Arth
A client e-commerce platform merging Ayurvedic medicine with modern science
Client Project
E-commerce
Timeline
3 weeks (May 19 - Jun 6 2025)
Role
Product Design — UX Research, Ideation, Wireframing, Prototyping
Team
Harriet Slater, Danqing Ji, Chloe Connell
Tools
Overview
Arth is a client project for an Ayurvedic wellness brand redesigning its website to better serve health-conscious users seeking holistic health solutions. The project focuses on improving product discovery, simplifying educational content, and building trust through a clean, user-friendly interface. Through research and iterative design, the goal is to increase engagement, support informed purchasing decisions, and establish Arth as a trusted resource in the wellness space.
Design Challenge
How might we help health-conscious users feel confident and informed when discovering and purchasing Ayurvedic products, without feeling overwhelmed?
Understanding the Problem
The current site makes trust hard to earn
What we found
Analyzing the Arth website revealed critical gaps across the homepage and product pages. Unclear visual hierarchy, missing credibility signals, and inconsistent layouts left users uncertain and disengaged before they ever reached checkout.
1.0 Existing home page
1.1 Existing PLP & PDP page
Competitive Research
Trust in wellness is built through personalization, transparency, and science
How we started
To understand Arth's place in the wellness space, we analyzed RootsLab, Goop, Hims, Thesis, and Thirty Madison to identify best practices and opportunities for differentiation.
Product refill & delivery
Product refill & delivery
Personalized treatment
UGC
Physiology/Constitution quiz
Product education
Science-backed
Key Opportunities
Personalized Onboarding
Constitution-based quizzes could help Arth deliver tailored, Ayurveda-rooted product recommendations.
Trust Through UGC and Science
Blending user testimonials with research-backed claims builds the credibility Arth's audience expects.
Transparent Ingredients
Arth can build trust by making ingredient sourcing and efficacy part of the brand story.
Retention via Subscription
A goal-oriented subscription flow could improve retention and reinforce daily wellness habits.
Clinically Backed Claims
"Natural" alone no longer earns trust. Surfacing the science behind each product gives users confidence to buy.
Our Goal
Redesign Arth’s website to establish a trusted, distinctive, and conversion-friendly wellness experience
What guided us
Drawing from research insights and competitive gaps, this meant reinforcing credibility, simplifying discovery, and aligning the site with how users actually browse, learn, and decide.
User Interviews
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
We conducted 8 semi-structured interviews with health-conscious adults actively researching wellness products. Using affinity mapping, we identified four themes that directly shaped our design decisions.
Four themes shaped our design direction
✓
Clear info builds trust
Users were skeptical of vague wellness claims and wanted evidence-backed messaging they could verify.
"I trust wellness products that show real proof."
✓
Users need a starting point
Most users didn't know what they needed right away and looked for quizzes, suggestions, or quick-entry tools.
"I wouldn't even know what to look for."
✓
Design affects credibility
A cluttered interface made users distrust the brand before reading a word. Clean, calm visuals were read as a signal of legitimacy.
"I'd rather hear from real people who've tried it than read a sales page."
✓
Transparency builds confidence
Users want to understand what's in their products and why it works before committing to a purchase.
"I need someone to translate the clinical jargon, I just want to know what it does."
Problem Statement
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
What users are asking for is simple—but not easy:
A way to make decisions that feel clear, evidence-backed, and personally relevant. They want to trust what they're taking, and understand why it works for them—not just follow trends or vague promises.
Our goal with Arth is to remove the friction between intent and action—to empower users to engage in wellness in a way that feels grounded, confident, and aligned with their individual needs.
Users need a way to make confident, informed wellness choices tailored to their needs—without confusion or mistrust.
How Might We…
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
From there, we identified key user challenges and framed them as HMWs. Julia, our user, is curious but overwhelmed—she wants to explore wellness but doesn’t know where to start. This led us to ask:
How Might We…
provide a gentle and intuitive starting point for users new to personalized wellness
make traditional wellness concepts like Ayurveda more approachable and practical for modern routines
guide users toward trusted choices without overwhelming them with too much information
for Julia?
On the other hand, Zara is managing chronic issues and needs wellness tools that support her without adding strain.
How Might We…
create low-effort wellness experiences that support users with fluctuating energy levels
simplify complex wellness information so it’s accessible in moments of cognitive fatigue
design inclusive, non-performative wellness platforms that adapt to the user—not the other way around
for Zara?
Site Map
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
We streamlined the primary navigation into six clear entry points, aligning it with common user decision-making flows.
Within Shop, users can browse by best sellers, benefits, product type, or curated sets—offering flexible paths based on preference and intent.
A key addition is Find Your Solution: a 5-minute quiz that personalizes onboarding, builds user confidence, and drives tailored recommendations, enhancing both guidance and conversion.
Sketches
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
After aligning on key insights, we sketched independently to explore layout ideas for key pages—homepage, science, product listing, quiz flow, and PDP.
