Profile inspired modules, expressive content blocks and 2000s interface moments made the storefront feel personal rather than corporate.
★ Mesha Cole Visuals Case Study
FIVE STAR
HOTTIES.
A brand identity and ecommerce redesign for a swimwear label,
translating a MySpace and MTV inspired point of view into a
recognizable, responsive Shopify experience.
Case File
★ BRAND IDENTITY
★ CREATIVE DIRECTION
★ SHOPIFY DEVELOPMENT
★ UX AND UI DESIGN
★ RESPONSIVE DESIGN
★ DIGITAL BRAND EXPERIENCE
★ CREATIVE DIRECTION
★ SHOPIFY DEVELOPMENT
★ UX AND UI DESIGN
Client
Five Star Hotties
Platform
Shopify
Creative
Mesha Cole Visuals
Scope
Logo + Digital Rebuild
The Assignment
★ Strategy First
Make the website feel like the brand.
More than a redesign
Five Star Hotties had a clear personality, but the visual identity and storefront needed to feel more connected. I approached the project by creating a new logo and then translating that refreshed point of view into a complete digital system rather than allowing the Shopify experience to feel separate from the brand.
I approached the project as a combination of brand identity, creative direction, user experience design and front end development. The goal was to build an environment that felt distinctly Five Star while still functioning as an intuitive ecommerce experience.
Rather than applying a visual theme over an existing layout, I rebuilt the experience around the brand itself. Navigation, content hierarchy, product merchandising, interactive moments, responsive behavior and customer touchpoints were all considered as part of one connected system.
Brand Identity
★ Logo First
01 / THE ANCHOR
A NEW LOGO GAVE THE BRAND SOMETHING TO BUILD AROUND.
I designed the Five Star Hotties logo as the visual anchor for the refreshed brand direction. The identity needed to feel nostalgia and eye candy of course and recognizable enough to hold its own inside a louder digital environment.
Instead of treating the logo and website as separate deliverables, I used the identity as the starting point for the interface. The attitude of the mark informed the color contrast, oversized type, star language, graphic framing and the overall sense of personality across the storefront.
The Creative Thesis
★ MySpace × MTV × Ecommerce
THE IDEA
NOSTALGIA WAS USED AS AN INTERFAC EINSPO.
The MySpace and MTV references gave the site an immediately familiar early internet vibe, but the goal was never to recreate an old website. I translated that visual language into a modern shopping experience where personality could exist alongside product discovery, navigation and checkout.
Bold type, graphic framing, high contrast and fast visual shifts gave the experience the attitude of early 2000s pop culture programming.
The nostalgic layer sat on top of a clear ecommerce structure so customers could still understand where to browse, shop, contact and move next.
Repeated stars, pink, black, white and branded interface language created a system that could be recognized before a customer even reached a product.
The Case Study
★ Brand To Browser
Five Star Hotties needed more than a standard storefront with branded colors. The opportunity was to create a stronger identity and then carry that identity into a website that felt entertaining, memorable and unmistakably Five Star while still functioning as an ecommerce experience.
MySpace and MTV were useful references because they already communicate personality, pop culture, customization and early internet vibes. I used those references as a design language rather than copying an old interface.
I designed the new logo, established the visual direction and rebuilt the Shopify experience around custom modules, high contrast hierarchy, profile inspired moments, branded messaging and responsive interactions.
The finished experience gives Five Star Hotties a clearer visual identity and a more distinctive digital presence. The site keeps the energy of the concept while preserving the navigation, product discovery and customer actions required for shopping.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE
MAKE THE EXPERIENCE FUN ENOUGH TO REMEMBER, CLEAR ENOUGH TO SHOP.
What I Did
★ Full Scope
00
Logo Design
Designed the new Five Star Hotties logo and used it as the visual anchor for the refreshed digital identity.
01
Creative Direction
Established the visual language for the digital experience and translated Five Star Hotties into a cohesive web environment.
02
UX and UI Design
Reworked navigation, page hierarchy, content placement and interaction patterns so personality never came at the expense of usability.
03
Shopify Development
Developed custom Shopify theme components using Liquid, CSS and JavaScript while preserving the platform's native commerce tools and editor controls.
04
Responsive Design
Designed separate desktop, tablet and mobile behaviors rather than simply shrinking the desktop interface onto smaller screens.
05
Interaction Design
Built custom menu states, interactive profile actions, animated content, product modules, message experiences and branded micro interactions.
06
Brand Integration
Integrated typography, color, imagery, video, campaign language and Five Star visual cues throughout every customer facing touchpoint.
07
Ecommerce Merchandising
Structured product discovery and branded shopping modules so featured products could live naturally within the editorial experience.
08
Customer Experience
Redesigned the contact flow as a fully branded Five Star messaging experience while retaining Shopify's real customer inquiry functionality.
09
Quality Control
Refined responsive sizing, alignment, menu behavior, component states and cross screen consistency throughout the build.
How I Built It
★ Identity To Interface
Establish the logo, color language, nostalgia references and the balance between internet culture and usable ecommerce.
Organize navigation, product discovery, content hierarchy and customer actions before layering in the visual personality.
Develop custom modules, branded windows, profile inspired moments, typography hierarchy and interactive details around the Five Star system.
Build the experience with Shopify Liquid, CSS and JavaScript while preserving editable content and the platform's commerce functionality.
Rework spacing, menu behavior, content density and interactions for smaller screens instead of forcing the desktop composition to simply shrink.
Review alignment, sizing, hierarchy, interaction states and responsive behavior until the brand system feels intentional across screen sizes.
5★ WEBSITE WALKTHROUGH
Watch The Experience
FIVE STAR HOTTIES DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
DESIGNED + DEVELOPED BY MESHA COLE VISUALS ★
The Digital Strategy
★ Designed With Intention
Brand Immersion
The storefront became part of the identity.
Five Star Hotties was treated as an experience rather than a collection of products. The visual system extends from the navigation all the way through customer communication.
Visual Hierarchy
Nostalgia without visual confusion.
Bold black, light pink, hot pink and white establish clear visual levels so the site can remain fun while still communicating what deserves attention first.
Nostalgia With Purpose
The references support the brand story.
MTV and MySpace inspired details create a recognizable early internet personality without recreating an outdated browsing experience.
Responsive Systems
Each screen size received intentional behavior.
Mobile navigation, content density, video proportions, interactions and forms were adapted specifically for smaller screens instead of relying solely on scaling.
Commerce Integration
Editorial design still had to sell product.
Shopify product data remains connected to the custom interface, allowing the experience to feel highly art directed without sacrificing ecommerce functionality.
Maintainability
Custom does not have to mean difficult to manage.
Important content remains editable through Shopify settings, allowing the brand to update products, media and key content without rebuilding the visual system.
The Outcome
★ One Cohesive System
THE RESULT
A STORE
WITH A
POINT OF
VIEW.
WITH A
POINT OF
VIEW.
The finished project gives Five Star Hotties a new logo and a digital identity that extend far beyond a standard Shopify storefront.
Identity, brand, content, interface and commerce operate as one connected system.
The site establishes a recognizable visual language across desktop, tablet and mobile while retaining the functionality necessary for product discovery, customer communication and ongoing brand updates.
Most importantly, the digital experience now communicates the same confidence and personality as Five Star Hotties itself. The result is not simply a redesigned website. It is a branded ecommerce environment designed to feel unmistakably Five Star.
FROM CLICK
TO CHECKOUT.
Creative direction, digital design, responsive UX and custom Shopify development by Mesha Cole Visuals.