Website & Identity Design, 2019

Streamlining discovery and booking at Wehmann

Wehmann is one of the most prominent modeling and talent agencies in the Midwest.

Problem

Wehmann's brand, website, and photography had become out of date in terms of content and aesthetic. Additionally, the agency’s employees were struggling to use their back-end talent library because it wasn’t linked to their online presence. They needed an avenue for digital talent saving in order to eliminate friction both internally and for their clients.

Solution

Their founder, Susan Wehmann, sought to revivify Wehmann’s visual identity and simplify the talent booking experience for her clients. Together with a small team at Treat & Company, I designed a user experience that encourages exploration and streamlines talent booking both internally and externally.

My Role

Designing the identity and website end-to-end, working closely with engineering to craft experiences in detail

Planned and executed multi-day photoshoot, created visual content for digital and social platforms

The Team

I acted as Solo Designer & Art Director with guidance from a Creative Director, 1 Engineer, and 1 Project Manager.

Photoshoot: Photographer, Stylist, Hair/Makeup Artist, 24+ Models, etc.

Tools Used

Sketch, Adobe Suite, Principle, Wordpress, Basecamp

Research

In order to create the most effective solution for Wehmann, I gathered requirements aimed at fixing usability issues both within the agency and for potential clients who may be discovering Wehmann for the first time. To do this, I interviewed staff members of the agency to get an understanding of their existing workflow and preferences. Additionally, I sought feedback from current clients on how they discover and book talent.

Requirements Gathering

Wehmann’s primary audience is made up of creative professionals looking for local talent. They might be visiting the website for the first time, or they could be a return customer, visiting every time they have a new project. They’re most likely scrolling through countless headshots on their work computer.

Audience

The creative professionals using Wehmann’s site are looking for talent to fit a specific need for their project. They may or may not have a motivation to use Wehmann over another agency—they most likely just want to find the right people. Therefore, the user flow needs to allow for seamless talent search and discovery. Every relevant, filterable piece of data should be searchable by clients seeking talent.

User Needs

Ideation

Working in tandem with top leadership at Wehmann, I identified and drafted the elements necessary for their new website. Then, I organized those elements into pages and content blocks, keeping in mind their existing system and desires for the future website. I paid special attention to filtering, a major aspect of the search function, to ensure clients will be able to find the right talent as easily as possible.

Architecture & User Flow

One important function of the new website was to allow clients to save talent in lists in order to get a quote from Wehmann’s team. To ensure that this feature was successful, I crafted user stories that guided the user experience design of the talent saving side of the website. During this process, I was careful to seek inspiration inside and outside Wehmann’s industry to uncover a solution that leverages existing mental models for the user.

User Stories

I worked closely with engineering to draft wireframes of the new website, ensuring key functional elements such as search, filtering, saving talent, forms, and conversion were included. This collaboration was essential to ensuring my design ideas were informed by our research and aligned with the project’s scope and technical requirements.

Wireframes

Visual Design

To design prototypes for Wehmann's talent booking website, I utilized an iterative approach to ensure that the functionality of the website accurately reflected user needs and expectations. A series of clickable prototypes was created to demonstrate and test the user interaction with the various features, while focusing on improving usability. I also used these prototypes to allow stakeholders from different departments to visualize how their input would be incorporated into the final design and therefore gain trust in the project.

Prototypes

Discovery

Allowing seamless exploration of Wehmann’s library of talent was top priority, so I focused on designing a system that makes it easy to search and filter.

Messaging

Susan Wehmann decided to keep messaging rather sparse on the website, which allowed us to let the photography be king.

Bookmarking

Inspired by the analog method of sorting through headshots, I designed stacks of digital images as a visual representation for lists of saved talent.

Evaluation

Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, there was limited scope for user testing during the development of Wehmann's website project. To mitigate this, I relied on conducting stakeholder interviews and seeking feedback from a select group of users. By collecting user data from these channels, I was able to identify the most important requirements and design decisions that would ensure an intuitive end product for all users.

User Testing

Before launch, I worked diligently to ensure the delivery of a high-quality product through meticulous testing, defect tracking and resolution. To facilitate collaboration with the development team during the QA phase, I created detailed bug reports in Basecamp and provided support and guidance in resolving defects. Furthermore, I prepared regular progress reports by updating stakeholders regularly on the progress of the project.

QA & Launch

As a result of the streamlined talent saving flow, Wehmann’s internal process was much improved, leading to quicker turnaround time for new bookings. Their talent pool and client base grew, and the refreshed brand identity spurred an influx of positive activity on social media. Wehmann is now able to attract, and retain, the kind of business they want to have.

Measuring Success

A Happy Client

Susan Wehmann, founder and owner of Wehmann, reached out to me personally to express just how pleased she was with the work. Our team received high praise from her regarding the website, identity design, and photoshoot.

“All I can say is that you are a Wow! Your design sense, creativity, perception, willingness, coordination and hard work were such gifts in the production of the Wehmann photo shoot. Thank you for all your time and attention to detail that made it such a special success. I have admiration for you beyond all compare! You are one of the best I have ever worked with. Thank you for sharing yourself so generously with Wehmann and with me. Cheers to you!”