I was tasked with the implementation of a new layout of the website https://fabrykasypialni.pl/ . The old one was very outdated. The new template was acquired but it needed adjusting to the needs of the shop.
Fabryka Sypialni is a shop selling beds, mattress, upholstered panels, and all one could ever want to create their dream bedroom.
I worked there as inhouse graphic designer in a tiny department of e-commerce.
My tasks were very varied. From Graphic design (like banners for buildings and web, print materials,) through UX/UI and Web design (like redesigning and implementing website design in Shopper and Selly – content management systems specialized in e-commerce) to content creation for Facebook and Instagram pages.
- making colors fit company colors
- crating consistency with brand identity
- creating a gallery of accessible textiles for products that would be scalable and accessible for mobile
- banners and tiles, inviting user to visit certain parts of website
- consistency in products to make them more browsable (for example, changing all product cover photos, so they have white backgrounds and beds facing the same direction if possible)
- contact page with maps, clickable phone numbers etc.
Implementation
I remember being super excited because never before I had the opportunity to use my HTML and CSS skills on a real live commercial project. I enjoyed it very much. Especially moments when one of the sellers would enter the room and get understandably scared, seeing just endless lines of code on my screen. 🙂 That digression aside, I still feel a great deal of gratitude that I was given a chance, especially considering my lack of previous experience.
Even though in Shopper (content management systems specialized in e-commerce and used in fabrykasypialni.pl) I could write my changes directly in the system, by creating a copy of current style I realized not all changes can be done this way and decided to use Atom for writing code. This allowed me to save old versions of code and be able to come back to them if need be.
Results
The results were overwhelmingly positive. I always had a belief that better design will always bring value, but it was amazing to see the numbers skyrocket. Unfortunately, I am not allowed (due to the NDA) to disclose precise information. I can tell you that Fabryka Sypialni had, at the time, five localizations and redesigning the website brought revenue, as if one new location spontaneously appeared.
Failure and small wins
This project proved to stakeholders the importance of a functioning website. This created a push to invest in full scale remodeling of the website. Full scale project however was stopped because of pandemic, with destroyed momentum. In the meantime, the CRM on with website is run had an update that most of my code. This resulted in many problems that I was no longer in access to fix, so I had to accept defeat and hope that the project of a new website will come back and unleash the full potential of that website.
What I have learned
1. This project made me comfortable writing in HTML and CSS. It gave a lot of space to test my theoretical knowledge on a real full scale project.
2. I also love that I had the possibility to see the results the design has on sales.
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