Hammond's | Product Development Process & Results

I helped lead a small local leather jacket business to have a premium brand image, language and digital shopping experience to export and be competitive internationally.

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My role: Product Designer

Timeline: 12 months

Skills: Business & Product development, UX research, UX persona development, Copywritting, Wireframing, UI Design, Branding, Photography, Editorial, Photo Retouching, Social Media assets design, Video Edition.

Tools: Figma, Nikon D7200, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Media Encoder, Miró, Microsoft Powerpoint.

Prompt

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The small family business plans to expand its products to the international market. To achieve this, they want to develop a strong brand identity, a storytelling with a unique cultural background that impacts a specific niche and a digital shopper experience that matches the level of the top international competitors.

Research Onboarding

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  • Niche research to find one that aligns with the brand's best-selling products.

  • Contact competitors via email or Instagram DM to gather as much information as possible about their niches.

  • Find strategic strengths to differentiate the product from the competition.

  • Start gathering information on users who follow competitors on different social networks to develop effective UX persona profiles.

  • Analyze graphic languages, storytelling, online shopping experiences, strengths and weaknesses of potential competitors even in some cases through the purchase of the products and after-sales service.

  • Take feedback from people that are using similar products at specific events and reach similar brand influencers.

Research Media

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  • Google search engine.

  • Social Media: Instagram, Facebook groups and Pinterest

  • Contact via E-mail, phone call and Whatsapp

  • Events where the niche could be: international motorcycle meetups, vintage pubs, exclusive nightclubs.

Brand Development

To approach the development of this logo I chose to use a lettering technique. The handwritten style helped us to communicate that handcrafted product vibe that the client requested.

Photography Development

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All shots were taken in Argentina, specifically in the Mendoza province (locations such as Potrerillos, Vallecitos, Uspallata and Las Vegas) and Buenos Aires (Capital Federal).

Editing was done in Photoshop.

Some Social Media Assets

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Here are some pieces optimized for Facebook and Instagram.

For the copy I used a lot of references to musical themes to achieve a close connection with the niche.

Editorial

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Some shots of the '17/'18 promotional brochure.

Special thanks to fashion models Arturo Guardiola, Maxi Poggio, Emiliano Scalco, Luciana Victoria and Sol González.

UX/UI Website Design

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Taking as a reference all the UX process previously done, the main priority was to design an e-commerce with a purchase experience that guides the user with photos that not only show the product in a cold and isolated way, but also with different models and views. In this way the user could feel more integrated in the experience of wearing the brand and sure of what he/she was going to buy.

The site was designed in Sketch and developed in Wordpress.

Ok, and what is the BIG difference with other similar sites? In the product section, in addition to these shots of the models wearing the item and the classic cold -but necessary- product shots on mannequins, before accessing the check-out, the user could book a 5-minute call with one of the producers of the item. In this call, the user would be attended by an expert who could ask for measurements and recommend a size or even another product. In this way the user had a real connection with someone from the brand and a much closer experience with the product.

Next, the Pre-sale landing page I designed

Some shots of the First UI Design of this website

Being responsible for taking all the product and lookbook shots for the brand, I was able to think in advance which shots would be versatile to be well visualized in different devices.

Reflection

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This long job was one of the most satisfying of my entire career. I was able to put to the test all the knowledge I had acquired throughout my career.

Hammond's Store survived until the end of 2020, with the following results:

+ of 10,000 items sold through the website;

+ of 15,000 followers on Instagram between 2017 and 2019;

+ 2,000 calls booked from the site;

new clients in more than 12 countries;

sales skyrocketed by 500% after launching the website.

But the richest thing were the lessons that this work has taught me and the personal learning to be able to totally exceed my expectations in my first experience as an entrepreneur with my family.

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