Creating theSandwash.ae's Website
This project encompassed the complete website design for theSandwash, a former industrial sand-washing plant established in 1990 that has been reimagined as a dynamic cultural center. The transformed space now offers warehouses of various dimensions to accommodate a diverse range of artistic and cultural activities - from exhibitions and showrooms to creative events and performances.
The website design needed to effectively communicate with a B2B audience, with the primary objective of driving business growth by attracting investors and B2C companies to occupy the space with innovative concepts.
ROLE
Lead UX Designer
TIMELINE
1 month
![Web-gallery-[remix] (4).gif](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6e0a4b_01747309767848379289760377bc9c62~mv2.gif)
STRATEGY
BRANDING
ASSETS
Being new comes with challenges, but can inform what we communicate and ultimately shape our core content pillars
When I received this brief, my first thought was 'how do I design something that doesn't exactly have competitors to benchmark against and is new in the market while catering to B2B and B2C target audiences?', but having this question gave me the idea that ultimately, it's up to the strategy to decide how we communicate the different content pillars and when.
Positioning theSandwash as a unique, lucrative, premium leasing destination and driving leads via the website means observing barriers:
01 Business don't know what theSandwash stands for
02 Businesses don’t know if theSandwash is worth it
03 Businesses don’t know how to partner with theSandwash
This helped answer questions from a user experience design perspective such as:
01 Who is theSandwash?
02 What sets theSandwash apart?
03 How to join theSandwash?
Which led to creating the core content pillars that would drive website design (and social media designs)
01 Brand Ethos
02 Unique Perks
03 Lease Details
Having these questions and more helped me shape the narrative of the website on what's important for other businesses to know when committing to theSandwash. More importantly, it dictated the tone of voice that would make up theSandwash: Inspiring, Welcoming and Collaborative.
Using the current shape of the building architecture will create a long lasting impression between businesses, consumers and brand
When I received images of theSandwash building that would be in Al Quoz, I worked with our in-house Graphic Designer Carike De Jager to play around with the branding. Before playing around with the branding elements, we spoke to the client and created a communal moodboard to gather more insight on how they viewed theSandwash and how we can communicate that with our branding.
With this moodboard in mind, we wanted to create a playful colour palette that could be used across digital mediums such as the website, social media, OOH advertising, and an app.
We used the architecture as the main asset for the branding, taking the building outline and fill as shapes to play around for social media assets, which will then inform the overall website design.
and chose colours that resembled sand to keep the core element of the Sandwashing plant that this cultural hub would be built upon.
APPLICATION
Using the above shapes and colours, it was time to explore how this would look on social media posts, which could then be easily adapted to different website sections.
WEBSITE DESIGN
The brand identity was thoughtfully integrated throughout the website, ensuring a cohesive visual experience across all digital touchpoints.
Thank you for exploring this project - if you enjoyed following my thought process behind this website revamp, I'd love to connect on LinkedIn.