Case Study: Cristina Tamames Jewelry
Cristina Tamames is a talented jewelry artist based in Atlanta, GA. We met through Flourish and Thrive Academy while we were both going through their Momentum program (formerly SOS) in 2018.
When Cristina heard that I was pivoting out of jewelry making and into my design business, she reached out to have a few things tweaked on her Shopify site. She set her site up herself and also wanted to make sure that everything was connected properly to capture emails and collect payments before going live.
Cristina creates very high-end pieces in gold and silver. She also does these amazing one-of-a-kind beaded pieces from beads she collects when she travels. While I was working on her site updates, I saw so much potential for Cristina’s brand.
On our wrap up call, I felt bad saying this to Cristina, but I didn’t feel that her website aesthetic aligned with the pricing that she wanted (and rightfully deserves) to charge.
I was honest in telling her that I felt like her website made her jewelry seem less expensive… like it belonged on Etsy.
As a side note: there is nothing wrong with Etsy. I was a top 1% seller in a saturated jewelry market, and I’m grateful to have gotten a good start through their platform. However, in order to grow a sustainable online business, you must have your own website and focus your efforts on your growing it instead of relying on a marketplace site.
Cristina wants to attract clients who resonate with the names of her pieces so much, that it’s almost like the “jewelry chooses them”. She wants to build a clientele that comes back over and over again, to have something unique made just for them. Her dream clients feel her pieces are like amulets and give them protection or peace.
After learning more about Cristina’s dream client and goals, we discussed what elevating her brand identity and website could potentially do for her, and we jumped right in.
Branding for Cristina Tamames Jewelry
One of the first things I noticed is that Cristina didn’t have a solid color scheme. I didn’t see a cohesive look and feel throughout her website or social media accounts, so I started there. Her main logo was bright red and her text was a hard-to-read mustard yellow. There were also several shades of green throughout the site.
When it comes to branding, it’s important to think about color psychology when choosing a palette. Red and yellow are anxiety inducing colors at a subconscious level, which is why you see them in fast food a lot. I cringed when I mentioned McDonald’s on our call, but Cristina immediately understood what I meant and knew that was not the feeling she was trying to convey.
Not only were the colors giving an unintentional vibe, they were also hard to read. Websites need to be designed with accessibility in mind. People with low vision or color blindness may have trouble seeing certain colors.
If you’re a designer or a DIYer, the website coolors has a contrast checker. It’s a great resource to make sure the colors are using are okay for the intended purpose.
Cristina liked the mustard and wanted to try to keep it if possible. After running the HEX code through the contrast checker, we decided to deepen it a bit to help with readability and went from there.
The rest of the color palette was pulled directly from Cristina’s beaded work. I chose a deep shade of blue, since it is complimentary to the mustard yellow, for the main color.
When I let Cristina know I was working with blue as her main color she had some reservations because it seemed so completely off from where she was starting from. Once the palette was pulled together, she was thrilled with the results and how it immediately made her brand feel more professional, down-to-earth, and more luxurious.
Cristina had a logo designed by another designer and it was already heavily incorporated into her work. She uses it to mark her pieces, and on her beautiful wooden jewelry boxes.
I took the CTD logo mark, changed the color and paired it with a new font to give it a more upscale and streamlined look.
Website Design for Cristina Tamames Jewelry
Cristina Tamames Jewelry was built on Shopify. We completely re-designed her homepage while using her already purchased premium theme; Retina. Here is what we changed:
- Added a hero image with a beautiful lifestyle shot
- Re-organized the navigation menu
- Updated the promotional banner
- Reworded her CTA’s and added buttons
- Created images for collections
- Added a still frame from her maker video
- Included testimonials from previous clients
- Added an email sign up box
- Included images and linked to her social accounts
- Reworked the footer
I also redesigned Cristina’s collection pages, cart and checkout, and even her email sequences. This was a huge project, but the results were amazing and Cristina has had nothing but positive feedback from her clients.
