ALT
UX/UI, Visual Design, Branding
TOOLS
XD, Illustrator, Photoshop
TIMELINE
November - December 2019
Overview
Many who grew up in a culturally diverse country are lost with their heritage or cultural background as they begin to assimilate with the “American/Canadian” culture.
ALT, which stands for Alternative, is a sneaker company that aims to represent young Chinese Americans through fashion. Inspirations for this brand are drawn from collective childhood memories and everyday moments. The main focus of ALT is to spread art and culture in a fun and creative manner.
Challenge
To create a complete responsive website based on the assigned topic.
MY THEME
SNEAKER COMPANY
Solution
I wanted to take this opportunity and use this project to represent the Chinese American youth culture, which very much is my own culture. I was very inspired by the Hypebeast, skater, street culture aesthetic.
With this whole concept, I tried to achieve the sense of freedom and spontaneity that the youth culture embodies. I also wanted to use this opportunity to experiment with film photography and recreate the nostalgic old-school spirit.
"To create a brand to communicate to people in a contemporary manner based on "cool" fashion."
Research
To create this website, I needed to develop a better on the streetwear culture and its origin. So, I began researching different streetwear brand and learning about their vision and brand purpose.
Target Audience
Young adults who are interested in street culture and arts.
Approach
I want the overall aesthetic of my website to be artistic and pictorial. With designs and photos that are quirky, creative and original. The whole concept is photography based and each section of the page will resemble an editorial magazine.
Competitive Analysis
With my target audience in mind, I then began researching different companies taking note of what makes their brand successful.
Key Takeaways
-
Keep the website minimal and straightforward
-
Do not let the photographs overpower the products or the website.
-
Arrange the products according to its popularity or
arrival date -
Do not let effects or motion graphics overpower the main point of the website.
Ideation Development
SITE MAP
WIREFRAMES
I began the visual process of the project with initial sketches. Low and mid-fidelity prototypes were created and tested among collogues and professors for feedback.
BRAND QUALITIES
YOUTH
ORIGINALITY
FREEDOM
With the qualities in mind, I decided to name my brand ALT which stands for Alternative. ALT is a brand that embodies the youth culture of Chinese Americans. It is to allow them to express themselves in any way they want, allowing them telling their stories through style without the limitation of gender and race.
VISUAL DESIGN
This brand design is heavily photo-based. I wanted to create a brand that is minimal yet artistic. With the target audience in mind, I used a vibrant yellow as the core colour of the brand because of its fun and light-hearted nature yet modern and stylish.
OVERVIEW
ALT
IT'S A SHOE BRAND
Our vision is to create unconventional pieces that are reminiscent of our youths – with the ambition of reminding people of their most beautiful moments in life.
-ALT
HOME
Highlights the important aspects to the brand.
ABOUT
The brand statement is complemented with quirky photographs.
PRODUCTS
Hover over the product for more information.
Reflection
This was one of my favourite projects that I have designed so far. Through this project, I was able to experiment with photography and be creative with the visuals. Although I was unable to incorporate all the motion graphics and visual elements that I had initially planned, I was still able to incorporate most of them and I was able to improve my coding ability by referring and researching different coding tutorials.
Overall, I am very content with the outcome of the project, However, I do notice that I can clean up some parts of the website to produce a cleaner layout. I also wished to have done further research and have further developed the brand identity.
Key takeaways
-
Research, research, research. Understand what is in
the market and the aesthetic of your product. -
Carry out the project with the target audience in mind at
all times. -
Don't let coding barriers restrict my design and
visual choices