Executive Summary
Building for Premium Web Commerce
Mode is a luxury menswear brand with a strong point of view: clean, minimal, considered. I handled everything from brand direction to writing the front-end code myself in Liquid, CSS, and JavaScript. The constant tension was between what CRO best practice says you should do and what actually fits a brand like this. Three rounds of iteration to get it right, and the results spoke for themselves: conversions up 44%, performance up 28%.
Primary Role
Sole Designer & Developer
Team
Sole Designer & Developer
Type
Web Design & Development
Disciplines
UX/UI, Brand
The Challenge
Balancing Luxury Aesthetics and High-Performance
Mode is a luxury menswear brand creating minimalist garments using sustainable fabrics and processes. The project involved building design assets for the entire business, designing the online store, and optimising performance. The main challenge was conveying the information needed for conversion rate optimisation whilst maintaining a minimalist aesthetic, a constant balancing act between art direction and proven CRO levers.
The Research
Understanding Customer Needs and Representing User Groups
Understanding the industry trends that connote premium undertones was at the forefront of the research. Using Mode's social media accounts and Shopify data, I established a user persona that informed every design decision. During every stage of the process I referred back to this persona to consider what they would best resonate with, ensuring the experience felt authentic to the brand's customer.
The Solution
Delivering a Brand Led Experience
Having full creative control, from image art direction to minute site details, I went through three rounds of iteration before landing on the finalised designs. Coming from a computer science background and having completed Shopify development courses, I implemented all designs myself, coding in HTML (Liquid), CSS and JavaScript. Alongside the front-end UI, I leant heavily on site optimisations to improve usability, including significant improvements to page load times.
Outcome
Conversion Rate
Traffic
