Brand redesign and new user experience of this online store specializing in gaming
Web » xtralife.com
Development » Xtralife
Project photographies » Ariadna Pujol
Xtralife, an online store specialized in the gaming and video games sector, born in 2007, reached out to Toormix to update its brand and entire shopping experience. On the occasion of its 10 years of activity and being a fully consolidated platform with a good reputation in the market, Xtralife sought to offer a better experience to its users that was fully adapted to the new browsing and purchasing patterns of gamers.
Renewal of the brand
Xtralife differs from its competitors by its customer intimacy and by being passionate about the products it distributes, as well as its more personal customer service and commitment to offer a complete experience that not only meets the needs of its users, but also contributes to something greater. The new brand had to reflect all of this with a friendly and intimate tone in all its applications, which would differentiate it from its potential competitors.
“Retro” Inspiration
The visual language of Xtralife was inspired by classic video games found at arcades, as an homage to the video game series created during the first stages of video game history, from Pac-Man to Donkey Kong, platform games like Mario Bros and shoot ‘em ups like Space Invaders.
Color as a design element
For the color palette, we used the monochrome screens of the 80’s as a reference, in which a dark color was put next to a contrasting color, creating a varied and vibrant color palette for the print and digital environment. We selected a grey base color, and added five colors that made it easier for the brand to express itself in a way that was personal, varied and bright.
Launching. Generating expectations
We created a campaign to let everyone know about the launch of the new brand and the renovation of the online experience based on the idea of “Loading a new life”, linking video gamer lingo with the change we wanted to communicate: the new life of Xtralife.
In order to do this, we worked on pieces of digital communication, capsules to generate expectations amongst the presentation event guests, and merchandise that was sent out to specialized media, bloggers, and people from the industry to create hype, as well as to thank them for the long relationship they have had with Xtralife.
Making the goals of the brand compatible with user experience
The project combined the communication needs of the new brand with the needs of the clients’ user experience, enhanced features and customizable CTA’s, while trying to streamline the purchasing process and make understandable new features that we wanted to add on the website.
Designing an experience for mobile devices
One of the reasons that motivated Xtralife to do this renovation was the total absence of a mobile version of their website despite already having a large number of their clients making transactions from such devices.
Sections like the product listing page were designed paying special attention to the type of searches that are carried out on the website from small devices.
Some of the greatest challenges of the project were defining the content structure as well as the experience, for example defining the buying process and product reservations.
Sections, such as a new personal area, in which areas such as “My library” were included (here the user will be able to see all the titles that they bought in the store), and being able to track shipments without leaving the website were also included. They made what Xtralife wanted to achieve, which was to provide a different experience to its users, tangible.