602 Enterprises

Step One: Market Analysis

For the market research, there were numerous examples of websites that centered around Greek life as well as businesses. I evaluated a great market, each having what works for them and flaws that don't work. In my research, I researched what was in the market to formulate a proper design choice tailored specifically to 602 Enterprises. I picked two competitors that would best rival 602 Enterprises. The first competitor is Hittn Skins, a screen printing company based in Orlando, Florida that provides custom apparel, vinyl designs, and branding materials commercially and residentially. The second competitor is JNJ Apparel which creates apparel for businesses and campus life like sororities and fraternities. Both are great websites that answer user needs in creating designs and apparel for students or businesses. But what makes both of these websites work and what doesn't work? That is the question I am going to answer.

I created a criterion table that helped me evaluate the total content inside the website. My biggest takeaway when it came to the design, especially Hittn' Skins, noticed there were too picture-heavy, and much of their work was covered by the text, like their cover image. You can't see the design, since they have text in front of it. JNJ Apparel, their home page contains three columns and more details about their brand. One of the most prominent issues I have with this is that no action statement expresses why users should select either of those columns. This is missing and can help users understand what they offer and IF it is aimed toward them. To see the pros & cons of both competitors, click this link to see more.

A major issue for both websites was that they had to know how users sign up, and do they need to build a quote. email first? Especially JNJ Apparel which allows you to shop in their store. They had a great catalog as well as targetting businesses for quotes. Overall this helped me see what worked and what didn't to target their main audience.

Step Two: User Research

Identifying what is in the market helped me understand what I needed to build a design tailored to the target audience and I already know who my clients want to target. But campus life and businesses alone can be a very broad audience group, there many businesses and campuses out there. I want to know the TYPE of students on campus that will use it and the TYPE of businesses that can use this website as their supplier. I created a user analysis to break down four types of users that can help identify those broad groups.

I implemented an empathy map that can help me identify what the user will say, think, feel, and does. I used Ashley Lin as an example of someone who is part of a sorority and is looking to create custom shirts for her sorority sisters. She has been looking online for the best businesses that are either around her or have a great rate. This empathy map showcases that Ashley needs a company that will be good in quality and supplies her with a bundle of apparel. How did I understand who Ashly is and what can help me help her design a website that compliments her needs? That's what empathy helps me with and aims to be helpful when coming up with a design.

Now that I have an idea of the type of user necessary to target 602 Enterprises. I create a user profile to help identify WHO the person is and how this lives their life, and how they fit into 602 enterprises. I breakdown the user profile by who the person is, their values, goals, traits, motivation, and frustrations. All this helped me create a case for someone that I could help build around and understand on a personal level who the audience is.

While I have created the user profile, I designed a SWOT Analysis that will help me understand the business aspect of 602 Enterprises, like Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Making the SWOT Analysis will help me diagnose realistic problems that can face 602 Enterprises and also excellent reasons why it will function.

Step Three: Wireframes

As Steve Jobs once said, "Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." I know how important a design looks, but is very important that a design WORKS. Before designing my website, I like to create a black-and-white mid-fidelity design that will help show the client how the website will flow. This will help me lay the ground work to eventually add color, content, and graphics. To see the complete mid-fidelity design, click this link here!

Step Four: Styling & Content

The main colors of 602 Enterprises are black and white and my clients wanted a tone of blue that can complement the black and white. I was able to find a dodger blue color to dominate the page with black and white. Then found two other secondary blue colors to help complement the blue. The typography that I decided to go with was the Oswald font. The reason is that it fits the tone of what the website should be BOLD and LOUD. Customers should see this font and know what this business wants to represent with its services. The icons were designed by myself and all come in 2 sets, for businesses and campus. I also designed a hi-fidelity prototype, to see the full prototype, click the link here!

Icons

Hi-fidelity Design

Step Five: SEO & Website

Once I complete the hi-fidelity prototype, I share it with my clients to see how they like it. Once I go over the prototype with them, I ask for any changes, additions, or anything to eliminate. Once we all can agree on the design and that's what they want, I now implement it onto the website. I go through each page then input metatags and add an alt tag to images have to optimize as much seo as possible. I also want to implement keywords that can produce large traffic flows when they google services similar to 602 Enterprises. the SEO at 602 Enterprises was previously at 32% originally to now helping the seo jump to 77% and on the lighthouse is at 92%. The number will continue to increase over time as perform maintenance on the website over time.

I also wanted to make sure to utilize keywords within the website like custom apparel and all about customs into the website. Custom apparel has a large volume of searches, which was an issue since many people would use this keyword on their website. I did some research and found all about custom wear, which has a low volume in comparison and helps people navigate to their website easier. It also navigates to custom apparel similar to what 602 Enterprises intends to sell. I found specific keywords that can help create traffic flow by mixing low-volume and high-volume keywords.

Final Results

After completing every step, I input everything into the website and make sure the website is responsive and works functionally on mobile platforms. Some challenges I faced during this project, was figuring out a way of targeting both students and businesses at the same time, but with different representations. What I mean by different representation is designing an idea specifically tailored to each target group that will help them do business with both. I was able to design a layout and icons that were tailored to each group. This project was broken down into 3 phases and currently, the phase I designed was the 2nd phase. In the future, I will continue to maintain their website and keep it up to date. By the end, I should already have everything necessary to complete the 3rd stage.