Rockella

The UX Challenge

Rockella already had a strong visual identity. The site felt polished, creative, and distinctive, with a design style that matched the audience well. But from a UX point of view, the experience was asking visitors to work too hard.

The main issue was clarity. When someone landed on the homepage, it was not immediately obvious what Rockella offered, who it was for, or what the visitor should do next. For a site built around artist studio rentals, that first impression matters. Visitors need to understand the offer within seconds, especially when they are comparing multiple studio or workspace options.

What Wasn’t Working

The homepage opened with a beautiful visual treatment, but there was no clear value proposition. The site looked good, but it did not immediately explain that Rockella offered creative studio spaces.

The desktop navigation was also hidden inside a hamburger menu. That kept the design clean, but it removed important browsing cues. Links like spaces, buildings, people, latest, and contact help visitors quickly understand what the site contains. Hiding them made the site feel harder to explore.

The homepage content order was another major issue. It moved into brand-focused messaging before showing the actual spaces. For someone looking to rent a studio, the available spaces needed to appear much earlier.

The spaces themselves also needed more context. Listings showed size ranges, but not enough practical information such as location, building name, price guidance, amenities, or a clear path to learn more. There was also some confusion between “buildings” and “spaces,” so the relationship between the two needed to be made more obvious.

Finally, the conversion points needed work. Newsletter and contact forms blended too much into the page, buttons did not stand out enough, and the contact form layout did not follow familiar form conventions.

What I Changed

I restructured the homepage around clarity and action.

The hero section was updated to include a clear value proposition, short supporting copy, and a direct call to action. Instead of relying only on the visual brand impression, the page now explains what Rockella offers and gives visitors a next step right away.

I also moved the desktop navigation out of the hamburger menu and into the header. This made the site easier to scan and gave visitors immediate access to the most important sections.

The homepage flow was reorganized so available spaces appear much earlier. Rather than leading with brand copy, the page now gets visitors to the practical offer faster: what spaces are available, where they are, and why they are relevant.

For the spaces experience, I added clearer listing information and stronger links between spaces and buildings. Each space needed enough detail to help visitors decide whether it was worth exploring further. I also shifted the call to action from a premature “rent” action to a more natural “learn more” or “see available spaces” path.

Individual space pages were improved with more useful above-the-fold information, including imagery, key details, amenities, and a clear inquiry action. This gave visitors the confidence to take the next step without having to hunt for basic information.

I also refined the forms so they felt more familiar and easier to complete. Inputs were made more consistent, buttons were styled to stand apart from fields, and the contact form was reordered so name and email came first, with the message field placed at the end.

The Result

The redesigned experience keeps the visual character of the original site, but makes the customer journey much clearer.

Visitors can now understand what Rockella offers faster, browse available studio spaces with less effort, and move toward an inquiry with more confidence. The site still feels creative and distinctive, but the structure now supports the business goal: helping artists and creatives find the right space.