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Ruthie Cohen
Photography
Photography business
Team: Solo project
Tools: Wix
Timeline: Ongoing
Brief: Back in 2017, I started my own photography business. As this is a pretty competitive field, I needed ways to put me ahead of my competitors. This meant I needed a fresh, new logo and an impressive website. And ultimately, as my business grew, so did its' needs.
Goal
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Design a logo using colors that match the aesthetic of my photography style.
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Create a professional yet chic website to showcase my work, accept contact submissions, and take bookings.
Problems, Personas & Pain Points
The photography business is competitive with lots of photographers trying to get their name out. Since clients are looking for a photographer who professional - branding goes a long way in this field. Furthermore, as my business grew and I began dealing with more and more clients, and my time became more precious.
Similarly, my potential clients didn't want the hassle of having a long back and forth interaction. Often, they would be in contact with other photographers and ultimately book with the photographer who closed first
My struggles
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I didn't have an online presence and relied heavily on word-of-mouth. Potential clients had little way of reaching me
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Once clients reached out, they would naturally request to see samples of my work. It was a hassle to have to spend so much time sending them pictures,
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Booking became a major back and forth and often clients showed up late to their sessions with no sense of accountability,
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Clients would often ask me to send sample of specific locations so they could have a better idea of what any given location looked like, I found this to be very tedious
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I spent a lot of time answering a lot of the same questions to many clients
My potential clients
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Found it annoying to constantly ask numerous photographers to see their sample work, prices, location ideas, etc...
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Didn't feel secure when we finally did book a session needed some confirmation/reminder
Proposed solution
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Design an impressive website to "wow" potential clients while sticking to the brand's image,
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Allow for contact submissions as well as buttons linked to my email, phone and WhatsApp,
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Create a space to display my work and photography style,
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Embed a booking platform to my website so that clients can book their sessions directly - focus on client accountability emphasizing Late & Cancellation policies
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Create an FAQ column using questions clients have asked in the past,
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Finally, use alt tags in every photo and optimize the image title for better SEO
Proposed solution
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Create a website that covers ALL their questions - a page with my portfolio, my pricing and packages, samples of various location ideas and finally a forum that answers any other questions they may have,
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Allow for clients to book the session themselves directly on the website
Style Guide
Color Pallet
Typography
Logo
Behind the design
Overall theme: I focused on a design that was clean, chic and accurately represented my aesthetic and photography style. I stuck to my color pallet throughout the whole website to ensure a cohesive look. I even carefully chose which of my photos to display so as not to create too much visual noise.
Typography: I decided to go with a font that is chic yet bubbly at the same time. Most of my clientele are families and those are the ones I'd like to keep attracting.
Color pallet: I went with a color scheme that is soft and friendly. I avoided dark colors that seem intimidating.
Small details: Wherever I could, I added my contact info so that potential clients can easily find a way to reach me - at their preferred method.
Buttons: I anchored a 'Book Now' button on the bottom right side of the screen so that my potential clients can easily book a session at any point while they're scrolling through my website.
I create a page dedicated to displaying my work. I organized it based on session type - outdoor, studio, newborn, product etc...
I was mindful not to overwhelm the client by displaying too many photos at once. To combat this, I designed a gallery that displays a only handful and added a button to allow the client to 'show more' photos.
In order to eliminate frustration from both ends, I embedded a booking platform on my website. Here, my clients can choose the specific session they want at the time and day they prefer. It is both quick and seamless.
Having my clients book the session on their own, has reduced tardiness by 93%. In the cases that my clients have still shown up late, they understood the consequences of their tardiness without any uncomfortable confrontation on my part.
In addition to making my clients' booking experience easier, I now need to focus less on keeping track of my bookings as they are automatically entered to my personal Google Calendar.
Adding this feature to my website has tremendously eased the process for both my clients and myself. It is a feature that most of my competitors do not offer and it definitely puts my business above theirs.
Small detail: I strategically added two buttons at the top of the booking page:
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'Compare all Pricing Options' - In case a client isn't sure which package is right for them, they may click here to refer back to the 'Pricing' page
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'Help me decide' - This is a new feature I implemented to further ease my clients overall experience and reduce wasted time on my end answering repetitive questions. When clicked, a small lightbox appears at the side of the screen with prompts to find out what type of session would be best for my clients depending on their wants and needs. This is a feature I have not seen offered by any other photographer.
Another great feature I added to my website was the FAQ column. There are many basic questions that I have found myself answering to multiple clients regularly. I found this to be an inconvenience and a time waster.
I compiled a list of questions I have been asked frequently. and categorized them into three groups. I did this in order to stay away from a FAQ column that was endlessly long with no sense of order.
I urge my clients to refer to the FAQ column dooring the booking process.
Like all other pages on my website, it is linked in the footer.
This is a feature that was inspired by other top photographers around the world. However, I have not yet seen it implemented by my local competitors.
Reflection
Creating my own website was fun and a wonderful experience in designing creative and successful solutions.
Being my own client in this project pushed me to invest all of my energy into researching and developing the most sound solutions, learn more about my clients - and in turn - my personas, by listening to their needs and asking for feedback.
Ultimately, I gained a lot both as an entrepreneur as well as a pursuing UX/UI designer.