Shanaz Ikonne, PLLC
Brand and Website Design, 2023
As a therapist, Shanaz Ikonne seeks to guide her clients to a place of hope and healing. She specializes in working in a trauma-informed framework to help women embrace their authentic selves.
My work in doing a rebrand and redesign of the website included:
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Research to understand what people were looking for in a new therapist
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Research into designing for neurodivergence
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Designing a comforting brand and website in the concept "Like Home".
I collaborated with Evan Zane-Green, another designer, on the research and subsequent analysis to output a solution that would resonate with the target audience. I then implemented the new brand into the final website.
Design opportunities
Organizing the pages so users can find what they need.
Solidifying branding through its logo, color, typography, and imagery.
Creating effective content for key information and calls to action.
I focused on creating a brand that would make visitors feel comfortable in trusting Shanaz as a therapist and a website that was organized with easy-to-find key information.
I collaborated with Evan Zane-Green on interviewing potential users to understand their expectations when it comes to looking for a new therapist. I guided him in creating research questions and designing a card sort to test how users expect a therapist site to be organized.
Shanaz especially wanted us to focus on designing for neurodiverse clients, so we made sure to include them in our sample, research the best overall ways to design for neurodiversity, and understand their experiences with therapy.
How might we design for neurodiversity?
Typography
Use mainly sans serif fonts that are large and readable. For serif fonts, if used, keep them only for headings and increase kerning. Avoid italics.
Language
Clear, simple, active language without jargon
Color
Muted, desaturated colors with adequate contrast, but not too much; “balance between colourfulness and greyness”.
Other guidelines
Minimize audio and video, and give the user control over it. Test designs with users who are neurodiverse.
The main reasons users sought therapy were to process, major life changes, grief and loneliness, personal development, and neurodiversity.
"I wanted to process a lot of changes that were happening in my life (moving, grad school, relationships)"
"I first sought out therapy after the death of my father, I needed help processing my grief"
"I was having a lot of anxiety issues"
"I was repeating cycles in my life and I wanted to understand why"
What are people looking for in therapy?
Understanding | Comfort | Aligned Values
The Brand
After speaking with Shanaz and conducting user research to understand what users are looking for, I settled on the idea of "Like Home" for the look and feel of the brand. The emotions we wanted to emphasize were trust, comfort, belonging, and relatability. A place that feels like home has warmth, belonging, and approachability. It’s soft and inviting. Interesting, but not overwhelming. Inclusive and welcoming to all who come.
From a visual perspective, it's characterized by:
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Warm and soft colors with intentional accents
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Subtle textures or patterns
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Comfortable fonts with direct content
"Like Home" Moodboard
For the logo, she wanted to incorporate a crown, referencing her sons. I took that visual and also made it representative of knowing and living in your worth as a person.
The Website
After solidifying the brand, I then moved on to designing the website. I did a comprehensive analysis of the website's content, organizing the architecture and adjusting the content to be more relatable and readable.
Once the content was finalized, I moved forward to implementing the brand to the website, setting up the Wix account with the typography, colors, and imagery matching the "Like Home" aesthetic.
