Trust is on the Menu
VC Nutrition's website redesign project aimed to reflect their wellness-driven mission, elevating user trust through a clean visual identity and an intuitive, content-rich platform.
Category
UX/UI
Brand
VC Nutrition by Maria Higgins
My Role
UX research, IA design, visual design, UI components.
Intro
Audited the existing product to uncover content structure gaps and initial engagement challenges.
Context
Defining the Challenge
VC Nutrition, a small wellness brand, faced a disorganized site structure that made it difficult for new visitors to understand offerings and take the first step. As part of a 3-person design team, I contributed to user research and insight synthesis, driving problem definition and informing downstream design decisions.
Our goal: Simplify onboarding, inspire confidence, and increase conversion into 1:1 coaching sessions.
Discover
Identified underlying anxieties and behavioral friction contributing to hesitation and disengagement, using qualitative insights to guide design priorities.
Research
Uncovering Decision Paralysis
We systematically evaluated the product experience and competitor landscape to reveal obstacles preventing users from engaging confidently.
Heuristic Evaluation surfaced navigation clutter and unclear next steps.
Competitive Analysis (3 comparable platforms) revealed stronger entry flows and sharper value messaging.
User Research:
Conducted 5 remote interviews exploring user concerns and uncertainties.
Collected 12 survey responses validating recurring behavioral patterns.
Synthesis (Empathy & Affinity Mapping): distilled emotional triggers causing hesitation and loss of momentum.
Key insight: Overwhelming content and vague pathways led to analysis fatigue. Visitors lacked clarity and reassurance on how to proceed safely.
Persona
Synthesizing the User Mindset
Based on behavioral patterns and emotional drivers, we distilled a primary persona to anchor design decisions:
Sophie Smith — a time-constrained professional overwhelmed by conflicting wellness advice. She values expert guidance that's simple, actionable, and tailored to her lifestyle — without sales pressure or information overload. She needs confidence in the process before committing.
Define
Framed actionable design priorities directly from user pain points to streamline onboarding flow and reduce cognitive load.
Strategy
Simplifying Entry Barriers
The research showed that users hesitated because they lacked clarity about where to start and what to expect. To eliminate uncertainty, we restructured the experience around a single decisive entry point: booking a 1:1 coaching session.
This reduced unnecessary options upfront, clarified user pathways, and provided immediate orientation on how the service works.
Information Architecture
Reducing Cognitive Overload
Consolidated multiple scattered CTAs into one clear action
Simplified sitemap for cleaner navigation hierarchy
Introduced a dedicated Resources page to offer low-pressure value upfront
Renamed Blog → Articles to better reflect actionable content
These adjustments minimized decision complexity, helping users focus on the key value proposition without distractions.
Design Decisions & Trade-offs
We intentionally removed secondary CTAs (recipes, background content) from primary pathways to ensure focus on the first engagement point. While this sacrificed some exploratory content visibility, it aligned with user feedback prioritizing simplicity and clarity.
User Journey
Mapping Engagement Pain Points
Design
Translated product goals into UI decisions that simplified user journeys, minimized friction, and built confidence.
Wireframes
Structuring for Effortless Flow
Lo-fi wireframes focused on guiding first-time visitors toward a clear, single entry point. The flow minimized distractions, anchored users at each step, and maintained continuity through modal forms.
Key structural goal: “Users should never wonder what happens next.”
Visual System
Visual Language to Lower Barriers
We translated research insights into a visual system designed to reduce hesitation and foster trust.
Moodboards referenced wellness, editorial, and coaching brands, avoiding transactional or sales-driven aesthetics.
Soft neutral palettes with controlled contrast established a calm, approachable tone.
Modular layouts and clear hierarchy simplified content scanning and orientation.
Friendly buttons and micro-interactions lowered perceived commitment risks.
Authentic, custom imagery replaced stock visuals to enhance personal connection and credibility.
Key visual principle: “Make it feel personal, not transactional.”
The cohesive system directly addressed earlier user anxieties around complexity, commitment, and perceived sales pressure.
Hi-Fi Mockups
Delivering the Final Experience
Test
Validated design directions through small-scale preference survey and qualitative feedback.
Preference Survey
Evaluating Hero Variants
We conducted a Google Forms survey presenting two homepage hero versions:
Version A: headline with supporting imagery
Version B: simplified version without hero content
Participants showed a mild preference for Version A, citing stronger initial impact. However, based on research insights about information overload and pressure sensitivity, we intentionally proceeded with Version B, prioritizing a calmer onboarding tone to reduce perceived commitment anxiety.
Design rationale: Early preference feedback is informative but not decisive when weighed against core behavioral insights.
Iteration
Refining Details
Small adjustments were made based on tester input:
Updated imagery (including replacing specific fruit visuals)
Increased founder visibility on homepage
Simplified CTAs for easier 1:1 coaching sign-up
Feedback summary: "Clean, easy, and I know exactly where to start."
These tweaks further reduced friction and made the path to conversion feel effortless.
Results
Observed early positive signals from qualitative feedback and client-reported engagement improvements.
Product Outcome
Early Signals of Success
Although quantitative data was limited, early qualitative feedback indicated strong improvement:
Users reported clearer site navigation and easier decision-making
The simplified onboarding flow increased confidence in booking 1:1 coaching
The client noted positive early engagement, including new consultations after launch
Client feedback: “It finally feels easy for people to sign up.”
Next Steps
Opportunities for Further Optimization
Potential areas for future enhancement include:
Expanding resource content for sustained user engagement
Providing clearer upfront details on coaching programs
Optimizing mobile experience for consistency across devices
Exploring ways to personalize onboarding for different user profiles
