REDESIGNING USER SHOPPING EXPERIENCE AT BLKBK TYPE FOUNDRY

BLKBK is a graphic design studio specializing in type, custom fonts, brand identity, and design for print and web. Their portfolio includes collaborations with numerous successful and influential businesses. They have worked on diverse projects, ranging from ad campaigns and film titles to packaging, products, and marketing materials.

My role: Led UX improvements through competitor research, flow optimization, and UI refinement.

Pain points

The website offers products such as fonts, font licenses and merchandise. Internal company statistics revealed that certain font licensing options caused confusion among customers, resulting in legal issues and profit losses.
Significant pain points include:

• Low conversion rates
• Outdated UI
• Confusion regarding licensing types

By addressing these pain points, we aim to achieve the following business goals:

• Seamless page loading speed
  
• Foster customer satisfaction and loyalty
  
• Increase sales.

Design Challenge 

How can I design a solution to alleviate user confusion when selecting a licensing option that aligns with their intentions?
How can I create a more enjoyable user experience?
How can I ensure greater transparency in the user flow?

Competitor analysis

While user research is a crucial aspect of UX design, in this project, time and budget constraints limited comprehensive user interviews or surveys. To bridge this gap, I conducted a competitor analysis. This analysis provided important insights into industry best practices and potential areas for improvement within BLKBK website.
In particular, I was looking at:

• Shopping process
  
• Website layout and UI
  
• Licensing options

Here  I list my findings, starting with positive examples:

Clear Shopping Cart: A few leading type foundries provide a clear and user-friendly experience from homepage to digital goods delivery.
Transparent Licensing: Several foundries offer clear distinctions between personal, artist (agencies/freelancers), and enterprise licenses, making it easier for users to choose the right option.
Shopping Stages: Showcasing the steps throughout the purchase process, like some websites do, helps guide users. This is an excellent practice to consider implementing.
Side Overlay Carts: Side overlay shopping carts used by some foundries can be a space-saving solution for displaying cart contents without cluttering the main view.


However, I must highlight some issues:

Incostistent layouts: While type foundries prioritize design aesthetics, many lack intuitive layouts, forcing users to search for information and purchase options.
Overwhelming Information: Excessive use of large graphics and font presentations hinders users from finding the "buy" button.
Font Size and readability: Some foundries use very small fonts, making it difficult for users to read important information.

Design process

What we had before:

Solution

• Clarify and update licensing options: include necessary overlays and dropdowns to remind users about additional options.
  
• Update UI
  
• Improve user experience by optimizing checkout flow.
  

Expected Outcome

The expected outcomes of our redesign include increased revenue through a simplified purchasing process, higher conversion rates facilitated by clear licensing options, and improved customer loyalty resulting from a streamlined user experience.

In conclusion

When approaching this project, I, along with the foundry designers, took a comprehensive rethinking approach, building on existing strengths and addressing weaknesses identified through user research. During the design phase, I reviewed the user experience again, conducted ideation sessions and sketched to explore innovative solutions.
The BLKBK team provided me with the design system, which I improved according to the UI rules. It is important to note that the company's brand identity includes simple, minimalist and subtle design. Therefore, special attention was paid to the checkout process, smooth interactions and CTA buttons.