A Visual Designer, in every sense of the word.
Fruit of the Loom
I worked with a team at Crossroads and BarkelyOKRP to plan and design an all-new corporate brand site for Fruit of the Loom, Inc. This is an umbrella page for corporate communications across all of the company's apparel and sport sub-brands
Behind the Seams
Fruit of the Loom (FOTL) is a household name that contains nine brands across apparel and athletics industries. Their corporate site needs to balance many requirements. The page hosts information and links for each sub-brand, along with hiring, press information, compliance, and sustainability reports.
Each site section needs to be easy to find, especially by potential new hires and media personnel. While the structure of the site was entirely new, it was helpful to run an interaction analysis of FOTL's original corporate branding pages. I found out which areas of the site were vital to carry over to the new version, and what pages might be consolidated or simplified.
When collaborating with the brand on a Slickplan, Fruit of the Loom wanted to make sure that a new sustainability section would be highlighted. I used a tool called Optimal Workshop to run a quantitative user test of the site's structure, and found opportunities to shift focus towards FOTL's sustainability pages on the homepage, and in the top navigation.
Our IA work also helped solidify key page types that we wanted to build our designs around. For example: the home page, top-level sections, and a press-release or article all have different templates that help a user parse the importance and structure of information.
The Design Briefs
I worked closely with content strategist Sarah Schwartz to develop outlines for content pages and come up with reusable components for articles and media. For specialized pages like the "Fruitful Futures" report or the supply chain map, I drafted customized UI with interactive tools or unique layouts.
The marketing department can get creative with multiple image and section treatments to choose from. The design variation makes content stand out while retaining a consistent design style across the site.
For custom areas like the supply chain map or company history slider, I focused on usability and interactivity. These are both components that present a huge list of data, but we display them in radically different ways to make it intuitive for the user to find the right content.
Thinking Outside the Boxers
The visual style on the project was led by Benny Pinto. We used a tandem working style where I applied his design elements to my structural wireframes, and then went back and forth based on his feedback. Other than the purple brand color, we were actually given a lot of control on the look.
Like many content-heavy sites, we wanted the design to hang back while the client's imagery takes the stage. I think we did an incredible job supporting the wide reach of Fruit of the Loom's many brands using varied, subtle shape choices: bold and sharp shapes fused with softer ones, and lines that look stitched into the page.
Sock and Roll
Fruit of the Loom's new site saw rapid adoption on the publishing side. Our reusable templates and media components ensure that editors can add content for years to come.
Working with a site that comprises multiple brand identities is a daunting challenge, but we succeeded in creating a user experience that is clean and accessible. The new site presents a multifaceted home for FOTL's many industries without being overly complex.