Upcyle C2C Luxury Bike Rental Brand + Website Redesign Proposal





Project details



ABOUT UPCYCLE:

Upcycle is a high end bike sharing marketplace that enables individuals to connect with each other. They enable a marketplace that provides safety and trust in the lending economy.



PROJECT GOALS:

• Create a more modern UX
• Create a solid brand experience

Before + After



Before

Original hero



After

Mockup of the new hero in a MacBook Air 13



Social Media

Instagram post mockups featuring 3 brand colours

Style guide



Typeface

Typeface

Imagery

Colour

Design Process





At the start of the project, I knew I wanted to pair a dynamic serif with a script.

I created an inspiration board in Figma adding everything I liked. At this stage in the project, I was leaning towards using the typeface Giliyans, and vivid red and blues.



Initial typography pairing test.

The 'Gilyans' serif was my first 'gut' choice, but the tilted 'e' letter forms meant reduced readability, so I had to change it.

In the next iterations concepts, I used the typefaces Grathink (Serif), Anna (script) and Gallad sans (body). I soon realised I need a more 'extroverted' script and a font family with more weights.



One of the first hero concepts

I also realised how important high quality images would be. For example, in the hero above, the picture is too grainy and the lighting is wrong. I wanted very natural images, with minimal processing and a cinematic quality.

During the course of the project, it was very challenging to find high quality images and videos of people cycling and on bikes. This was a big setback, and very disheartening, but after weeks of searching, I found some images that met my high standards.



Typographic and copy exploration with some two of the new images



LEFT: AFTER RIGHT: BEFORE

After narrowing down a choice of 16 scripts, I settled on Beauty Mermaid. It had the right balance of texture and personality. It also had open shapes which complemented the serif, in contrast with Anna's rational design (right).



initial social media designs post concepts in three of the brand colours.

I tested the designs in a social media format, and for the most part I was happy with the it. I still felt the the typeface pairing was clashing and there was still room for improvement. Up until this point, the main brand colour was red, mostly because of it's association with sports, but I realised the turquoise blue would read better against the high-contrast images.



Final designs of Instagram posts

I went back and refined the designs, changing the serif to 'Mahotte'. It gave the designs a calmer, cleaner feel, reducing the top-heavy feel of the previous version, whilst making the 'f' letter form more readable. It also communicated the luxury, modern feel of the business.



Video hero experiment with drone video

Near the end of the project, I experimented with using a video hero. Ultimately, I decided against using it because of the quality of the video, file size constraints in Figma and extra variables video would add to the project.





Artboards showing the final designs of the website hero section and mobile version.



Project Review

In order to give my best, I refreshed my knowledge of typography and the font matrix, allowing me to confidently make design decisions and have a solid understanding of the technical aspects behind why my designs 'work', instead of relying mostly on my gut.

Overall I'm really pleased with how the project turned out. The final result was very close to my initial concept.

In the future, I'd revisit the concept and explore more designs for different platforms and uses (e.g. social media banners, emails, quotes).



✨ Designed by Yolande St.Ville. October 2023.