REVITALIZING DIGITAL SMILE DESIGN:
A UX/UI TRANSFORMATION
Overview
Mission:
Transform a dental innovator’s outdated digital presence into a user-centric experience mirroring their clinical excellence.
Company:
Digital Smile Design (DSD) is a global dental innovation company that uses digital tools and training to help dentists create personalized smile designs, enhancing patient care and treatment planning.
Impact:
+44% users | +81% lead generation | -34% bounce rate | 69% faster sales cycles | 10%↑ engagement
Role:
UX strategist | UI designer | Cross-functional collaborator
The Challenge
Digital Smile Design (DSD), a pioneering company in dental aesthetics founded by Dr. Christian Coachman, faced a critical challenge. Despite being an industry leader known for innovation and creativity, their website failed to reflect these core values.
The existing site suffered from:
An outdated visual design
Confusing navigation and poor structure
- Unclear and Generic Menu Labels
- Confusing Hierarchy and Organization
- Excessive Navigation Depth and Redundancy
- Lack of User-Centered Focus
- Poor Visibility and Feedback
- Visually Unengaging and Repetitive Design
- Accessibility Issues
- Competitive links
Progressively declining user engagement
High bounce rates and decreased page views
The Mission
As the UX/UI and Graphic Designer, I was tasked with revitalizing DSD’s website, ensuring it reflected their
cutting-edge reputation. The goals were ambitious but essential:
- Reimagine the user experience
- Creating a fresh, modern UI design
- Simplify navigation for seamless user flow
- Align messaging with the brand’s innovative spirit
- Coordinating with stakeholders and developers to ensure cohesion and clear communication
The Process
Research & Strategy: Understanding the Pain Points
Before diving into design, I needed to understand where users were struggling. Through comprehensive research, I uncovered key issues:
Heuristic evaluation exposed friction points in usability and key pain points
Comprehensive user research
User personas & empathy maps highlighted user frustrations
Data analysis revealed high bounce rates and low engagement
UX Design
Having these insights, we developed a
New, intuitive navigation structure
Mapped out a product and user journey, ensuring every interaction felt natural and effortless.
Low-fidelity wireframes
UI Design
With strategy and structure, it was time to design.
A cohesive style guide for consistency
Modular UI components to streamline development
High-fidelity Wireframes & prototypes to validate design decisions
Implementation & Iteration
Working in an Agile environment, we:
- Collaborated closely with developers to overcome CMS limitations
- Made data-driven adjustments based on GA4 and Clarity insights
- Continuously refined the design based on user feedback and metrics
The Results
Numbers
+44% increase in total users
+7% boost in organic traffic
-34% reduction in bounce rate
+81% lead generation
+40% growth in new users
+10% increase in average time spent on page (06:46)
-69% decrease in sales cycle
Beyond the numbers
Established a smoother workflow between design and development teams
Created a scalable design system for future consistency
Significantly improved user engagement and conversion metrics
Key Takeaways
This project was proof of the power of user-centered design.
By aligning aesthetics with usability, we didn’t just enhance DSD’s digital presence—we created an intuitive, engaging platform that truly reflected their innovative spirit, making a lasting impact on both users and business goals.