The process of planning and framing a website for a private hypnosis practice
The Brief
Project: web concept for a small, hypnosis practice.
Client: a professionally certified hypnosis therapist in need of a web presence, who would be the first to confess to not having any idea about what to say and how to say it yet alone organize her practice into a website.
Goal: client has no idea about how to structure or form a website but knows she needs one. Having recently obtained national certification, the client really wanted to focus on her new skills and attract both individual and organizations to her practice.
Research: Interviews and Persona Development
Interviews
At the discovery phase of my project, I conducted interviews with the client in order to get a better understanding of the goals and figure out how to solve the problem of sharing the information. I also spoke with a handful of potential customers about their thoughts and perceptions abouthypnosis and related concerns. It was important to answer questions about the process and give potential clients a sense of comfort about the practice and exactly what will happen to them upon a first visit.
Overall, the idea of seeking out hypnosis is a bit scary to a first-timer and we wanted to ease those fears as much as possible (and no, no one was going to make anyone act like a chicken).
Personas
Based on the interviews/workshop we set up three personas. We referred to them throughout the entire product development process.
1. Client seeking hypnosis for weight loss
Our persona is a typical woman in her mid-40s, trying to loss weight and can clearly identify one area that they believe hypnosis could help with – like to stop craving breads, sugar, etc.
2. Client hypnosis for smoking
Our personal is a male, lifetime smoker who was recently told they need to stop because of health issues or concerns from a medical professional.
3. Client is a First Responder seeking hypnosis for PTSD
The hypnosis therapist wanted to focus her practice on helping first responders deal with post-traumatic stress disorder as first responders are particularly vulnerable to PTSD due to the amount of consistent first-hand exposure to extremely stressful and traumatic experiences.
Customer Journey
In order to get to know our users’ behaviour better, we created a Customer Journey Map. The typical customer – a client seeking hypnosis has heard about it but never experienced it themselves. They typically do a lot of online research – including watching youtube videos and reading various reference sites that describe the process. Some speak to friends or family about the process but they all admitted to knowing that the decision was only their’s to make in the end. All admitted to frustration about where they currently were in their struggles and saw the idea of hypnosis as a ‘what do I have to lose’ step, having tried many other tools in the past (especially true for weight-loss and smoking clients).
All potential clients wanted to have a sense about what was to be expected in the first session and how long the whole process would be. Overcoming the fear of the unknown and taking the first step to seek treatment was the main painpoint. We tried to be sure to capture these fears and address them in the more detailed pages of the site so that the potential clients would know exactly what to expect and what would be asked of them, should they seek treatment.
Sketches
I usually start the design process with low fidelity sketches. This is the way I iterate through many design options quickly. The main purpose was to present that client with a site concept. Several versions were made (final, approved sketch shown). This concept was chosen as it gave a professional voice/tone and spoke to our goal of showcasing the areas of specialization.
Wireframes
At the beginning of my design process I created wireframes for testing purposes and to get client sign-off on user flow of the site. I used Sketch to create these quickly and with the client at my side, we were able to make changes fast and incorporate all suggestions.
UI Design
Once I tested out all usability mistakes, I started designing the final screens in Sketch and Photoshop.
A dark yet professional color scheme was used, the client requested purple to be a main color in the site design. Images were used to convey the various sections along with copy.
Project Wrap-up
Project Wrap-up
Key Learnings – The client is always right
I enjoyed working side-by-side with the client and saving all sorts of time by doing changes instantly. It not only saved time and money (and frustration) but it also led to a better site.
