La Différence
Renewal

Introduction

"La Différence" is a French publishing house specializing in Fine Art, founded in 1976 by two philosophers, Joaquim Vital and Marcel Paquet, and art historian Patrick Waldberg. In 2021, the new owners commissioned our team to establish a new visual identity and a mobile-first website. In this case study, we will focus on the UX/UI aspect of the project.

Project type: Rebranding, Web design (Mobile first), E-commerce
Roles:Team coordinator, UX/UI designer
in collaboration with Mathilde Corre (art direction), Nais Hoang (graphic designer),
Pierre Aboukrat (copywritter) and Maria-Carolina Ochoa (social medias content).
Industry: Editions, Fines Art
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma
Year 2021

Goals

Les éditions La Différence seek to boost their visibility and brand coherence to attract a younger audience while preserving their core values of being "offbeat, subversive, and original."

Their goal is to introduce La Différence to new readers with exclusive literary content that challenges traditional French publishing norms, particularly through translations and bilingual collections.

User Research

We began with an analysis of the client (Business Model Canvas) and conducted qualitative interviews to build user personas and create a userflow for the e-commerce site.

Ideation

Considering the user obstacles and motivations identified through the personas, we conducted several Crazy Eight sessions to brainstorm ideas for the graphic design and features of the site. We selected the ideas that best suited our target audience: young student and professionals.

Prototype

The final step was to create a prototype of the website to test with users and the client, emphasizing a mobile-first approach.

Results

Based on three main user needs: to be inspired, to be informed, and to find a book, we delivered a new version of the website with a fluid and enriching experience, allowing user to add a book to their cart while scrolling for ideas.

We wanted to offer added value by highlighting an author or a theme each month, and by adding a events calendar around literature and art. As for the books, we emphasized new releases and original editions with the labels "2021 edition" and "original" to attract readers' attention.