"Brand Identity Startup"
My Internship journey with Zen Frenz
Roles
UI/UX Designer
User Researcher
Graphic Designer
Product Designer
Tools
Adobe Illustrator
Procreate
Figma
Canva
Notion
Skills
User-Centered Design
Wireframing
User Research
Market Research
Graphic Design
TIMELINE
April 2023 to
June 2023
SUMMARY
As a Product and Graphic Design intern, I
Boosted sales of non-CBD products by 31% by building a completely new Amazon storefront including motion graphics and illustrations created through Canva, Photoshop, and Procreate.
Spearheaded the successful redesign of 57% of the company’s product packaging, optimizing shelf visibility, consumer engagement, and market penetration by gathering key stakeholder requirements, conducting competitive analysis, and designing through Illustrator.
RESEARCH & IDEATION
UI/UX & WEB DESIGN
Market Research
As an intern brought on to define the company’s online presence, the first thing I did was analyze and critique our competitor’s websites and stores.
I first created a Notion dashboard to make cross-functional collaboration easier among all the other teams
I then, defined use cases, crafted a competitor’s analysis, and concluded some key takeaways for our own website to improve on,
Amazon Store Moodboard
User Research
To further validate our takeaways, we needed to delve deeper into what the users of our website thinks.
To do this, I sent out a 5-second test to as many people as I could find, who weren’t aware of the Zen Frenz brand. In the 5-second test, I asked users 4 questions:
- What is the purpose of this page?
- What are the main elements you can recall?
- Who do you think the intended audience is?
- What is your impression of the design?
However, a constraint was that I need to get this research done as soon as possible as we were trying to finish the design revamp before my internship ended. Therefore, I was not able to collect an ideal amount of responses.
These are some of the sample answers I received in a short span of time
After verifying the takeaways from the market research, and receiving validation that those were the components we needed to focus on, I had enough to move forward into the next step of my design process; Ideation.
IDEATION
After a discussion with the CEO, the Zen Frenz team came to a conclusion that our top priority was in fact, not our exisitng website, but our non-existent Amazon storefront; a home in number one platform for online B2C sales.
Thus, using my takeaways from the previous research phase, I was tasked with building and designing an Amazon Storefront with only the website and our competitors for inspiration.
Below is the result of a 5-minute brainstorming session between the other graphic design intern and I
AMAZON STOREFRONT
GRAPHIC & WEB DESIGN
WIREFRAMING
One of the most important aspects of brand identity is color. To keep it consistent across all platforms, I came up with a palette and pantone sheet
Then, I started wireframing by defining components and building a design system. The components were low-fidelity structures made to represent the things that could be displayed on an Amazon storefront
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMING
Several Iterations of a Low-Fidelity Wireframe were built because we needed to test out the best possible hierarchy of information that creates the most appeal for Amazon users.
The first 3 wireframes represent the 1st order of information which includes (from top to bottom): Banner, NavBar, Tagline, Video, Company info/values, Product info, Categories
The last 3 wireframes represent the 1st order of information which includes (from top to bottom): Banner, NavBar, Tagline, Video, Favorite products, Product info, Categories
We then, decided on a final low-fidelity wireframe, along with its mobile-responsive wireframe
BRANDING
HIGH FIDELITY WIREFRAMING
FINAL PRODUCT
Home
About Us
New Products/Best Sellers/Shop All
FINAL MOBILE PRODUCT
Home
About Us
New Products/Best Sellers/Shop All
REIMAGINING PRODUCT
GRAPHIC & PRODUCT DESIGN
RESEARCH
In addition to the Amazon project, I was tasked with revamping their product packaging to prepare for wholesale launching in Costco as well as streamline designs with their upcoming products so that it would be consistent.
In addition to that, together with the CEO, I completely reconfigured the ingredients used in existing and new products through RnD to better compete with other brands and produce the most desired effects. The research included: market research, as well as direct consultations and phone calls with pharmaceutical companies.
Below is the result of a 2 hour long brainstorming session with the CEO after our research
PRODUCT PACKAGING
Below are the designs that I made using Adobe Illustrator and Canva.
Hover over the images to see details and click the zoom button to see the full product packaging
Note: For all of these designs, I added new social media icons to the packaging to better market the Zen Frenz brand
- All Redesigned Products
- Peanut Butter Pouches
- Drops
- Calming Chews
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Throughout this journey, I honed my abilities in strategic design thinking, stakeholder engagement, competitive analysis, and design software proficiency; most notably, Canva and the Adobe Creative Suite. My time at Zen Frenz has not only elevated the company’s visual identity and market performance but has also nurtured my growth as a versatile and impactful design professional.
Joining as a web design intern, I never expected to be designing almost the entirety of the company’s product catalogue, website, and store using graphic design skills that I previously had no knowledge about. I thought that I would just use my previously learned skills to make a website for the company. However, even though I was unsure about living up to the CEO’s expectations, I was open to this challenge and I’m glad I was.
At the end of my internship period, he told me that I was the most technically skilled design intern he’s ever had; opening a return offer for whenever I wanted as a Contract/Freelance Designer
If there’s anything I realized through this whole experience, it’s that I should frequently ask myself the question, “Why am I limiting myself?”, and that I am always capable of more!