A visually and sonically immersive shopping experience.
A 3-day design hackathon winning site redesign for Rufus Guitar Shop, translating site traffic into sales.
DURATION
3 Days, Feb 2025
ROLE
Lead UX/UI Design, Research, Prototyping
TOOLS
Figma, After Effects
TEAM
Joann Vu, Amy Zhao, Avni Kapoor, Kate Simeonoff
(OVERVIEW)
THE CLIENT
Rufus Guitar Shop is an iconic music store known for their vibrant community of technical experts.
THE MISSION
How can we translate the warmth and expertise of the in-store experience into a digital space?
(PROCESS)
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM
Rufus Guitar Shop’s website was not capitalizing off of their extensive legacy and trustworthy reputation.
Using the think-aloud method, 4 users were tasked with purchasing a guitar from Rufus Guitar Shop’s current website. We then identified 3 main issues to address with our site redesign.
CONFUSING NAVIGATION
Participants struggled to navigate the site’s pages and content, dissuading them from making a purchase.
OUTDATED DESIGN
All participants highlighted that the design made them question Rufus Guitar Shop’s legitimacy and expertise.
LACK OF CROSS-TRAFFIC
Customers were not being directed to their YouTube and Instagram platforms, where their abilities are best displayed.
OUR APPROACH
Communicate the team’s expertise through a new site flow and visual identity.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Created a new site map and flow to follow conventional UX patterns.
FRESH VISUAL IDENTITY
Accentuated the store’s historic legacy through imagery and textures.
EMBEDDED VIDEOS
Drove traffic to their YouTube by embedding videos throughout the site.
OUR VIDEO PITCH
Created two engaging short motion graphics videos to convey the process.
Two motion graphics videos were made by myself and Amy Zhao, including voiceover by Avni Kapoor.
(reflection)
WHAT I LEARNED
Collaborating across timezones is not easy.
On such a tight timeline for this Hackathon, strong task distribution and communication was essential to our success. With one team member in a different time zone, I learned how to create smooth hand-offs with clear documentation of my work. This allowed others to build off with ease.
(view my other projects)
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Make the most out of your dollar through easy budgeting.
(CONTACT ME)
Let's create something extraordinary together!
Let's create something extraordinary together!
Joann vu © 2025
Designed by Joann Vu