addition to the new design at her homepage is a crucial thing. She now can be found much easier through google and get seen by more potential clients!

Earn clients trust

Making a good first impression with potential clients is much easier now for Daniela having a professional well-designed brand and website. No more esoteric confusion 😉

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Diversity Company – Branding & Website Design

Diversity Company

Branding & Website Design

About the client:

The Diversity Company is a business consultant company specialized in diversity. They advise and support companies, universities and institutions that want to make a change to a more diverse future. 

DC_1 - JPG

Challenges

Confusion about company's mission and services

People were often confused about:

•  What is the company about?
•  What services do they offer?
What are customers paying for?
Is it just for women?

Wrong perception of the company's image

The brand was perceived as a radical feminist asociation from and strictly for women. This in fact was a very wrong perception of what they intended to communicate in the first place.

Logo, colors & aesthetics are not consistent and don't match their values

The Diversity Company had a different name and the old color palette was very “woman-focused”. Besides, they didn’t stick to one consistent image through all their marketing platforms.

Strategy

Design a gender neutral brand which welcomes any person no matter what cultural background or color, and transmits a fresh and open-minded mentality.

Solution

I extended the color palette and chose carefully a wide variety of colors full of energy. Also I created three amorphous forms that should represent the diversity in our society.

Services provided:

• Brand Strategy Workshop

• Corporate Identity (Logo, Color Palette, CI Guide, etc)

• Website Design

Social Media Content

Benefits

More potential leads

The new website attracts more companies and institutions that didn’t seem to quite understand their services before. The new website has more CTAs and a higher retention rate than the previous one.

Wider community on social media

Since the new image is gender-neutral it invites men, as well as females to support their cause and share their message.

Stable and consistent digital presence

The Diversity Company now has an own personality and identity. This helps their brand to stand out and it sets the tone in all their digital channels. This is a crucial component to make people recognize their brand over time.