Artisan Soap With a Conscience: Handmade & High-End

The founder has had a long career as a language pathologist. She wanted to name the brand after the vowel sound known as the schwa /ə/. In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa is the mid central vowel sound in the middle of the vowel chart. We wanted the brand cohesively to feel very handmade and clean but also striking and bold. I found a balance between soft gradients, high moody contrast, with soft water colors.

This is a current project and will be updated as it progresses.

📌 Brief

Create a brand identity, photography styles, and a website experience for an artisan soap brand based on the premise of: handcrafted simplicity.

🤌🏽 User Personas

What prompts people to buy expensive artisanal soaps? Well based on the responses I got back from interviewing Schwa Soaps’ repeat clients: generally the quality of the ingredients. Most store-bought soaps are actually synthetic detergents, not true soap. For many of us, they can be irritating to the skin and/or to airborne allergies. Artisan soaps are usually made with natural ingredients, give or take the use of fragrance oils, in some cases. Schwa Soaps’ products are customizable and can be made fragrance-free, thereby also making them allergy-friendly and suitable for many mild-moderate skin conditions. Likewise, there are the artisan soaps that are handheld works of art. Those are often purchased for adorning/scenting the bathroom, though, sometimes, they’ll get used too.

📸 Photography

I wanted to emote how carefully handmade and organic these soaps are. I set up a photoshoot that was a mixture of promotional images that included both shots in nature and how they are cut for clients (in a hygienic setting with gloves). The shop owner would often immerse herself in nature to explore different ingredients and scents. Once she finalizes her ingredients she brings the process inside of a clean room to finish the curing process and slice for distribution.

🕸 Site Map

I created a simple site map for Schwa Soaps’ website’s needs. This map is meant to be used as a guide but it’s built to be flexible based on changing needs.

✏️ Moodboard, Lo-Fi Sketches, & Wireframes

I created some rough wireframes on paper before I started with designs. I decided to follow Complexion Reduction in entering the data or user interaction. So the user gets to do what they wants and with a clear call to action. I broke long tasks into several steps with landing pages that give context and provide local navigation as well as are easy to navigate back to should the user make a wrong click. I decided to opt for the Z-Pattern Layout. The z-pattern is good for simple designs with a few key elements that need to be seen. Readers will start in the top/left, move horizontally to the top/right and then diagonally to the bottom/right before finishing with another horizontal movement to the bottom/right.

⚡️ Visual Design & Brand Identity