Initial Planning and Conceptualization
The planning process began with the idea of creating an e-commerce site for the Summak brand, which sells handcrafted textiles made in Ecuador. The main objective of the website is to showcase what lies behind the brand, including our values, the concept of fair trade, and our respect for the people who make the products. Through this, we would like users to become familiar with Summak and join our community, thus building loyalty among our potential customers. Before launching the website, I created a wireframe in Canva to plan the hierarchy of each section and applied UX principles to make the user experience as comfortable as possible. In addition, I included several calls to action to achieve one of the e-commerce goals: conversion.
Desing Desicions and Rationale
In terms of design, I wanted Summak to demonstrate a minimalist style, free of excessive colours. That’s why my website features a lot of white, complemented by a golden yellow. This latter colour adds a touch of elegance to the design and sets it apart from Latin American brands here in the UK, which are generally overloaded with colours. The typography I chose was Lato, which is simple and easy to read so that the user can easily understand the information we want to convey and avoid confusion.
Technical Challenges and Solutions
On the technical side, I encountered several setbacks, but with perseverance, patience, and guidance from my professor, I was able to overcome them. One somewhat confusing problem I had was the online store’s visibility. Every time I accessed the website, it appeared as «under construction» even though it was already finished. This was strange to me, but after checking the store’s settings in WooCommerce, I discovered that the store’s visibility was disabled. Another problem arose when configuring the payment methods. They weren’t appearing, so I had to activate WooPayments in test mode to resolve this. This sounds easy, but when you don’t have much experience, the logical steps become difficult. That’s why I mentioned perseverance at the beginning of this section: trial and error.
Tools and Technologies Used
To create the website, I used various tools and technologies. The main one was the WordPress Builder, a tool I had used before, so I decided to use it for my project because I was already more familiar with it. For the online store, I integrated the WooCommerce plugin, which allowed me to add the functions of an e-commerce site, such as the shopping cart, payment methods, and more. Elementor helped me design the structure of my website and give it a more professional visual style. For coding, I relied on basic programming languages for website development. I first understood that HTML helps me structure my website and that CSS gives my website a better style and allows me to customise various elements to match my brand.
Development Process Overall
In developing the website, I followed a planning process, first defining my brand concept and the visual style I wanted it to express through a wireframe. Then I started creating my page using WordPress, WooCommerce, and Elementor. During the website’s construction, I tested elements and resolved technical problems as they arose. Finally, I optimised some visual and navigational aspects to improve the user experience. This project helped me acquire new knowledge and write the first lines of a new entrepreneurial project.