The Collector's House

Product Design Coding Graphic Design

Designed and built a website for an interior design studio that increased consultations and daily store visits

Role

The Collector's House hired me to design and build their website and brand.

Challenge

To succeed in a competitive market, they needed a niche focus. I researched local users to refine a unique brand and web presence.

Process

I collaborated with owners on vision, conducted research, and launched the brand and website. I later improved discoverability.

Goals

User: Create an engaging, elegant site reflecting the company's vision.

Business: Increase web traffic, referrals, and store visits.

KPI's	2016	2019
Site visits per year	6,607	12,410
Site searches per quarter	823	5,130
Store calls per quarter	7.1	38.9

Timeline

October 2015 - Present

"Very high loving and spirited. By far one of the most unique stores in the valley and a beautiful website. The designers have an amazing eye for exclusive design. 10/10 will continue to come for more pieces!"

Customer review

Web
Brand

Website Design, UX, and Coding

Skip to Outcome

Discovery

Vision and Themes

The client envisioned a traditional, analog feel. Themes emerged:

Magazine or flipbook look and feel
"Pencil-on-paper", elegant writing
White space and open
Celebrate the artist and their craft
Showcase deliberate and beautiful photography

Goals

User: Create an engaging, elegant site reflecting the company's vision.

Business: Increase web traffic, referrals, and store visits.

KPI's

I tracked progress with these KPIs:

Site visits per year
Site searches per quarter
Store calls per quarter

Form Hypothesis

Hypothesis: A clean, revealing brand and web presence will grow recognition and engagement.

Understand Customers and Their Needs

Persona

Client insights and census data helped me define the persona:

Demographic

Majority are older (54+ years old)
Scottsdale resident or seasonal
High income

Needs

Interior design consultation
Rare or one-off home furniture and decor

Behaviors

High spenders
Local and community influenced
Collects art and/or enthusiasts
Seek small, luxury-focused plazas

Come Up with Solutions

Direction

I focused on clear location access, photography, and scannable information.

Visual Design

We chose a "magazine/flipbook" direction to mimic browsing a luxury catalog.

Ideas

Have pages animate on select; avoid static loading
Draw visitor's attention through the center of the page
Photography up front, supporting text backgrounded
Decorative titles coupled with a clean, universal sans-serif
Multiple columns vs. singular

Early wireframes of site layout and interaction sets.

Develop the Site

Approach

I used Bootstrap 3 to develop the site, focusing on:

Always exposed and accessible navigation
Show animation on each page transition
Keep each page simple and avoid excessive scrolling

Build Elements

I broke views into element clusters:

Open and airy layout
Text blocks
Image blocks
Google Map embed and location API
Form fields and buttons
Lightbox modal

Coming to Life

I built consistent components and added Javascript animations for a lively feel.

Version 1 of the site.

Launch, Feedback, and Iterate

Launch

We launched in Dec 2015. Traffic grew via local advertising and seasonality.

Gather Feedback

After two years, user feedback prompted an update:

The page animation is slow and breaks occasionally
Some customers found it cumbersome to navigate on mobile
Bounce rates occured from the "Contact us" form taking too long to submit
Hours of operation and holidays were difficult to locate

Iteration

I improved UX and functionality based on feedback:

Depart from the page animations and stick with conventional page loading and navigation patterns
Use simpler, more direct naming conventions for page names and CTA's
Since most of these customers are visiting from a mobile device, focus on enhancing their experience as much as possible