Spearheaded by UC San Diego’s Design Co, Power Up is a 10 week summer design program that gives real-life opportunities for underrepresented students to collaborate with BIPOC and minority-owned small businesses for design and marketing work.
My team was paired with Blendees, a Black-owned smoothie shop located in El Cajon, San Diego. Hoping to promote affordable and nutritious eating in their community, Blendees has a mission to “drink healthy and be healthy.”
WHAT I DID:
Like many other small businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic has also impacted Blendees’ and they were seeking a way to revitalize their sales. Although they have a website, Blendees felt like there was more potential to showcase their offerings, and wanted to take advantage of business-metrics tracking to reach out to new customers.
Our team performed a website audit to analyze the current structure of Blendees's website, and found notable need for change in terms of website structure:
After 10 weeks, we freshened up Blendees’ website with a complete redesign that incorporates visually engaging elements and actionable items such as online ordering to peak the attention of new, curious customers. By creating an engaging website that showcases Blendees’ offerings in their own unique tone, this encourages users to interact with the website as well as provide Blendees with information on where online traffic is concentrated.
Reorganized site map with easy navigation to Blendees's services.
Freshened up Blendees's previously image-less online menu with playful product images and doodles that align with the business's friendly identity.
Provide a space for users to contact Blendees while also promoting their catering services.
Since it was the first time I took initiative as a visual designer, this project pushed me to be a self-starter. I wasn’t too familiar with the logistics and key components of creating a style guide or refining a business brand in general, so I often read articles in my own time and watched online tutorials to learn how to use Photoshop to create logo variations for my project.
While this project taught me to be resourceful, I also learned to lean on my teammates whenever I needed extra help and be multidisciplinary. Because I had an interest in UX Design, I reached out to the UX Researcher and Designer on my team and joined them at every meeting to participate in the UX process.
Read our full case study here!