I led a small team of passionate and talented designers to develop the Mindful Market visual identity, design the consumer-facing ecommerce site, and go-to-market assets, including a promo video. My role was to develop the strategy, provide creative direction, and act as the principal product and brand designer.
The Challenge
Mindful Market needed to feel credible, polished, and emotionally resonant from the first interaction. The concept had to be clear quickly: this was a marketplace where shoppers could find wellness-focused businesses that reflected their values, and where independent sellers could create a more aligned storefront for their work.
The main design challenge was balancing clarity with warmth. The platform needed to explain a new marketplace concept without overcomplicating the experience, while creating enough visual richness to feel premium, trustworthy, and differentiated.
The Approach
I treated the site as both a brand launch and a product introduction. To support both audiences, I conducted customer discovery interviews with both shop owners and conscious consumers. The strategy and design language were developed based on the founder's vision and the insights gained from these interviews.
For consumers, the experience needed to make discovery feel easy and meaningful. The design emphasized the idea that shoppers should not have to search across many disconnected stores to find products and services that fit their values.
For sellers, the site needed to communicate belonging, credibility, and business opportunity. The brand and messaging were designed to reflect the care and intention behind their work, positioning Mindful Market as a platform where their values would be understood and represented.
The design language was based on my initial visual identity work, translated into an ecommerce environment. The team created more than 250 custom icons and illustrations in order to create cohesive imagery across the site, but also differentiate the platforms from competitors like Thrive Market that relied exclusively on photographic imagery.
One of the major constraints for creating a premium, polished feel was the fact that it was built on Magento (now Adobe Commerce). Further, the development team had considerable tech debt and were resistant to customized design experiences.
Design Decisions
Given the tech constraints, the visual design and copy had to do most of the heavy lifting. A few decisions shaped the final experience:
Make the marketplace model easy to understand.
The promo video was scripted and storyboarded to ensure that the connection between shoppers and sellers, enabling both audiences to see the value of the marketplace instantly. It was used as part the marketing team's growth strategy and TOFU efforts.
Use visual craft to build trust.
The identity, illustration, and UI system were designed to feel polished, values-driven, and human — important for a marketplace asking both consumers and vendors to believe in a new platform.
Create a flexible brand system.
The custom icon and illustration library gave the brand enough range to support categories, values, storytelling, and future platform growth. While the custom icons and illustrations were not easily scalable, the tradeoff was worth it in terms of a differentiated look and feel.
Outcome
While the UX/UI could not be completely customized, Mindful Market still achieved a premium look and feel that instantly resonated with the founder, shop owners and their new customers. The platform launched with a complete brand and digital presence: a clear marketplace story, a polished visual identity, a consumer- and seller-aware website, and an explainer video that made the platform’s value easier to grasp.
Suzanne took my vision and brought it to life. She knew exactly what needed to happen. Everything was flawless. I've lost count of the number of people who have raved to me about how much they love the brand and product.
—Jim Kupczyk, Founder, Mindful Market
