Elevating a handmade brand with intentional design

01. Overview

Overview

This case study outlines how I helped Milk & Honey Crochets transition from a word-of-mouth shop to a more professional and scalable online presence.

By redesigning their landing page, I clarified their brand identity and organized their product information into a structure that aligns with industry standards. The result is a cohesive digital experience that strengthens credibility and better supports future business growth.

Role

Sole UX/UI Designer and Researcher, Brand Experience Designer, Logo Designer

Tools

Figma, Figjam, Google Suites, Dribbble, Affinity Designer

Timeline

October 2025

02. Challenge

Scaling Beyond Word-of-Mouth

The challenge

Milk & Honey Crochets operated mostly through word-of-mouth and Instagram, leaving customers without a clear way to explore products, understand options, or trust the ordering process. The absence of a defined brand identity and centralized website limited credibility and made it difficult for the business to grow beyond personal referrals.

Design Goals

The primary objectives for this redesign were to:

  • elevate the brand’s visual presence

  • establish a clear homepage structure

  • improve product discoverability

  • create a more professional first impression

  • support future scalability

Rather than simply refreshing visuals, the goal was to create a digital foundation that could grow with the business.

Brand Direction

Before moving into layout, I focused on defining a clearer visual identity.

I explored:

  • warm, neutral color palettes to reflect the handmade nature of the products

  • clean typography to balance softness with professionalism

  • imagery that highlights texture, detail, and craftsmanship

The visual direction aimed to feel:

warm · minimal · thoughtful · human

This creative foundation guided the website redesign and informed how content, products, and visuals were presented.

Rather than treating branding and web design separately, I approached them as one connected system.

Jobs To Be Done: Framing Real Motivations

Applying JTBD ensured the redesign addressed user goals:

  • Understand the story and craftsmanship → feel confident and connected

  • Browse with clarity and ease → know exactly what they’re buying

  • Experience authenticity → trust the brand and feel good supporting it

These jobs shaped both structure and storytelling across the site.

03. Discovery & Insights

Laying the Foundation for a Clearer, More Connected Digital Experience

Kickoff: Aligning Vision & Goals

Research Approach: Evidence-Based Insights

Competitive Scan: Understanding the Market

In 2025, the owner and I met to evaluate their existing website and discuss how the brand could better reflect the community, craftsmanship, and faith-based story behind their work. There was no design system in place, but they wanted to maintain the warm, handmade aesthetic introduced in the logo I designed in 2024.

From this conversation, we defined three core user needs that would shape the redesign:

  • Easily browse products that match their style and values

  • Understand the faith-based artistry behind the brand

  • Quickly grasp what Milk & Honey Crochets offers

These became the foundation for the design direction.

Direct user interviews weren’t feasible, so I conducted targeted secondary research to ensure decisions were grounded in UX principles and industry standards.

Key Insights

1. Brand clarity builds trust.
Users feel more confident when a brand’s identity is consistent and intentional.

2. Inconsistent messaging weakens credibility.
Misalignment across touchpoints can create confusion or hesitation.

3. Storytelling drives connection.
Artisan brands benefit from clearly communicating meaning, process, and values.

These insights highlighted the need to strengthen storytelling, clarify the brand’s identity, and present information with structure and intention.

I analyzed analogous handmade brands to identify opportunities for Milk & Honey Crochets.

What Competitors Did Well

  • Strong storytelling (e.g., T’kor Couture)

  • Clear emphasis on handmade craftsmanship

  • High-quality product presentation

Identified Gaps for M&H

  • Minimal brand story

  • Limited explanation of craftsmanship and meaning

  • Inconsistent visual hierarchy and product structure

These gaps helped sharpen the direction of the redesign.

Core Insights: What Truly Needed to Change

1. The brand’s story wasn’t clear.

Users had no sense of the meaning, mission, or faith behind the work.

2. Product information lacked structure.

Browsing felt scattered, reducing confidence and slowing decision-making.

3. The website undersold the craftsmanship.

The quality of the work wasn’t reflected in the design — limiting credibility.

Outcome of Discovery

UX Strategy: Guiding the Redesign scale the brand

Clarify the Brand Identity

Strengthen visuals and language to convey warmth, faith, and craftsmanship.

Lead With Storytelling

Use narrative, hierarchy, and visuals to connect users deeper to the brand.

Simplify Exploration

Create consistent patterns, intuitive navigation, and structured content.

This discovery phase aligned user expectations with business goals and defined the strategic foundation for a more credible, cohesive, and scalable digital experience.

04. Strategy

From Insight to Intentional Design Decisions

Design Goal

Guiding UX Principles

Information Architecture

Create a digital foundation that clearly communicates the brand’s purpose, showcases products with intention, and positions Milk & Honey Crochets as a professional small business (via the landing page) — without losing the warmth and meaning behind the craft.

