01 Identity and Concept

Without the resources to collect qualitative data from potential employees or freelance seekers, I studied the market of portfolio websites.

my design approach

Structure and elements

With the definition of the soul, the next step was to create the skeleton of my portfolio website. As I wanted to keep the focus on my skillset and projects, I decided to keep the navbar structure short and clear.







The homepage was planned to work as an overview of all content of the website and to display my skillset at its beginning.

In the first brainstorming I decided to point out my biggest strength, my skillset from all three components of digital products.

Based on my design approach, I wanted to create a calming and pleasant user experience. I decided to dive deeper into the idea of a showcasing my skillset as a gear wheel.

The inner circle of the gear wheel displays my design skills, while the outer circle showcases my skills of the other components of digital products.

The new approach had to get filled with life to create a mvp for the next user tests, as the grey sketch had too low fidelity for participants to relate to.


Based on my design approach, my portfolio website should have a conscious style. I wanted to create a portfolio, that invites the user in a kind way to stay.

The combination of the light yellow grey with the soft salmon orange builds the base of the website.


A higher contrast orange red gives an option for stronger highlights accents.


The orange black gives the option for a gentle black contrast, while the main used black has a slight yellow touch to soften the black contrast in general.

The user tests were concentrating on how easy the participants can get the informations they need.


The participants praised the visual appearance of the website. They found the informations they were told to look for in a satisfying quick and direct way.


However, they struggled to identify the skill circles as hoverable objects.


To solve that problem, an identifier was needed.

Using Framer as the no-code tool to bring the designs to life, I translated the Figma designs and put the finishing touches on them.

The search was defined for a modern soft font that aligns with the calming concept.


Using the Minor Third Type Scale, the fonts got set from the base size of the three different breakpoints.

Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat

In in-person user interviews with 5 participants, I wanted to get their opinions about the structure of the Homepage and the the gear wheel in its hero area. The participants shared two main insights:


  • The structure was clear and covered all informations they would like to get as freelance seekers.

  • The gear wheel was hard to read as the text is circling 360° around, and with that hard for them to quickly grasp it.

With the insights about the lack of readability, the gear wheel approach came to its end. So what’s next?


Another brainstorming led me to a hover state approach to display the set of skills in the elements of digital products.

First Wireframes

First User Tests

Colors

Typography

Apply to Concept

User Tests

Skill Circle Desktop Animation

Turnaround in the approach

As I wanted to create a brand style that matches with my design approach, I defined it by word.









It sets the fundament for the whole website, its style as well as its structure.

‘I believe that our society is on a learning curve to use digital products more consciously for their own good. I also believe that products that are designed for conscious use, will outran dark pattern driven products on the long run. As I want to create digital products that make the lives of their users better, my goal is to create products that support conscious use.’

Design

Business

Tech

Home

About Me

Projects

Contact

Business Skills

It Skills

Design Skills

My business skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam.

My IT skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

My design skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam.

...with explanatory hover states

02 Visual Personality

03 Bring it to life with Framer

Highlights

Background

Blacks

HEX: #F49166

HEX: #FF5724

HEX: #FCFAF2

HEX: #432E26

HEX: #0D0D0C

Hover to discover

Project goal


Create a portfolio website that showcases my skillset and a brand design for me as a designer that suits me and my design approach.

Project summary


Starting from scratch, the goal was to create an own brand identity for me as a digital product designer. The target group was clear, potential employers and freelance seekers. Trying different approaches and doing various user tests led to the finished responsive webpage, using Figma for creation and Framer for development.

June 2023 - September 2023

Potential employers

Freelance seeker

Time Period

Target Group

Research

Conceptualization

Usability Testing

End-to-End Design

Figma

Framer

Roles

Tools

soerenhaedelt.com


Designer

Portfolio

Website

Evaluation of the whole design process from conception through wireframing to prototyping and usability testing. Always based on a user-centered design thinking process.

Design Skills

Understanding of business and markets meets marketing expertise with experience in B2B and B2C. The ability to see behind the product and identify its capabilities and constraints.

