Gloss Themes:
Website Themes
At GlossGenius we identified a need for more customization and brand expression on clients booking websites.
To address this,we redesigned the current booking websites by adding themes to allow for more brand expression, enhancing user engagement and the overall product value. This led to s 50% increase in upgrades to the gold tier.
Design, Research, and Strategy
September 2022 - July 2023
Myself as Web Design Lead
Product Design Manager
3x Frontend Web Developers
Discovery
BACKGROUND
Before the introduction of Gloss Themes, GlossGenius’s booking websites were not up to par with general website practices. There were issues with responsiveness, lack of brand expression, and the client booking experience.
“The GlossGenius booking site is nice but it doesn't give you a sense of what my salon is about.”
RESEARCH
We began this project by diving into 80 websites (40) GlossGenius users websites plus (40) external beauty professionals. This allowed us to understand trends, patterns and expectations salon owners have for their website. Overall we found that 80% of non-GlossGenius sites have a logo presence and that every secondary website has a custom domain. This furthered our hypothesis of professionals wanting to express their authenticity and individuality. For website trends we found that most sites followed a structure of an about page, services page, shop page, and contact page. Many sites also had external links that would usually lead out to an e-commerce website or platform. For design trends we noticed that sites had large hero images, which made sense with our finding that 80% of non-GlossGenius users and 65% of GG users were photo forward.
“I do think showcasing my logo is important. I just updated my salon logo and that makes me really proud to have a logo for my salon.”
Once we took note of aesthetic trends we conducted user research interviews where we learned about expectations from our professionals and even from the angle of the client and what they look for when booking. We learned about how a professional builds trust with their client and what is important to them when booking. Some common themes from our conversations were not enough time to work on their website, a want for an easy website setup process, and the importance of being proud of their salon and brand aesthetic.
Design
To kick off the design process, I collaborated with the Product Design team manager on some initial brainstorming, wireframing, and iterating on possible website theme designs.
EARLY ITERATIONS
We began the initial brainstorming session by wireframing some potential website theme layouts and narrowing down which aesthetics we would design for for the initial themes. Based on our research we landed on four possible aesthetics which were: grunge, minimalist, organic/boho, and monochromatic.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS
Once the layout of the website themes was determined, I began to work on different iterations of what these theme aesthetics could look like. For design we took a vision first approach to this project and removed any constraints from the design process. We wanted it to be realistic but we didn’t want to limit ourselves. We really wanted to see how we could push booking websites to be creative and functional and establish GlossGenius as the best in the game.
This resulted in designing multiple iterations of four website themes that involved tailoring each one meticulously for diverse branding. This iterative process not only showcases the users ability to apply their own branding but also highlights the dynamic aspect of the website theme feature, where every aesthetic choice plays a crucial role in shaping how users interact with the digital experience.
BUILD OUT
Collaborating with front-end web developers as a web design lead proved to be a dynamic and challenging experience. After transmitting the project to the development team, the need for an expedited timeline and limited resources necessitated a swift and iterative approach. Constant communication and flexibility in design adjustments were crucial in ensuring a seamless integration of the design vision with the practical constraints, ultimately leading to a successful and timely project completion.
Final Design
PLAY THEME
A brutalist, unique, and risk taking theme. This was the theme we initially started with that has no boundaries and really pushes creativity for what a booking site could look like.
The Play Theme is explores a new approach to a traditional nav by laying out the nav links to the side, we incorporated large, bold typography, played around with orientation of the headings, different thumbnail shapes and cropping styles, overlayed content, masked content, textured backgrounds, large CTAS that are identified with arrow elements, and overall interesting and asymmetrical layouts. This website theme is meant for professionals that consider themselves the rule breakers, the punks, and the innovators. We want this theme to represent their personality online.
ORGANIC THEME
A calm, serene, and curvy theme that really emanates a calming response when you land on it.
Some unique elements for this theme include different organic shaped masks for imagery, playful illustrations throughout the design, content padding, color blocked backgrounds that stay true to the curvature of all the other elements, the usage of texture over design elements, and full width imagery moments. This theme is meant for the professional that loves rounded borders, soft neutral color palettes, or wants to have a unique approach to their images.
MINIMALIST THEME
A clean, simple, and beautiful approach to a booking website.
Some unique elements from this theme include padding around content that allows for the content to feel like its floating, a subtle color palette, subtle design elements such as line breaks between content, underlined ctas, and a subtle textured overlay when you hover over thumbnails. This theme is meant for the professional that either a. has a minimalist aesthetic and doesn’t enjoy a lot of color usage or quirky elements or b. A professional who quite frankly doesn’t have a lot of time to spend choosing colors and fonts but wants a beautiful website.
MONOCHROMATIC THEME
A loud, bold, and adventurous theme that stays up to date with the latest design trends.
Some unique elements for this theme include subtle illustrations and patterns that are dispersed throughout the theme, content overlaying imagery, border application, and a single color application across all design elements. This theme is meant for the professional that loves to stay on trend with all of the latest design trends or a professional that wants to be a little more adventurous with their brand but keep it straightforward.
Results
The revamp of the GlossGenius booking sites aimed to distinguish the platform from competitors, offering a research-backed, industry-specific solution that empowered professionals. Recognizing the demand for website customization and the potential to create a new product category, we addressed user preferences for an all-in-one platform which resulted in the following:
- On day one, 35% of existing Gold users had created a new website
- Within 30 days of release, we doubled our gold attach rate to 9.4%
- Our customer base grew 8% overall, credited to this release
- Led to the most successful GTM month in the history of the company
This initiative not only enabled upselling of themes and customization packages but also fostered community engagement, providing a foundation for impactful go-to-market campaigns and attracting new users with industry-leading websites.
“This release single handedly brought us back on track to meet our company goals.”