8 Weeks
Sole Designer
Who are our users? Who is most likely to use The Jolly Devil website?
What is the customer journey for getting a tattoo and what are the associated emotional states at the different parts of a tattoo acquisition?
Why do people want to get tattoos?
At what point in the customer journey would a shop website be most likely to bring value to the end user?
How does The Jolly Devil brand and experience compare to other shops in Brighton?
There needs to be an emphasis on brand personality in website interactions.
There needs to be an FAQ section for the common unknowns.
The client is going to be expanding the merchandise side of their business. Therefore, a website shop must be considered.
"Most often people seem to find us on Instagram. That is where we deal with all our direct messages".
"Now that I am comfortable with the tattoo process I don't really ever go on to tattoo websites".
I looked deeply into the behaviour of people about to get a tattoo. Finding some insights (the main driving insights detailed below) that aided in understanding the pain points of getting a tattoo.
Considering
Exploring
Purchasing
Understanding
People spent a long time, between 4 months to a year, considering a tattoo before actually going for it.
The customers looked at lots of different artists before deciding on the one they wanted to go for.
There was some uneasiness among people when talking about the price of their tattoos. The general consensus was, 'probably a lot'.
There is an issue with how people feel when thinking about a tattoo's price. An avoidance or misunderstanding.
People felt worried about some parts of the tattoo process. Seeking clarification from many sources. The internet, artists and each other..
The issue I had going forward was although the ethnographic study was deep and incredibly useful. It wasn't that wide in terms of scope.
With the white paper research, I aimed to fix that. Looking at a wide array of experiences and opinions I not only gained a deeper understanding of the ideas formed in the previous study. I found insights into other tattoo experiences. Such as the idea of tattoo regret caused by a rushed tattoo, a lack of significance or a person having trouble with the permanence of a tattoo.
This research also transitioned into a word association relating to the tattoo experience. I wanted to use it to guide the copy on the site. As well as a goal for site feature ideation.
Positive Word Association
Negative Word Association
Welcoming
Special
Unique
Warm
Comfortable
Honest
Supportive
Professional
Personal
Safe
Fun
Friendly
Painful
Ugly
Rebellious
Needles
Poor
Quality
Regret
Permanent
Discrimination
Anxious
Expensive
Bad for
Career
Uncomfortable
New clients are unfamiliar and often anxious about getting a tattoo and what happens in the tattoo process.
People who are getting their first tattoo are more anxious, confused and worried. They would spend longer and be more likely to investigate a tattooist/studio further before investing.
A tattoo is personal, 'permanent' and often significant hence there is a requirement of personal and professional trust between the client and tattooist.
People who are new to tattooing do not understand how much tattoos cost and struggle with the high price tag.
I used all the research I had conducted to put together a persona. This was a great tool for communicating the design themes and goals with the stakeholders before moving on to the design phase of the project.
Then in conjunction with a user journey map a heuristic map was created detailing the emotional state of a user at different stages of the journey. This was again used in a client meeting to show where the focus of the site design was going to be and why that decision was made.
After having approached The Jolly Devil to buy a gift card (they didn't have one) I decided that this would be one way to tackle the cost issue in the tattoo experience.
The Cost Design Brief
How might we create a delightful gift card experience that exemplifies the genuine personality of The Jolly Devil?
First, with the ideation, I wanted to get some ideas on paper. So I went about brainstorming possible site features. These were all based on the themes discovered in the research phase.
This was a key resource when moving into wireframing, thinking about interactions, and planning the site's structure.
There was a need in this project to understand what the online experiences were like for the competitors in Brighton.
This led to an improved understanding of how The Jolly Devil could differentiate their experience and elevate themselves above the competition.
A lot of sites seem very serious in tone. It feels like there is a gap in the market for a company that shows the fun side of their brand.
Events sections of some sites have outdated information. The site I design needs to be easy to manage due to the small scale of the shop.
The use of video on some sites portrayed a high level of professionalism. One of the keystones of trust in a B2C service.
The flow of contacting some shops is not obvious. There is often an indication towards Instagram. However, if you do not have prior knowledge that Instagram was the primary direct messaging platform for a lot of shops you might get stuck.
The usability of certain sites in Brighton is poor. Links that don't work, poor information architecture, navigation that doesn't go where you expect to name a few issues.
The booking flow for some sites was disconnected from the artist's section. This does not take in to account the way in which you book a tattoo (with an artist rather than the shop).
The photos in the Wild Roots Studio Brighton feel like they have more personality. However, they are all over the place. It does not feel structured in a lot of places.
The shops in a lot of sites did not adhere to conventions in e-commerce shop sections. Making it difficult to find the desired information and hard to learn.
At this point, I wanted to detail the main user flow as well as some sub-flows that were aimed towards people who do not have much experience with the tattoo process. Whilst also trying to design with the themes from the research in mind.
One interesting disconnect between conventional B2C services was how you actually book a tattoo. Although the artists all share a roof in the case of The Jolly Devil, as well as a lot of other tattoo shops, you book with the individual rather than the shop. This meant that the interaction to book was intrinsically linked to specific artists on the site.
At this point in the design process, I landed on a driver for the tone of the site, that I wanted to carry forward into the ideation. That being a duality of professionalism and personality.
Some initial wireframes were used to flesh out certain site maps and feature ideas.
The wireframing/ideation process was not completed in a linear manner. I was continuously brainstorming for possible interactions and features that I thought would elevate the design. I would then move on to create more low fidelity prototypes, testing, ideating and iterating in a cycle.
Communication with the client was achieved through Miro, direct messages and in-person meetings.
The interactions on the site were designed to be obvious, be it through convention, size, layout or placement strategy.
However, one of the most important aspects of a lot of the interaction design was personality. Defined by my desire to not only have highly functional site, but also reflect the individual artists personalities, with the aim to make the site more human and empathetic.
Among the end results were a booking button can reflected the artist, a mouse cursor 'buddy' that follows and reacts and intractable illustrations that reflect both the people and the shop.