2. Case Study: KLAWTEX
In 2011, I started working remotely as a digital creative director at KLAWTEX, a
woman-owned couture design house that has been featured on the pages of Vogue,
Vogue Italia, Elle, W., Interview Magazine, and Vanity Fair. After relocating to NYC in 2012, I
joined the team in-house.
KLAWTEX had an impressive inventory of sporty and high-fashion latex clothing but was
managing it through Etsy, which limited the company’s revenue potential. By the spring of
2013, that changed, when I launched a fully responsive digital shopping platform, with a
lookbook, catalog, and cart. And, I coded all of the brochure-style pages using HTML,
CSS, and jQuery and tested them to ensure they were fully responsive.
I also led a full re-branding for the company, including new logos, product descriptions,
visual assets, marketing campaigns, and a detailed visual/web style guide. The full-scale
creative reboot enabled the fashion startup to capitalize on its world-class press,
encouraging new and returning customers alike to linger on, explore, and ultimately
purchase fashions ranging from basic staples to stunning new runway collections.
Streetwear Meets Couture in NYC
3. My team and I created a site map with Post-Its, allowing us to arrange fashions,
customer information, and various aspects of the KLAWTEX business model for easy
user access.
KLAWTEX
Website UX
4. Here’s a cleaned-up copy of the top=level site map. Each section within “Shop” expands
into sub-sections displaying greater detail.
KLAWTEX
Website UX
KLAWTEX.com
Shop Gallery Rentals Repairs About Contact
Women’s
• Accessories
• Bodysuits
• Bottoms
• Catsuits
• Dresses
• Lingerie
• Outerwear
• Tops
Men’s
• Accessories
• Bottoms
• Outerwear
• Tops
Collections
• Couture
• Streetwear
• Club Wear
• Retro
• Military
• Costumes
Repairs 101• Rental
Agreement
Repair Samples
Latex Care
Latex Styling
• Bios
• Works With
• 12 Samples • Address &
Subways
• Hours
• Email
• Phone
5. Since I was coding much of the website myself, and directed its maintenance,
hand-drawn wireframes suited my team’s goals. The desired end product was a fully
responsive, mobile-friendly site with distinct sections for different customer needs.
KLAWTEX
Website UX
6. I modeled several iterations of the shopping cart and individual item pages. Of
particular focus were the apparel sub-sections and the individual item customizations,
the latter of which were mapped to our database.
KLAWTEX
Website UX
7. The “SHOP” section was the most challenging to model and build, as apparel was
divided into multiple categories—by collection, and also by sex of the customer
(women’s or men’s).
KLAWTEX
Website UX
8. Content pages were mapped out in list format, with sticky notes highlighting vital info
and necessary linked documents. Examples of the latter included our rental
application form, latex care tips, and garment styling suggestions..
KLAWTEX
Website UX — Content
9. Before entering items into the database, I created a content worksheet in Excel. Data
included item descriptions, colors, sizing, trim, and other important info such as
photographers’ credits.
KLAWTEX
Website UX — Content
10. Upon finalizing the UX, I built and launched a new site in weeks, including brand-new
creative direction, photo galleries, customer info pages, and copy. This website
became the go-to for the company and the customer shopping experience.
KLAWTEX
Website Design &
Creative Direction
11. Next, I migrated KLAWTEX’s entire inventory from Etsy to a custom shopping cart site,
managing all apparel taxonomies, item descriptions, and creative/art direction.
KLAWTEX
Website Shopping
Cart Design
12. I designed the shopping cart UI and worked overtime alongside our software
development team to implement it. We also built new databases for all product info.
KLAWTEX
Website Shopping
Cart Design
13. Users could customize all items beyond the product varieties available in the
database, or could select from variations on material, color, trim, cut, and applique.
KLAWTEX
Website Shopping
Cart Design
14. Younger, mobile-savvy users were a sizable portion of our user base, so I made sure
KLAWTEX web properties were coded responsively and followed principles of
“mobile-first” interface design, featuring a simplified interface and clear CTAs. I also
made some changes to the UI as I built it
KLAWTEX
Responsive Website Design
15. To drive new and ongoing users to the KLAWTEX e-commerce site, I developed a
series of ad banners of varying sizes, featuring some of the most popular outfits and
pieces sold. This set is for an April 2013 fashion show.
KLAWTEX
Ad Banners Collection
16. KLAWTEX needed a new set of logos to solidify the brand identity. The owner had a
small collection of typefaces and preferred certain fonts. I offered 10 different takes,
and narrowed the final design down to a logo based on Optima, but with hand-set
ascenders and overshoots. The first logo set features the new “KLAW” mark.
KLAWTEX
Logo Development
17. I developed event-specific graphics for Facebook and other social media sites to
promote events, sales, and fashion shows. The graphic on this page was for a
1930s-themed fashion show.
KLAWTEX
Social Media &
Marketing Design
18. Other marketing promos I developed included signage, runway motion graphics, and,
as shown above, print mailers for holiday events and sales. The postcards displayed
above were designed for our Valentine’s Day sale.
KLAWTEX
Social Media &
Marketing Design