Business Skills

Front-end development basics for an understanding in the development process.

IT Skills

Digital Product Designer

Sören Hädelt

scrolldown

soerenhaedelt.com


Designer

Portfolio

Website

June 2023 - September 2023

Potential employers

Freelance seekers

General Info

Target Group

Research

Conceptualization

Usability Testing

End-to-End Design

Figma

Framer

Roles

Tools

Project summary


Starting from scratch, the goal was to create an own brand identity for me as a digital product designer. The target group was clear, potential employers and freelance seekers. Trying different approaches and doing various user tests led to the finished responsive webpage, using Figma for creation and Framer for development.

Project goal


Create a portfolio website that showcases my skillset and a brand design for me as a designer that suits me and my design approach.

01 Identity and Concept

Without the resources to collect qualitative data from potential employees or freelance seekers, I studied the market of portfolio websites.

my design approach

As I wanted to create a brand style that matches with my design approach, I defined it by word.














It sets the fundament for the whole website, its style as well as its structure.

‘I believe that our society is on a learning curve to use digital products more consciously for their own good. I also believe that products that are designed for conscious use, will outran dark pattern driven products on the long run. As I want to create digital products that make the lives of their users better, my goal is to create products that support conscious use.’

‘I believe that our society is on a learning curve to use digital products more consciously for their own good. I also believe that products that are designed for conscious use, will outran dark pattern driven products on the long run. As I want to create digital products that make the lives of their users better, my goal is to create products that support conscious use.’

Structure and elements

Home

About Me

Projects

Contact

With the definition of the soul, the next step was to create the skeleton of my portfolio website. As I wanted to keep the focus on my skillset and projects, I decided to keep the navbar structure short and clear.

The homepage was planned to work as an overview of all content of the website and to display my skillset at its beginning.

First Wireframes

In the first brainstorming I decided to point out my biggest strength, my skillset from all three components of digital products.

Design

Business

Tech

Based on my design approach, I wanted to create a calming and pleasant user experience. I decided to dive deeper into the idea of a showcasing my skillset as a gear wheel.

The inner circle of the gear wheel displays my design skills, while the outer circle showcases my skills of the other components of digital products.

First User Tests

In in-person user interviews with 5 participants, I wanted to get their opinions about the structure of the Homepage and the the gear wheel in its hero area. The participants shared two main insights:


  • The structure was clear and covered all informations they would like to get as freelance seekers.

  • The gear wheel was hard to read as the text is circling 360° around, and with that hard for them to quickly grasp it.

Turnaround

in the approach

With the insights about the lack of readability, the gear wheel approach came to its end. So what’s next?


Another brainstorming led me to a hover state approach to display the set of skills in the elements of digital products.

...with explanatory hover states

Business Skills

It Skills

Design Skills

My business skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit

My IT Skills Lorem ipsum

My design skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit

02 Visual personality

The new approach had to get filled with life to create a mvp for the next user tests, as the grey sketch had too low fidelity for participants to relate to.


Based on my design approach, my portfolio website should have a conscious style. I wanted to create a portfolio, that invites the user in a kind way to stay.

Highlights

Background

Blacks

HEX: #F49166

HEX: #FF5724

HEX: #FCFAF2

HEX: #432E26

HEX: #0D0D0C

Colors

The combination of the light yellow grey with the soft salmon orange builds the base of the website.


A higher contrast orange red gives an option for stronger highlights accents.


The orange black gives the option for a gentle black contrast, while the main used black has a slight yellow touch to soften the black contrast in general.

The search was defined for a modern soft font that aligns with the calming concept.


Using the Minor Third Type Scale, the fonts got set from the base size of the three different breakpoints.

Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat

Typography

Apply to Concept

User Tests

The user tests were concentrating on how easy the participants can get the informations they need.


The participants praised the visual appearance of the website. They found the informations they were told to look for in a satisfying quick and direct way.


However, they struggled to identify the skill circles as hoverable objects.


To solve that problem, an identifier was needed.

Click circles to discover

Using Framer as the no-code tool to bring the designs to life, I translated the Figma designs and put the finishing touches on them.

