With an ecommerce website dating back to 2010 and a brand repositioning in 2017, Softstar Shoes found themselves in need of a fresh online store. This new store needed an effortless user experience and a visual design that fused the whimsy of a children's shoe brand (Softstar originated as a brand for children) with the sophistication of an adult's shoe brand.
To ensure that users would have a successful shopping experience regardless of whether they were shopping on a laptop, tablet, or phone, we took efforts to make Softstar Shoes' website fully responsive. Below you can see how various pages were modified for successful experiences on tablet and mobile.
Through collaborative discussion with Softstar Shoes and a site audit using UX metrics tools like heat maps and Google Analytics, we identified key areas for opportunity. Following this phase of discovery, we assessed Softstar Shoes' sitemap and taxonomy and built high-fidelity wireframes that focused on enhancing the display of products, telling a strong brand story, and re-envisioning the shopping journey from homepage to checkout. We also zeroed in on a fresh aesthetic for Softstar Shoes' website by blending a polished, contemporary layout with hand-crafted style elements. Softstar Shoes' brand colors of muted purple, bright green, and bright blue were carefully used to balance a feeling of sophistication with fun. Additionally, we used an open-source typeface for a clean yet slightly freeform look. In the end, Softstar Shoes had a distinguished new website with a modern appeal and an experience that conveyed the brand's quality, sincerity, and Pacific Northwest artistry.
