Role

Prototyping, branding, user
research, visual design

Timeline

4 weeks

Providing an elevated experience through conceptual design

Providing an elevated experience through conceptual design

Project type

Role

University brief

Tools

Timeline

Figma, Miro, Framer

4 weeks

Providing an elevated experience through conceptual design

Tools

Figma, Miro

Project type

University brief

Discovery:

What could the design of a sea glass collecting experience look like?

For this brief, we were tasked with designing an experience that could be turned into a brochureware site which could engage users to book and were given a choice of audience and theme.

I selected the subject area of sea glass because of its nicheness which allowed me to be more imaginative with the type of experience I wanted to curate, and how my site design would be a response of this and so, within my design I draw heavily on aesthetics and poetry-like copy to express the idea of sea glass collecting being human caused event that produced a ‘bounty’ within nature and therefore having an element of luxury.

 

Research overview:

Joining and surveying a sea glass community

When approaching the brief, I prioritised collecting and sorting information on my target audience to first create the experience and its itinerary so that it was plausible, and secondly to understand their sentiments over my chosen subject, sea glass. I found that there was a large hobby community surrounding sea glass collection, and various businesses created around making jewellery out of it, and so that heavily informed the structure and design of the experience.


My survey had 14 questions, 250 responses with 40.68% positive sentiment, and the following insights emerged:

When approaching the brief, I prioritised collecting and sorting information on my target audience to first create the experience and its itinerary so that it was plausible, and secondly to understand their sentiments over my chosen subject, sea glass. I found that there was a large hobby community surrounding sea glass collecting, and various businesses created around making jewelry,y and so that heavily informed the structure of the experience:


My survey had 14 questions, 250 responses,es and 40.68% positive sentiment, and the following insights emerged:

When approaching the brief, I prioritised collecting and sorting information on my target audience to first create the experience and its itinerary so that it was plausible, and secondly to understand their sentiments over my chosen subject, sea glass. I found that there was a large hobby community surrounding sea glass collection,g and various businesses created around making jewellery, and so that heavily informed the structure of the experience:


My survey had 14 questions, 250 response,s and 40.68% positive sentime,nt and the following insights emerged:

Solution:

I designed a luxurious website with an ambiguous feel.

I decided to structure my experience as a luxury retreat/ getaway event, which looked at providing an opportunity to immerse yourself within the natural world at all levels, from discovery to constructing with the sea glass.

My idea was to play on the divide of nature and mankind and how that can be visually expressed with the shore and tide, and so I titled the experience ‘above’ (for man/land) and ‘below’ (for nature/sea). With this idea, I decided to create a word mark and a logo with the ampersand being the divide between the two words, and I decided that this ampersand would be used continually throughout the site for each different heading.

I decided to structure my experience as a luxury retreat/ getaway event, which looked at providing an opportunity to immerse yourself within the natural world at all levels, from discovery to constructing with the sea glass.

My idea was to play on the divide of nature and mankind and how that can be visually expressed with the shore and tide, and so I titled the experience ‘above’ (for man/land) and ‘below’ (for nature/sea). With this idea, I decided to create a word mark and a logo with the ampersand being the divide between the two words, and I decided that this ampersand would be used continually throughout the site for each different heading.

Design for the about page:

Design for the collectors guide and locations page:

Design for the booking page:

Next steps

Developing on the user’s experience, making the site more immersive

My next steps would be to develop on the level of immersion users experience on the site, because of the nature of the site (brochureware). I want users to have the 'feel' of the experience before booking it. In doing this, I would consider creating 3d elements, particularly for the sea glass that users can interact with.


My next steps would be to develop on the level of immersion users experience on the site, because of the nature of the site (brochureware). I want users to have the 'feel' of the experience before booking it. In doing this, I would consider creating 3d elements, particularly for the sea glass that users can interact with.


My next steps would be to develop on the level of immersion users experience on the site, because of the nature of the site (brochureware). I want users to have the 'feel' of the experience before booking it. In doing this, I would consider creating 3d elements, particularly for the sea glass that users can interact with.