When it comes to mental strength, we discovered a strong correlation between mental and physical strength to be successful in skateboarding. All of those surveyed believed mental strength was at least EQUALLY important as physical strength, with 43% saying mental strength was actually MORE IMPORTANT (a 3:1 ratio).

We also learned about the motivations and benefits that skateboarding provides: a mental escape, reduces stress, calms them down, provides a sense of freedom, and helps them overcome fear and gain confidence—not just in skating but in life.

We developed a customer persona based on this research, which helped us focus on finding solutions for his needs. He doesn’t always wear a helmet, but knows he should and:

1. Wants a sustainable helmet that’s comfortable and cool
2. Wants a simple way to find resources on improving mentally and physically
3. Needs an easy way to find skaters in his area

To better understand the marketplace and competitive environment to see where Thrive fit in and where it could stand out, we conducted a competitive and comparative analysis of 4 direct competitors (e-commerce sites that sell helmets as listed by the client), 4 general skateboarding sites, and 5 sporty retailers.

After we had a clear sense of our target audience through our surveys and a better understanding of the marketplace through our competitive and comparative analysis, we began developing the branding.

I led the development of mood boards based on our research that we believed were effective solutions to the problem. We presented them to the client, and they selected their favorite (which was also our favorite).

The client shared some initial sketches based on the idea of merging a 3 and 5 to phonetically say “thrive,” but also symbolically speak to the duality of the brand and its goal to protect your head from the inside and out.

We iterated further on this concept and presented the client with 5 options. They chose one that had a mix of a gothic typeface they initially had in mind but also included elements of 3D graffiti. This was our top pick as well.

We conducted user testing on 16 users for our mobile mid-fidelity wireframe and 8 users for our desktop hi-fidelity wireframe.

Branding and Visual Aesthetic
For our desktop hi-fi testing, we asked users to look at the homepage and let us know how they would describe the site’s aesthetics and content. They said:

Homepage Helmet Interaction
We also tested users to see how likely they would be to interact with the purple plus signs on the homepage and click to learn more about the helmet. 94% of mobile users and 88% of desktop users said likely or very likely.

Additional Homepage Access Point
When we asked users to navigate through the site to find the helmet safety page, on mobile this was no issue. Users easily used the hamburger menu to locate the page under EXPLORE.

However, on desktop we noticed that 50% of users instead returned to the safety plus sign on the homepage thinking that was the task. To create another access point to the content, we added a “learn more” link to the plus sign element that would link to the additional content on the site.

E-Commerce Experience and Color Picker
We asked users to shop for a helmet and add a pink one in a certain size (giving them a specific head size) to their cart. There was a 100% success rate for both mobile and desktop testing. Users were easily able to change colors, locate the sizing information, said they “loved it,” and that the experience was “intuitive.”

For mobile only we added the interactive color picker for engagement. Users said it was “very easy” to use and that they had “so much fun.” For those that did not use it, we moved the row of color options higher on the screen so users wouldn’t need to scroll back and forth as they changed colors.

Filtering Content
When we asked users to click on a specific article and use the filter feature to locate it, we learned that users could easily use the navigation menu to access the mental strength channel.