Design Leader, Project Manager
6 Months

Project Summary

Studio Melrose is a luxury design studio based in Williamsburg, New York. After experiencing tremendous success in the staging industry, they wanted to leverage this success and increase adoption of all their services. I was brought in to reimagine their brand strategy and positioning, and leverage good UX to increase their market shares across all services.

How can we drive desirability for potential customers of Studio Melrose?

Opportunity

Studio Melrose has worked on a range of high-end properties in New York City and beyond, and has a strong portfolio of luxury projects in a challenging market. However, their current brand expression does not position them as a luxury provider – updating their brand to match their market position should further drive desirability for their services.


My Process

Stakeholder Interviews

One of the key activities was to conduct regular stakeholder interviews to establish key business priorities and strategies, and challenge existing business strategies. Through this process the positioning changed a couple of times before we landed on positioning that excited all stakeholders.

After establishing the key business priorities, I conducted analysis of their current positioning, branding, website, and collateral to uncover pain points and assess how to accommodate the adjusted positioning.

Competitive Analysis

Conducting a competitive analysis allowed me to get a solid understanding of the high-end staging market in the US, seeing where Studio Melrose falls short on their online presence but also understanding where they have a competitive edge that can be made apparent through clever design.

Pain Points

Texts Are Uninspiring

The text on the site fails to paint a vivid picture of Studio Melrose, or engage the user to explore more of their services. There is a lack of emotional appeal, and descriptive texts that are quick and easy to read. Unique words and phrasing is used, which delays and further inhibits the users ability to understand and connect with the content.

Lots Of Distractions

There is too much focus on decoration and not enough focus on communication. Animations and strong colors draw the eye away from information and actions, distracting users rather than engaging them. Though they are injecting personality through these elements, they take up more attention than the content, making them counterproductive.

Lacking Social Proof

They lack references to customer experiences, giving a perspective from a third party that can validate the value and quality of their services.

Sitemap

The complexity of the current site prevents users from getting a clear picture of what services Studio Melrose provides. Understanding what users are trying to accomplish when visiting their site allows us to create a sitemap that simplifies how users navigate the site, and make it as quick and easy as possible to find the information they are interested in.

Prototypes

Prototyping my proposal for the Studio Melrose website was important not only to test user interactions but to gain stakeholder approval and show proof of concept.

Because the work is ongoing, visuals from prototypes and final pages are confidential.

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The Solution

Stay tuned for the launch of the Studio Melrose website in 2024!

My Thoughts

Working closely with a brand to extract and refine their company goals, values, and priorities is a rewarding and exciting process to me. As a minimalist, I appreciate drilling down to the essence of what a company is trying to achieve, and representing that through clean design. Working with Studio Melrose to elevate their brand experience has given them the opportunity to restructure how they execute their work day-to-day, and really clarify what their main goals are. It’s been exciting to see them find inspiration in their mission, and I am even more excited to implement all the design concepts to elevate their customer engagement!

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