We then defined the content strategy for each:
Homepage: Clear CTA, best sellers, mission intro, and ingredient highlights
Science Page: Trust-building through formulation breakdowns, ingredient transparency, and linked research
Product Listing: Usability-focused with filters, quiz access, and credibility cues
These sketches fleshed out the full user experience, from education to purchase, ensuring that every step of the journey felt intuitive, informative, and brand-aligned.
Product Detail Page: Designed for flexibility with variant selection, expandable info panels, and recommended pairings to encourage discovery.
About Page: Structured around mission, team, and sourcing to build trust and emotional connection.
Quiz Flow: Prioritized simplicity with clear questions, clean layout, and a visual progress bar for orientation.
Lo-fi Wireframes
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
After aligning on key insights, we sketched independently to explore layout ideas for key pages—homepage, science, product listing, quiz flow, and PDP.
We then defined the content strategy for each:
Homepage: Clear CTA, best sellers, mission intro, and ingredient highlights
Science Page: Trust-building through formulation breakdowns, ingredient transparency, and linked research
Product Listing: Usability-focused with filters, quiz access, and credibility cues
We began with a content-first approach to ensure key information was clearly structured. Once the foundation was in place, we layered in Arth’s personality through visual design, layout, and subtle interactions.
The progression, from wireframes to high-fidelity, shows how we balanced clarity with brand expression to create an engaging, exploratory homepage.
While the homepage prioritized storytelling, the science page focused on credibility. We structured complex topics—like formulation, ingredients, and research—into clear, digestible sections.
Iterations refined layout and interactions to guide users smoothly through the content without overwhelm. Visual data and stats added weight, making the science feel both approachable and evidence-backed. The result: a page that informs, builds trust, and keeps users engaged.
Usability Testing
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
To validate our design decisions, we ran usability testing with six participants.
We gave them two tasks:
Find the Premium Gold Turmeric product page
Learn about ingredients on the Science Page
Task 1 saw a 100% success rate with minimal friction. However, Task 2 revealed a gap: 60% found the Science Page directly, while 40% took extra steps, indicating that the content was useful but not always easy to find.
We used this feedback to improve navigation labels, page hierarchy, and the visibility of science-related content—making the experience more intuitive and accessible.
Style Guide
Users want proof, guidance, and a brand they can trust
How we started
Post-testing, we applied Arth’s visual system using their detailed style guide to ensure cohesion and intention across the design.
The brand’s soft, modern aesthetic featured a refined color palette, serif-sans typography, and thoughtful spacing. We followed specific rules—like sentence case headings with italicized prepositions and a 70/30 white space-to-color ratio—to create clarity, rhythm, and balance.
These elements came together to deliver a calm, cohesive experience aligned with Arth’s identity.
Colors
#ECEFFF
#D9DEFF
#C6CEFF
#B3BEFF
#F6FAEC
#EDF4D8
#E5EFC5
#DCEAB2
#FFFFFF
#FAF7F2
#EFE9DC
#E5DFD2
Typography
GT Alpina Trial
Thin
Light
Regular
Medium
Semibold
Bold
ExtraBold
Black
Thin Italicized
Light Italicized
Regular Italicized
Medium Italicized
Semibold Italicized
Bold Italicized
ExtraBold Italicized
Black Italicized
DM Sans
Thin
Extra Light
Light
Regular
Medium
Semibold
Bold
ExtraBold
Black
Thin Italicized
Extra Light Italicized
Light Italicized
Regular Italicized
Medium Italicized
Semibold Italicized
Bold Italicized
ExtraBold Italicized
Black Italicized
Logos and Color Pairings
Hi-fi Prototype
Impact
Key takeaway
Parameter reinforced that trust in health products comes from clarity, not capability. The most valuable shift was moving from "showing more data" to "supporting better decisions," which sharpened my approach to information architecture in sensitive domains where language, hierarchy, and timing shape user confidence.
Reflection & Next Steps
Key takeaway
Working with Arth taught me that good design is as much about communication as craft. Balancing creative instincts with stakeholder expectations, learning to present rationale clearly, and advocating for users while supporting business goals were skills I hadn't fully exercised before. This project gave me a real appreciation for the messiness of client work and the confidence to navigate it.
Paths for further development
01
Deepen Storytelling & Brand Connection
Integrate real user stories and micro-practices throughout the experience
Evolve the About page with more dynamic, narrative-driven content that communicates who Arth is and why it exists
02
Strengthen Trust Through Transparency
Expand product traceability with sourcing details and lab results
Elevate ingredient education with expert explainers and interactive tools, directly addressing users who said they couldn't parse the clinical language
03
Broaden Testing & Refine Accessibility
Conduct usability testing with a wider, more diverse audience to validate tone, clarity, and usability
Audit components against WCAG standards and test with assistive technology users to ensure the experience is inclusive