Responses by Ky Coffman, creative director, Outline

Background: Thelma is a D2C fashion brand with a singular focus on amazing, handmade Italian leather shoes. The brand wanted a site that reflected its ethos, drove sales and served its growing audience of women who, as founder Amanda Greeley puts it, are “practical but never ordinary.”

Highlights: The site is very much an affirmation and celebration of an inquisitive, mischievous, smart, funny archetype of a woman—vibrant yet refined. From that foundation, the site offers an intuitive shopping experience that feels more like browsing an art gallery than a gift shop.

Challenges: Finding a balance between the product and the designed environment. The shoes themselves are artfully crafted and featured in specific, directed photography by Lindsey Shorter that sits inside a thoughtful, experiential website. This creates a layering and balancing challenge that comes with any fashion site. I could keep tinkering with certain angles and widths forever.

Favorite details: We were careful to include quiet but intentional moments of surprise. From touches of handwritten typography to full-screen bursts of color, to layered scrolling interactions and “mood” color descriptions, we wanted users to be constantly delighted in their experiences of moving throughout the site.

Navigational structure: Going without a navigation bar or purchase CTA on the landing screen is a good example of the thought process. We envisioned it as a site to explore where shopping is discovered in the process. We were fortunate that Amanda knows her audience very well and embraced a (slightly) slower but richer experience.