Skill Circle Desktop Animations

03 Bring it to life

with Framer

Design Skills

IT Skills

Business Skills

Digital Product Designer

Sören Hädelt

Project summary


Starting from scratch, the goal was to create an own brand identity for me as a digital product designer. The target group was clear, potential employers and freelance seekers. Trying different approaches and doing various user tests led to the finished responsive webpage, using Figma for creation and Framer for development.

June 23 - September 23

Potential employers

Freelance seekers

General Info

Target Group

Research

Conceptualization

Usability Testing

End-to-End Design

Figma

Framer

Roles

Tools

Project goal


Create a portfolio website that showcases my skillset and a brand design for me as a designer that suits me and my design approach.

scrolldown

soerenhaedelt.com


Designer

Portfolio

Website

01 Identity and Concept

Without the resources to collect qualitative data from potential employees or freelance seekers, I studied the market of

portfolio websites.

my design approach

Structure and elements

With the definition of the soul, the next step was to create the skeleton of my portfolio website. As I wanted to keep the focus on my skillset and projects, I decided to keep the navbar structure short and clear.

As I wanted to create a brand style that matches with my design approach, I defined it by word.

It sets the fundament for the whole website, its style as well as its structure.

‘I believe that our society is on a learning curve to use digital products more consciously for their own good. I also believe that products that are designed for conscious use, will outran dark pattern driven products on the long run. As I want to create digital products that make the lives of their users better, my goal is to create products that support conscious use.’

Home

About Me

Projects

Contact

The homepage was planned to work as an overview of all content of the website and to display my skillset at its beginning.

First Wireframes

In the first brainstorming I decided to point out my biggest strength, my skillset from all three components of digital products.

Design

Business

Tech

Based on my design approach, I wanted to create a calming and pleasant user experience. I decided to dive deeper into the idea of a showcasing my skillset as a gear wheel.

The inner circle of the gear wheel displays my design skills, while the outer circle showcases my skills of the other components of digital products.

In in-person user interviews with 5 participants, I wanted to get their opinions about the structure of the Homepage and the the gear wheel in its hero area. The participants shared two

main insights:


  • The structure was clear and covered all informations they would like to get as freelance seekers.

  • The gear wheel was hard to read as the text is circling 360° around, and with that hard for them to quickly grasp it.

With the insights about the lack of readability, the gear wheel approach came to its end. So what’s next?


Another brainstorming led me to a hover state approach to display the set of skills in the elements of digital products.

First User Tests

Turnaround in the approach

Business Skills

It Skills

Design Skills

My business skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam.

My IT skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

My design skills Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam.

...with explanatory hover states

The new approach had to get filled with life to create a mvp for the next user tests, as the grey sketch had too low fidelity for participants to relate to.


Based on my design approach, my portfolio website should have a conscious style. I wanted to create a portfolio, that invites the user in a kind way to stay.

Colors

02 Visual Identity

Highlights

Background

Blacks

HEX: #F49166

HEX: #FF5724

HEX: #FCFAF2

HEX: #432E26

HEX: #0D0D0C

The combination of the light yellow grey with the soft salmon orange builds the base of the website.


A higher contrast orange red gives an option for stronger highlights accents.


The orange black gives the option for a gentle black contrast, while the main used black has a slight yellow touch to soften the black contrast in general.

The search was defined for a modern soft font that aligns with the calming concept.


Using the Minor Third Type Scale, the fonts got set from the base size of the three different breakpoints.

Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat

Typography

Apply to Concept

Design Skills

Business Skills

IT Skills

Digital Product Designer

Sören Hädelt

The user tests were concentrating on how easy the participants can get the informations they need.


The participants praised the visual appearance of the website. They found the informations they were told to look for in a satisfying quick and direct way.


However, they struggled to identify the skill circles as hoverable objects.


To solve that problem, an identifier was needed.

User Tests

Click circles to discover

Using Framer as the no-code tool to bring the designs to life, I translated the Figma designs and put the finishing touches on them.

Skill Circle Desktop Animations

03 Bring it to life with Framer