Overview
RapidWash is an on-demand laundry pickup and delivery mobile app, that needs a website as an important part of it's marketing and lead strategy. This products' goals are to:
• Allow users to quickly place an order and have their dirty laundry picked up, washed, dried, folded and delivered through the palm of their hand
• Revolutionize the way people do laundry, by providing the first and biggest on-demand, same day service
• Give independent contractors new avenues for income in an inconsistent industry
Role: Web Design
I also lead the Product/UI UX Design of the app, and the Marketing Strategy. You can learn more about that process at this link.
Product/UI UX Design: discovery, market & competitive research, wireframing, user personas, mapping user flows, development and implementation of consistent branding across screens, high-fidelity prototypes, UX testing, and handoff.
RESULTS:
Through discovery, research, ideation, user flows, wireframing, branding & iteration I designed & built a fully responsive website. The site is an important part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, to lead users to the app, both of which I later created. The site introduces users to the service- as well as allows them to navigate the site easily & gives them plenty of opportunities to provide their email, where we can begin building a relationship & convert them into customers once the app is designed and launched. (Coming soon!)
The site can be viewed here.
Problem
Users currently do not have a way to get their laundry done on demand like we do with food delivery, or ride-sharing. Other similar laundry delivery business models offer next-day delivery; which can be inconvenient for users with time-sensitive chores, who may not want to, or have time to do themselves.
1. Discovery
-Discovery Session
-Market Research
-Competitive Analysis
2. Ideation
-User Research
-Wireframing & User Flows
-Sketching
3. Design & Development
-Branding Identity & Style Guide
-User Interface Design
-Website Development
1. Discovery
I. My first step to discovery was understanding the app's purpose. Some of the questions I asked were:
-What problem is RapidWash trying to solve?
-For who, and where?
-What are the brand values & goals?
-What is the business model?
II. Once I answered to these questions, I asked myself more questions directly related to design. Such as:
-What is the purpose of the website?
-What pages/features/information does the website need?
-What will the branding identity look & feel like?
III. As the next part of my discovery process, I conducted market research & competitive analysis to learn more about the mobile laundry market, possible competitors, their business model, and of course their branding & design.
-Does this service/or a similar service already exist, in our area or elsewhere?
-What is their business model?
-What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong?
-How could we improve upon what is already out there?
I. What is RapidWash, & who is it for?
-RapidWash’s goal is to provide the fastest, easiest laundry pickup, wash, dry & fold service.
-RapidWash will service customers who live a busy lifestyle, or just don't like doing their laundry, in the Bay Area.
-Their goal is to provide users quick, reliable, easy & friendly service
-Users simply sign up, place an order, and receive fresh, folded laundry in a couple hours. Users have different plan options.
II. What does the website need to look like & accomplish?
-The purpose of the website is to introduce users to RapidWash, create brand awareness & to be used as a powerful marketing tool- it's more viable to have an app for the orders/deliveries themselves. The site will also build rapport, a relationship, and excitement within future customers while we build the app.
-Therefore, the site should have a home page, a service page, and sign up features for customers, employees, & partners, as part of a comprehensive email & ad marketing strategy.
-The brand's identity, and personality is friendly- making users feel calm, relaxed, even relieved. Ultimately, this is what the service is going to make future customers feel.
Ill. Who are our market competitors, & what are they currently doing?
-However, these services do not typicaly boast same day delivery but they also offer similar plan options.
-Their services are okay, their UX in general is okay but could be slightly improved.The competitors' branding & design is not as user-friendly, or visually modern as we plan on. One of the sites was not even fully responsive for mobile, which is already a huge issue in 2021.
-We can create a service that is better than existing ones because of our speed, flexibility, and improved user experience.
Market Research | Competitive Analysis
Below are the market research & competitive analysis notes; as well as notes on the top search results in the industry (for SEO purposes) in more detail below:
I focused on 2 services that are most similar to RapidWash, to evaluate what they were doing right and wrong. I learned some key differences between their businesses & ours. As mentioned in the discovery summary, a key selling point in RapidWash's favor was that other services available locally, promised next-day delivery- unlike RapidWash's true-to-its-name, same-day delivery. Another key point, from a marketing standpoint was that the competitors' websites were outdated, not as user-friendly on mobile, and lacking good user experience design. Their main advantage against RapidWash, was that they'd obviously rank higher in SEO immediately- so that was a long-term battle to focus on after launch.
2. Ideation
So now that I had enough valuable information to guide my design strategy & decisions, I began with creating wireframes for what the site may look like. When creating the wireframes, it's necessary to put myself in the users shoes and asked myself these questions, from a UX standpoint:
-Who is the user?
