PROJECT SCOPE

This exercise was meant to be a practice in re-creating a brand and improving the usability of the publications we chose. We were also encouraged to create our redesigns while keeping in mind how the brand could be better position itself in order to suit its target audience. 

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USER RESEARCH

Before I started my redesign, I showed the current Inked Magazine to 4 individuals between the ages of 19 and 32 who have tattoos and consider themselves enthusiasts of the craft. My goal was to get a general gage of the current brand perception, so that I could make stylistic explorations that would still make sense for Inked. Below are a few of the quotes from my interviews: ​

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"It's not bad, but it looks really Hollywood-cheap to me. I really appreciate when media outlets talk about tattoos in a classier manner, and this website doesn't really do that. I think they have some good content, but the way they display it just seems like those random clickbait ads that you find at the bottom of every other online page." - Luiz, 23

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"It's all right, but I don't like how I have to keep scrolling to see the articles, and even then, I can't really tell the difference between them and ads. The ads also kind of suck. I know that's an issue with many websites, but I really wish ads made sense to the page you are looking at." - Flay, 31

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REASONING

My interviews confirmed some of my thoughts about Inked and also pointed out to me some areas of opportunity in which the brand could improve. In order to address the "cheap Hollywood" impression, I decided to experiment with a vintage look inspired on the Old School tattoo style. For my mood board, I included vintage pictures of tattoos, as well as typical tattoo colors. I also chose illustration references that emulated that style of tattoo, which I then decided to use on the logo as well as accents throughout the websites. Just like the original website, I decided to go for a tattoo-like typeface for the new logo, but playing more strongly on the old school style rather than a modern one. For the rest of the website, I mixed a serif for titles (Playfair Display) and a sans-serif (IBM Plex Sans) for the rest of the text. 

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Based on the feedback that I got, I also decided to display the content in an easier, more appealing way. Although the original is very image-heavy, I believe that a combination of short descriptions and images would work well for users to have a better notion of Inked's content without confusing it for advertisements. On the content, I decided to mix news, featured artists, celebrity content, trends, history, as well as a comic relief section called "horror stories." I also changed the advertisements for products and offerings that are directly relevant to the tattoo world. 

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Overall, my final redesign offers a stylistic exploration of the original Inked Magazine, with a vintage aesthetic. The content is displayed in an easier-to-navigate manner, and mixes more "serious" content (like news, featured artists, and history), with more fun, young sections such as "celebrities" and "horror stories."