We created a brand identity “Leaves of Change” for our client’s luxury cannabis business. We designed a web application, a product that will both provide business service and emphasize her vision of addressing social issues. 

The client approached us with merely a concept, a mobile cannabis service with premium products which people can book for events and weddings. 

It pained her to see that minorities have a higher chance of being arrested for cannabis matters. To fulfill her desire to address this social issue, we incorporate the element of social justice and pro-cannabis education. 

Target users: weddings and events planners

• Create a product based on a mere concept:
We decided to design a web application instead of a mobile app to increase exposure. Because this is an early change, a web application would be more accessible and flexible to house potential business growth and changes.

• Unidentified MVP:
We defined the MVP to be the following: 1) premium cannabis product and service, 2) cannabis workshop for educational purposes, and 3) cannabis-related social discrimination community. They met both business and branding needs. 

• Liability concern: We implemented a state-specific feature on the Q&A page. Because the result of user research showed that the users were unsure about the cannabis regulations. 

• Team: 4 UX designers across 3 time zones in a remote setting

• Duration: 2.5 weeks

• Tools: Sketch, Figma, Miro, Zoom

• Design Practices: User Interview, C&C Analysis, Feature Analysis, Affinity Mapping, Persona Development, Problem Statement, User-Flow, Journey Map, Mood-Board, Sketching, Wireframes, Prototyping, Usability Testing & Iteration.

We needed to understand our users better specifically in the cannabis related-topics. The participants were event planners. A persona was made based on the research to represent our target users.

To gain insights into users’ opinions, behaviors, and frustrations related to cannabis products and services from an event planner’s perspective. 

User interview via Zoom. The participants must be 21 yr or older, interested in cannabis, and potential event planners.

7/8 of our interviewees consumed cannabis and enjoyed it in a social setting. Many of the participants had limited knowledge of cannabis products. Their biggest concern was the liability issue. Since the laws are varied locally and constantly changing.

As the lead information architect, I implemented familiarity and content hierarchy to ensure a clear flow.

I owned the Service page design and map interaction design. I conducted usability testing with the interactive prototypes I created in Figma.

We created a mood board in a design session. Marble was our theme element. Teal and gold were our brand colors. Our vision was to emphasize the element of elegancy.

I organized and categorized the content into 3 levels of hierarchy. I researched popular e-commerce and cannabis products to implement familiarity.

The designers sketched out screens for each page. We presented our ideas and exchanged feedback to decide on the layout and structure.

My design was used for the Service page. Since it’s an impactful page that showcased the business product/service, I wanted it to be visually organized and easy to follow.

I conducted usability testing using a low-fidelity clickable prototype. I iterated the navigation to increase the task completion rate. 

We implemented our marble theme, dark teal and gold brand color. Using the element of simplicity (two primary colors) and balanced contrast (low use ratio of color gold) brought out the elegance of our branding. 

We decided to go with a dark background to increase the contrast of gold. This created a visual illusion of a glowing effect.

I created an interaction flow for the FAQ page to tackle the problem we found in our research. The flow displayed the information corresponding to the state user selected. This avoided cognitive overload. The coloring also aided as a visual tool to communicate the result (green=recreational use, lime=medial use….etc).

We handed in the Figma file of wireframes and an interactive prototype alongside the brand mood board and placeholder images.

There were a lot of areas to improve. In the last iteration, we swap the icon to avoid mistaking it as a dropdown. But I would suggest removing the excessive icons and keeping the highlights. Since the content was displayed on the side. 

Due to the lack of knowledge of accessibility and scope then, I would love to run an evaluation and adjust the contrast, text, and grids.