ARTILECT.STUDIO // CULTURELINES
“Equal parts art and intelligence, ARTILECT is an apparel studio backed by a deep experience of the past, with a laser focus on the future.”
project overview
client
Artilect - Culturelines and Artilect.Studio
team
Sarah: Project Co-Lead
Mckindsay: Project Co-Lead
Aaron: Graphic Design
Mariah: Social Media Copywriter
project type
UX/UI Strategy
the challenge
Artilect is a performance brand with two separate products, their magazine entitles Culturelines and the apparel label entitled Artilect. Studio. As it stands, Culturelines is quite separate from Artilect Studio.
How might we leverage the storytelling of Culturelines to drive sales for products of Artilect Studio?
understanding the problem
We began by creating journey maps to understand how their customers would interact with both products. An important point the clients made to us was to convey to customers that Artilect.Studio is a performance brand, not an outdoor brand, and Culturelines is a lifestyle magazine that tells the stories of those who love the outdoors. The brand is highly innovative and has a huge focus on technology, especially compared to its competitors.
ideating
In order to bring the two products together, it is important to understand how the products could complement each other. The brand was born in Boulder, CO, and is still fairly small. With Culturelines being a voice of the people of Boulder, we saw an opportunity for Artilect.Studio to connect locally, therefore bringing the brands together organically. The company already uses NFC technology in their clothing tags, so we knew that could be incorporated into solutions in a meaningful way, reflecting the innovative spirit of Artilect.
problem solving
In order to grow an audience for Culturelines, we decided to run a heavy Instagram campaign, since their audience profile tends to consume news and media through social media. Our vision for the Culturelines Instagram page was for it to be an outdoor-themed mood board, as well as a news hub for the Boulder community. As far as Artilect.Studio, we suggested creating partnerships with local companies with similar values in sustainability, innovation, and performance. We also suggested they make tags that clearly indicate the use and function of the NFC tags for authentication and direction to product pages and similar products.
bringing solutions to life
Our first simple solution was adding a link to each product on the static navigation bar at the top of each website. For the Instagram campaign, we created a posting schedule and post mockups with captions. We created examples for partnerships between Artilect.Studio with Disco Apocalypse, a local vintage shop, to sell samples at a discounted rate and to hold a rack permanently in the store. We also suggested partnerships with local events like races and pop-ups at the farmer’s market, as well as athlete sponsorships with Culturelines for them to promote the magazine as well as write stories. Finally, we created mockups for NFC tags with explanations of use and created the screens that the NFC would give access to once scanned.
screens
Addition of Culturelines to navigation on Artilect.Studio
Landing page after NFC tag is scanned. Purpose of the NFC is to promote sales of similar products, give more information about the product, and prove authenticity.
insights and learnings
This project was a huge learning experience for me. Off the bat, our group had some major communication issues. Because it was a short-term design sprint, I, along with Mckindsay had to step up and lead the project in order to meet deadlines. I had not taken this role on a project before, and my confidence in being a leader was built immensely.