Overview
With over 70+ locations across North America and Australia, the company has given a fresh new style to thousands of heads and faces over the past few years. The time had come for Tommy Gun’s itself to give its online face a fresh new look to coincide with those customers. The company was still growing quite fast, so there was an underlying need for a website that not only promoted hairstylist careers at Tommy Gun’s but also attracted new franchisee possibilities.
The goal of the project was to modernize the look and feel of the website, as well as streamline the usability of the appointment booking function, and make job postings for barbers more prominent.
The Process
The first step was to create the new website architecture and user flows which would evolve as the project progressed. Initial information architecture and wire-framing uncovered new ways to smoothen the customer journey from initial page landing through to appointment bookings.
The Design
Having a strong structure in place, I was now able to start thinking about aesthetics. Having never experienced first hand, I didn’t quite have a clear direction in mind for the brand yet. Fortunately a Tommy Gun’s location is almost always within range in most cities across Canada, Vancouver being no exception.
After visiting a retail location and getting the full Tommy Gun's experience I knew that safekeeping the tenets of the original brand were key. I decided to take an evolutionary approach to the new online brand, as I was now able to translate the look and feel that embodied the Tommy Gun's living brand to the digital realm.
I wanted to make use of the Tommy Gun’s mobile app API, which included store wait times, and give an overview of each location so that the user could choose the location most convenient for them. I felt this would be very valuable to a potential client. Important information such as hours of operation, phone number, address, and job postings for each location had to be displayed in an easy to view format.
For the careers page I wanted to include as much imagery of their culture as possible. I used images from their Instagram account as well as employee testimonials to give a welcoming, trustworthy aspect to the company itself and encourage new applicants.
The Result
With the use of a large amount of organic un-staged photography sourced from Tommy Gun’s Instagram account, mixed with real employee testimonials, the company can now showcase its welcoming atmosphere to potential talent in the hairstylist industry via its Careers page directly within the website. A clear, values driven approach was used to explain the potential each Tommy Gun’s location possess, helping boost franchisee trust and interest.
Tommy Gun’s now has a user focused website, that not only embodies the modern style their clients seek with their new hairstyle, but possesses the flexibility to scale with their growing business.