-What different users may we expect? (Customers, employees, partners)
-How did the user land on this website?
-What information does the user need to know, to understand the service offered, how it works, and understand the value of it?
-Where does a successful website take the users to?
I realized we really needed about 8 pages in total, as the website is merely a marketing tool to introduce users to the product, begin building a relationship, & get them interested & signed up. So I created a Homepage, Services, About & Login; as well as Careers, Become a Partner & a Contact page.
As the order, pickup & delivery processes were not viable to build on the same website & are best built on an app of it's own, these pages sufficed for the website.
Wireframing
I created wireframes for these 8 pages. Some key points during this part of the process were:
Focusing on achieving business goals & user experience during this stage, as opposed to visual design. Color, branding & style will come later so I focus on what's important right now.
I accomplish good UX by ensuring the site is easy to navigate, responsive & accessible. I ensure it will achieve the business goals & function as an important part of the marketing strategy by listing everything they need to learn about the service, and adding it in the best place. I make sure there are plenty of opportunities for users to sign up, placing these links or buttons strategically. Other actions I took were:
-clean, simple layout, that is to the point without overwhelming the user
-email form available for them to sign up on landing page, & on every page where necessary
-consistent visual & architectural hierarchy
-illustrations to help them understand the service
Sketching
I followed that up with sketching, to form ideas for the brand's visual design style. From a visual design standpoint, I asked myself:
-What is the branding identity in terms of mood, and what we intend the user to feel?
-How can we communicate that visually?
I created various sketches; this is the best way for me to get ideas out quickly, as opposed to designing directly on Figma or Elementor. I envisioned splashes, waves, drips, & other aquatic motions when sketching, as it is washing laundry. One of the ideas I really liked originally, was a theme where the brand would've had a whale cartoon as a mascot; and as you scroll through the site you come across the whale and/or it's habitat. However, I decided against it because I didn't want the whale/ocean theme to take over the brand, plus it would've taken a lot of illustration work, & I didn't want to slow the project down. So I ended up sticking to a more subtle, aquatic, wavy theme that still works with a laundry service brand, but doesn't completely veer too far from our intent.Branding & Style Guides
I wanted the branding style to be calm & cool. Soothing, but also fun. I decided on a combination of two complementary colors: blue, and orange. Blue conveys a calm & relaxation, while orange gives it a sense of fun & joy. I was careful to select a palette that is very light- not too dark, bright or gaudy & instead opted for modern, soothing color tones that are easy on the eyes.
3. Design & Development
Now that I had a solid layout of what the website was going to look like through the wireframes & style guide, it was time to implement my plans into the actual site.
I setup the hosting, domain & SSL, and linked them to WordPress & Elementor where I actually design & build the site. I also used Photoshop & Illustrator for photo-editing & illustrations.
I began with a mobile-first mindset, as most people will visit the site on mobile. Designing & building the site was pretty straightforward & I didn't run into any major problems as the site doesn't need any complex functions or UX. The site just needs to do an excellent job at informing them and leading them to the app. This is what the landing pages look like on desktop & mobile.
Sneak peak: scroll down the homepage, "services" landing page, and "about" page. View the full site here.
Design, SEO & Analytics
During the design & development process, I made sure to:
-Maintain a consistent branding style throughout all pages
-Ensure responsiveness on all web, mobile & tablet devices
-Fast loading times
-Good copywriting
-Optimized for SEO by speeding loading times, using key words
-Install Google Analytics & GMB
So the website was done, until the next update.
Marketing Planning & Strategy
The next important step was creating a detailed marketing plan through marketing strategy & brand positioning, taking into account my previous competitive & market research. This means comparing other brand's business models, selling points, & brand positioning in the industry.
I created a marketing plan that included:
-Social media marketing (for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn)
-Email ads
-Web/Digital ads
-Physical ads
-Guerrilla marketing
I won't go into detail & reveal my secrets, but I created a detailed plan including concepts for ads ready to test & grow, specific forms of guerrilla marketing for RapidWash, a detailed email marketing strategy with planned copywriting for different scenarios, different stages of the customer process & deals/sales. This plan has yet to be implemented as our team awaits funding, but I may share reveal more updates shortly.
Surprise..
If you paid attention, you know this was originally meant to be an app. So let's talk about that a little.
RapidWash app is coming soon. 3 versions of it actually: Customer, employee, merchant facing. For now, it's a bit of a surprise. Stay posted for one of the most innovative apps in the Bay Area!
This is really it. For now. Go check out my other work.