Ace Hardware
Providing visual design support to help build a new responsive website
Long Story Short
When I was first approached by Ace, they were in the middle of redesigning and upgrading the site to a new responsive design. Their aim was to provide users a more personalized online shopping experience, one that more closely matched the helpful customer service a shopper would receive in their local Ace Hardware Store.
First Steps
By the time I joined the team, UX research and analysis had been performed and wireframes and a few initial designs were being produced.
The first project they requested was to provide alternative designs for the homepage. Using an iterative design process, I designed new looks, created rapid prototypes in InVision, and had the team review. The design would be amended per any feedback, new prototypes would be created, and the process began again until the team, and client, were satisfied that we had reached the best possible design solution.
Here are a couple examples of the rapid prototypes produced for the homepage.
Below is the final design I produced. The design followed Ace's corporate branding, and emulated the visual style of their weekly mailers.
From Low Fidelity To High
Once the UX Team was finished determining the information architecture, they forwarded wireframes. My job was to turn these low fidelity designs into pixel-perfect high fidelity designs by applying colors, typography and design principals.
Below are examples of the wireframes I received and the designs I produced.
Tools Used
Conclusion
This project is still in development... stay tuned!
