Salila Sukumaran has a beautiful life story, with all of the ups-and-downs, wins-and-losses, and dark-nights-of-the-soul required for a good hero’s journey. Four years ago, her chapter took a riveting turn when she reconnected with her ancestral lineage of Ayurveda, and chose to dedicate her life to bringing anyone who’d listen to the ancient Panchakarma treatment centers of her beloved Kerala, India.
Within only a few years, Salila’s business has completely blown up. She began receiving requests to speak on talk radio, to teach at exclusive yoga retreats, and has recently been recognized as a yoga ambassador to the state of Kerala. Finding herself suddenly in the company of Nike Master Trainers and world-renowned fitness representatives, Salila knew that she had to up her game – and fast. She had transformed, and her current website no longer represented the service she was providing.
We had to define the usability of Salila’s website. Her users are luxury travelers, generally high-performing businesswomen who have left the beaten path to blaze their own trail. They needed to be able to review Salila, see the credibility of her brand, and begin the registration process to hire her as their travel consultant. They also needed to immediately be soothed and relaxed as soon as they hit the website. They generally needed to already be on vacation.
In these goals, the website needed to be effective, engaging, fast, a good guide, and quick to provide all necessary information. Just like Salila.
In Salila’s project, I received a lesson in balance. I learned how to make an easy-to-use CMS into a site that reflects the amazing investment of elegant and sophisticated guidance. I learned luxury with a purpose that brings even royalty to depths within themselves as earthy as the backwaters kissing the Indian Ocean.
Above is an example of my early User Interface Design. Yes, hearts included. When a client is a friend, a laugh is always good!
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Salila Sukumaran, Ayurgamaya