Studio Des Iles
“Dreams of elevated experiences and creating new stories that inspire, innovate, and transform.”
Project background
We partnered with Kanimata driven by Franck Dacosta for this project where the architect named Jean-Marc decided to pursue his own vision. He founded STUDIO DES ILES, a place where he can blend his personal heritage with his expertise. He already had a website before but the website was plain and Jean-Marc didn’t really felt the website was good in showcasing his work and skills. The reason why he needed a website was to be used as a portfolio to quickly show his work to potential client, not necessary to find new client. This information was very important to us.
Client’s feedback
Dhiren was a key part of the project’s success. His UX thinking is solid, and his attention to typography gives the designs a polished, high quality feel.
Problem Statement
After talking with the client we understood that the previous website was a template from a marketplace that was re-adapt the Studio des iles. We believe that templates is always a good starting point for a business to have a website. It is fast, cheap and easy to update. But since this a template it will not reflect your brand position and business goals. It is just here to fill in a missing gap in your business. That’s why at Vertex Experience we are passionate in building UX strategies and UI designs from scratch. Working together with the client we can understand the pain-points of the website and why the client wants a new one. By having this conversation we can understand where the problems are so that during the UX design we can solve these problems.
UX Challenge and Solution
During our UX audit we found out that the menu on the website was quite difficult for the users to quickly find links that they wants to navigate. Hovering states are good to use but it shouldn’t be adding a extra layer of steps for the users to follow. The animation was out of control for the users. So we propose a much simpler and easy menu to navigate. Click on the burger menu, select Projects and see all the realisations.
Mood Board Style
Working on an architecture website means that the design needs to be push to it’s limit, in order to properly start the UI phase we work on the mood board style of the project where we try to understand what was the design direction the client wanted to take. Trying to understand this process in his work.
About Us section
Hero Home page
Menu section
Key Requirements
At the heart of this experience was what we referred to as the “Search UI” a powerful, user-friendly search feature that allows users to easily discover businesses through simple filters.
For example: Just moved to Mauritius and want a great coffee spot in the north? Head to Trusty’s search bar, type “coffee”, select the “Coffee” category, choose “North” as the region, hit enter and there you go, all your results in seconds.
This seamless interaction was especially important to Blake, the founder and visionary behind Trusty. As a team, it was essential for us to understand this specific user scenario not only to design it effectively, but also to offer strategic input on how to bring it to life in a scalable, user-centric way.
The project also included multiple user journeys, each requiring a tailored approach to ensure a coherent and optimized experience across the platform.
🛠️ Kickoff & Audit
Week 1
- Project takeover from previous designer
- Full audit of existing Figma file
- Identified usability issues and missing UX logic
🧠 Research & Strategy
Week 2 - 3
- Persona development
- User journey mapping
- Defined goals for each user type
🧱 Wireframing & Testing
Week 4 - 5
- Created low-fidelity wireframes based on research
- Internal team testing & quick iterations
- A/B testing with different user groups
🎨 Design Refinement
Week 6 - 7
- Applied updated branding across all screens
- Redesigned Search UI and navigation flow
- Finalized user flows and states
🚀 Client Reviews
Week 8 - 9
- Weekly calls for review & feedback
- Knowledge sharing with the client team
- Final delivery of redesigned files
💻 Development Starts
Week 10 - 15
- Interactive components for filters, search, and content cards
- Responsive design implementation
- Weekly check-ins between design & dev teams for alignment
Process
We used Figma for all design work, and FigJam or Miro for brainstorming sessions and ideation. Weekly calls were scheduled to align on goals, share progress, and address any challenges or open questions.
Communication between the client and our team flowed seamlessly. Every idea and question raised during the process was carefully considered, ensuring no detail was overlooked and every perspective was acknowledged.
Summary
Vertex Experience was brought in to rethink the UX after the initial design failed to convert. We conducted in-depth user research, persona development, and journey mapping to uncover pain points and realign the user experience.
At the core of the redesign was the “Search UI” — a powerful yet simple search feature that lets users quickly find businesses through filters like category and location. This interaction was central to the founder’s vision and required strategic input to ensure usability and scalability.
The project involved full UX restructuring, low-fidelity wireframes, user testing, and close collaboration with the client. Each design decision was rooted in research and validated through testing, resulting in a streamlined and effective digital experience.
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