web design

Beta

An e-commerce website concept for sustainable climbing shoes.

Problem

Rock Climbers who climb at least 2x a week go through climbing shoes in about 3-9 months. High-Performance shoes often wear out even faster, because their rubber soles are softer and stickier. Climbing Shoes can be resoled up to about 6 times, but realistically many can only be resoled 1-2 times. Many avid climbers are environmentally driven, but they go through climbing shoes quickly.

Solution

Beta is a sustainable climbing shoe brand with an easy to use website. Users can make new purchases, get shoes resoled, and send in old shoes to be recycled into climbing floors.

Type

  • School Project

Category

  • E-commerce Web Design

My role

  • Web Design
  • Branding

Target audience

  • Climbers Ages 18 - 35

Deliverables

Website designs

Tools

  • Figma
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator

timeframe

2020: 8 weeks

Deliverables

  • Website Design

Tools

  • Figma
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Illustrator

timeframe

2020 | 8 weeks
Empathize

Process

How might we create a climbing shoe website that allows climbers to purchase new sustainable climbing shoes, get them resoled, and responsibly dispose of them?
jump to final designs
2

ideation

  • Affinity Mapping
  • User Personas
  • Wireframes
1

inspiration

  • Interviews
  • Competitive Audit
3

Implementation

  • Branding
  • Final Designs
  • Lessons Learned
Inspiration

Interviews & Competitive Audit

I started this project by interviewing several climbers and asking them about what shoes they like to use and why. I then made a competitive audit with the brands that they mentioned.
La Sportiva

UI analysis

01 / 09
La Sportiva

Brand Personality

Price Point

Budget
Luxury

Audience

Young
Mature

Prestige

Mass Market
Exclusive

Technology

Classic
Innovative
02 / 09
La Sportiva

Selling points

03

Craftsmanship

Known for high-quality Italian craftsmanship
02

Endorsements

Endorses some of the biggest names in climbing
01

Established

Has been creating outdoors shoes since 1928
04

shoe fit

Uses EU half sizing, so users have a more precise fit
03 / 09
Evolv

UI analysis

04 / 09
Evolv

Brand Personality

Price point

Budget
Luxury

Audience

Young
Mature

Prestige

Mass Market
Exclusive

Technology

Classic
Innovative
05 / 09
Evolv

Selling points

03

branding

Works with Branding firms to deliver unique products
02

Accessibility

Offers shoes for wide feet and prosthetics
01

Activism

Invests in grassroots organizations helping minorities
04

Modern approach

Takes a fresh new perspective on what a climbing brand is
06 / 09
Adidas Five Ten

UI analysis

07 / 09
Adidas Five Ten

Brand Personality

Price point

Budget
Luxury

Audience

Young
Mature

Prestige

Mass Market
Exclusive

Technology

Classic
Innovative
08 / 09
Adidas Five Ten

Selling points

03

Trust

Is housed under Adidas, a trusted and widely known brand
02

affordability

Has cheaper shoes for beginning climbers
01

Partnerships

Partners with gyms to use their shoes as rentals
04

clear target audience

Branding, marketing, and discounts to younger climbers
09 / 09
ideation

Affinity Mapping

After conducting my research, I learned that there's a market gap - it's difficult for consumers to find environmentally sustainable shoes that are also high performance. Knowing this, I created several "How might we" questions and built out an affinity map to sort through possible solutions.
ideation

User Personas

Jeffery Cross

The Zealous Environmentalist

Goals

  • Find a shoe that can be resoled 6+ times
  • Learn more about shoe construction
  • Buy from brands making a change
  • Easily make shoe purchases

Frustrations

  • Limited shoe material information
  • Websites that have limited feature info
  • Brands that greenwash products
  • Limited shoe-sizing
  • Age: 26
  • Location: Boulder, Colorado
  • Occupation: Graduate Student & TA
  • Climbing Styles: Bouldering & Top Rope
  • Climbing shoes / year: 6+

Motivations

Performance
Sustainability
Durability
Price

User Need statement

"I need an eco-friendly shoe that's high performance"

bio

Jeffery is a graduate student who climbs regularly. He started climbing when he was very young, and has gone through many shoes in his lifetime. He has been looking for the perfect sustainable shoe for years. He likes the Mythos Eco, a model by La Sportiva, but wants a more high performance shoe.

Technology

Tablet
Computer
60%
35%
5%
Mobile

Vanessa Aguilar

The Curious Student

Goals

  • Use a website that is easy to use
  • Learn more about sustainability
  • Find shoes that are aesthetically pleasing
  • Find affordable shoes

Frustrations

  • Websites that are difficult to navigate
  • Inconsistent sizing when buying shoes
  • Too many pop-ups on websites
  • Shoes that are overpriced

User Need statement

"I need an easy-to-use website for learning more about eco-friendly climbing shoes"

bio

Vanessa is a student who likes to spend her free time climbing. She changed her major a few times, but recently decided on environmental studies. She is interested in sustainable climbing shoes, but doesn’t know where to begin. Because she is a busy student, she also needs an easy way to make new shoe purchases.
  • Age: 20
  • Location: San Diego, California
  • Occupation: University Student
  • Climbing Styles: Top Rope & Sport
  • Climbing shoes / year: 2-3

Motivations

Performance
Sustainability
Durability
Price

Technology

Computer
Tablet
48%
48%
4%
Mobile
ideation

Wireframes

Logo Design

Icon style

Prototype

Branding

#212121
#E7EAEC
#A5F1EA
Implementation

Final Designs

Final Prototype

Implementation

Email Marketing

Implementation

Lessons Learned

Brand strategy & UX overlap

I often found myself blurring the line between UX and branding throughout my process. It was confusing at first, but I learned to leverage their similarities to create a meaningful experience for users.

Mobile-First matters

It's a good practice to use the mobile-first strategy, but was especially important for this brand. A small company needs to be accessible on any device. If the site doesn't work on a phone, they can potentially lose a customer.

familiarity = usability

E-commerce is not the space to reinvent the wheel. Users are usually familiar with UX patterns and reinventing them could just create confusion. The best way to differentiate is to leverage the brand and the product.
Empathize

More Projects

Digital Product Design

Intrmodl

This is placeholder text that will be filled in later.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
Graphic Design, Motion Design
Product Design

Intrmodl

An Afrofuturist magazine concept that explores science, culture, and philosophy.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
Graphic Design

Act Now

This is placeholder text that will be filled in later.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
Graphic Design, Motion Design
Graphic Design

Act Now

An Afrofuturist magazine concept that explores science, culture, and philosophy.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
Digital Product Design

Paths

This is placeholder text that will be filled in later.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
Graphic Design, Motion Design
Product Design

Paths

An Afrofuturist magazine concept that explores science, culture, and philosophy.
View Project
A white arrow pointing upwards
jaimealwright@gmail.com
Ⓒ 2022 Jaime Wright