Fekkai
Managed in partnership with:
Fekkai is a direct-to-consumer haircare company founded by legendary hair-stylist Frederic Fekkai. I worked with a team at Barrel to manage a complete website redesign from initial conception and budget planning through design, development, and into post-launch support.
Fekkai sought a new Shopify site that would accomplish many goals, both visually and functionally. First, they wanted an image-driven design to modernize the site while showing the resultant beauty of hair when their products are used. Secondly, the client requested that the new site bring together the necessary function for emerging business strategy including subscription sales, a loyalty program, and refreshed email marketing.
I joined the team while the project was in its infancy, with an SOW still being prepared. We thoroughly reviewed each requirement and began to roadmap their effort. As this process was ongoing, I created a timeline and began to slot the various features into design and development sprints. This meant that after the SOW was executed, we were ready to begin work immediately.
One potential risk early in site redesign projects is that we mistakenly share a design that the client loves, but which requires significantly more development work than we had forecasted in the original timeline. This could delay the project and/or put it over budget. As a result, I encouraged the team to collaborate closely beginning at the earliest stages so that developers could "sign off" on designs internally prior to any client presentation.
Another perennial challenge is copy and content population on the new site. Fekkai hired a copywriting agency and a photography studio to supply the content and I integrated these external teams into our internal project plan. I pioneered the use of an app that allowed our teams to collaborate together on top of the development website without affecting the underlying codebase or being limited by its incomplete nature. By using this app, the content teams were able to point at placeholder sections in the development site and easily indicate what final production content should occupy the space. I managed a content assistant's work to populate the site with this media after development was complete.
The site was launched and brought to steady state quickly. It was completed ahead of budget and schedule. The site encompasses both of the client's original goals and sets up Fekkai for long-term strategic success.