These principles guided every design decision and kept the work grounded in UX best practices:

Clarity Over Complexity

Information should be easy to scan, understand, and navigate — especially for first-time visitors.

Story Before Product

Users should understand who Milk & Honey Crochets is and why the work matters before being asked to buy.

Consistency Builds Trust

Visual and content consistency reinforces credibility and reduces cognitive load.

I structured the site around how users naturally explore e-commerce websites for small brands:

  • Introduce the brand and its values

  • Support intuitive product discovery

  • Highlight faith-based storytelling

  • Allow for future ecommerce expansion

This structure prioritizes clarity today while remaining flexible for growth.

Note: While I developed a full site map to define the long-term structure of the website, the scope of this project focused on redesigning the landing page. This approach allowed me to prioritize the highest-impact entry point for users, ensuring first impressions, brand clarity, and storytelling were addressed. The landing page was intentionally designed as a scalable foundation that can be extended to additional pages as the business grows.

Content Strategy - Hook the user

Because the landing page is the primary entry point, I focused the content strategy on the hero section to immediately communicate what Milk & Honey Crochets offers and guide users toward a clear next step. The original hero relied heavily on text, lacked visual context, and suffered from inconsistent typography and spacing. With no imagery to signal craftsmanship and multiple competing font styles, users had to work harder to understand what the brand offered and how to engage.

In the redesign, I focused on clarity, hierarchy, and cohesion. A background image of yarn was introduced to immediately communicate product type and craftsmanship, supporting recognition over recall. Typography was reduced to a clear system with defined hierarchy, improving readability and visual rhythm. Spacing and alignment were standardized to reduce cognitive load and create a more polished, trustworthy experience. A single, prominent call to action anchors the section, guiding users toward a clear next step.

Together, these decisions ensure the hero communicates the brand’s value within seconds, aligns with ecommerce UX conventions, and positions Milk & Honey Crochets as a credible, professional small business.

Story-Led Layouts: Content is structured to introduce the brand’s purpose before products, using imagery and hierarchy to guide users.

Warmth Through Restraint: A limited color palette, soft imagery, and generous white space communicate warmth without visual clutter.

Handmade, Not Homemade: Clean layouts, refined typography, and consistent spacing elevate the brand while preserving its handcrafted feel.

Consistency Builds Trust: Repeated layout patterns reduce cognitive load and help users quickly understand how to navigate the page.

Visual Strategy

The visual system balances handcrafted warmth with modern UX standards. I retained the existing color palette to preserve brand recognition while introducing consistent spacing, typography, and layout patterns to elevate perceived quality and trust.

05. Design Execution

From Strategy to a Cohesive Experience

Newsletter & Footer Section: Clearer Conversion Opportunity & Clean Structure


The old newsletter area lacked visual emphasis and blended into the footer, making it easy to miss. The footer was text-heavy with inconsistent spacing, making the navigation feel cluttered. The new design improves visibility and encourages users to join the community, supporting long-term engagement.

Featured Products

Featured products are presented using consistent layout patterns to support scanning and comparison. Clear hierarchy and spacing allow users to quickly understand what’s available without feeling overwhelmed, aligning with ecommerce browsing expectations.

The final landing page was designed to guide users through a clear narrative — introducing the brand, showcasing products, and reinforcing trust through social proof. Each section builds on the previous one, reducing friction and supporting confident exploration.

Brand Story

The brand story section establishes the faith-based mission and craftsmanship behind Milk & Honey Crochets before users encounter products. Placing this early supports emotional connection and helps users understand the meaning behind the work, not just what is being sold.

Testimonials

Testimonials were introduced to strengthen credibility and reduce hesitation for first-time visitors. Featuring real customer experiences provides reassurance and supports trust in a small, handmade business.

06. Impact & Reflection

What Changed and What I Took Forward

Impact

While this project focused on redesign rather than post-launch metrics, the updated landing page significantly improved clarity and credibility for Milk & Honey Crochets. The new experience communicates the brand’s purpose within seconds, reduces friction in explaining products and process, and presents the business as a professional, trustworthy small brand.

After presenting the initial version of the landing page, the client requested refinements to the footer and newsletter section. They felt the newsletter lacked a clear reason to subscribe and that the footer did not provide enough meaningful value beyond the primary navigation.

In response, I iterated on the design by strengthening the newsletter’s value proposition, refining layout and spacing to feel warmer and more intentional, and rebuilding the footer as a supplemental navigation area. The updated footer groups essential links—such as policies, FAQs, contact information, and social media—into clear sections, improving scannability and helping users find additional information with ease.

Reflection

This project reinforced the importance of aligning brand identity with digital experience.

Small adjustments in hierarchy, spacing, and content structure can significantly impact how a business is perceived online. It also highlighted how thoughtful creative direction paired with UX principles can help emerging brands present themselves more confidently and professionally.

Milk & Honey strengthened my approach to building digital experiences that balance visual storytelling with practical business needs.