Etsy for Total Well-Being

Introduce a values-first ecommerce experience to two distinct markets at once.

Company:
Mindful Market
Role:
Creative Direction, Web Design, Storyboarding
Client:
Jim Kupczyk, Founder

Project Summary

Mindful Market's founder Jim Kupczyk had a vision to create a home for small business owners who devoted their life to the well-being of others. A place where their values and aspirations were mirrored back to them, encouraging them to share their gifts with the world. A mindful market where you could find your Reiki practitioner, life coach, essential oils, and chai tea all on the same platform. Further, values-oriented shoppers could filter their search results by topics such as UN sustainability development goals, environmentally-conscious features, and social impact.

The Challenge: Mindful Market had a rich and robust vision. The goal was to figure out the best approach to communicating its value to the two distinct target audiences—the shop owners and the values-oriented shoppers. There were several strands to this story, which made it a challenge to communicate in a clear and direct manner.

Scope

  • Brand Clarity & Logo Design
  • UX Research
  • Product Design
  • Over 250 custom icons and illustrations
  • Promo Video
A key insight about the shoppers interviews was that one of their top frustrations was how much time they had to spend going from one store to another to find the various products and services that reflected their values.

Shop owners with a spiritual-leaning felt their products and/or services didn't 'fit' in mainstream shopping platforms.

A before and after comparison of the new platform look and feel.

The Strategy: Our UX research suggested three things that impacted the direction of the design. First, the efficiency offered by the one-stop shop aspect of Mindful Market was unique amongst the competitive landscape and helped save the target audience considerable time. Second, spirtiually-oriented shop owners were deeply unsatisfied with the other ecommerce platforms they had tried in the past. Third, both consumers and shop owners were longing to be a part of a larger community of like-minded individuals.

Armed with these insights from our UX research, I created a new visual identity, along with redesigning the website and shopping platform. For the look and feel, Mindful Market moved away from the standard choice of photography and instead embraced original custom illustrations and graphics with a spiritual flavour. This was paired with a modern, clean UI and a mix of vibrant colours with soft, soothing neutrals. Mindful Market effectively stood out from the competition.

"Investors who saw the old brand and website versus the new were blown away. It levelled us up exponentially. Everything surpassed expectations."

~Jim Kupczyk, Founder

The final piece of the equation was to tell the story in a short and compelling promo video. Based on user insights, a tale was woven together about how Mindful Market brings customers and vendors together in a way that solves both their combined pain points.

"Suzanne hit a home run. That’s what she’s known for. She just hits home runs time after time after time."

~Jim Kupczyk, Founder

Creative Director: Suzanne Reeves; Designers / Illustrators: Brandyn Hanson, Natalie Gilson & Suzanne Reeves; Script: Kallie Falandays; Motion Designer & Illustrator: Kendra Boyles

I’ve lost count of the number of people who have raved about how much they love the brand, website and video.”

Jim Kupczyk, Founder, Mindful Market

Want to work together?