1. Brand and competition analysis
2. Determine target audience
3. Define guidelines: voice, tone, fonts etc.
4. Write and test the copy
5. Rewrite and launch

1. Uomo was challenging traditional barbering concepts with a modern Italian perspective.
2. Uomo was very much a “safe-space” for men
3. Interior design included Italian minimalism combined with traditional services.
4. The tone and voice had to reflect an Italian style and sassiness, while respecting tradition.
5. Appointment taking was a strong USP, as other shops still did not focus on this.
6. Men-exclusive grooming products were also uncommon in the industry, so a just-for-men line was designed from scratch.
7. Uomo had several exclusive services: hot towels with each haircut, neck massage, straight razor shave the neck, and espresso coffee.
8. For web traffic, they ranked above-the-fold for common search terms
9. Uomo had a solid 4.9 star rating on Google

Uomo Challenges:

1. The hipster movement was in full swing, a contrast to the simple elegance of Italian styling offered at Uomo 
2. Millennials were a growing segment of the market, causing an industry-attention shift away from Gen-X and Boomers 
3. Beards and moustaches were becoming more popular adding another change in thinking for Uomo who had become known as the place to remove such facial decorations.
4. Online booking was on the horizon, with customers demanding alternatives to phone appointments
5. A cyberattack affected their systems, forcing the dev team to upgrade security features, which could have had an affect on user experience if it was over cumbersome
6. Competing websites were solid, with many leaning into strong voices and tones to attract a certain target audience, mostly millennials
7. Competition was leveraging social media really well: facebook, reddit

Uomo Strengths:

1. Competing barbershops focused mostly on young millennials, ignoring Gen-Xers and Boomers; a plus for Uomo who had already earned a solid reputation with this demographic.
2. Most competing shops did not have the skills to satisfy their brand promises as discovered from online reviews.
3. Design was mostly “lumber-sexual,” with an emphasis on interior wood panels, hunting paraphernalia and uber-sexual, hairy men, ignoring a more sophisticated, polished clientele.
4. Attire was less-than-professional
5. Overly-casual B2C etiquette
6. Few, if any, focused on straight razor shaving

Key takeaways:

Uomo’s brand was being drowned out with more aggressive alternatives. It was up to Uomo to lean more heavily into their voice, and punch home the idea of being Victoria’s only Italian barbershop. 

They also had to reinforce the value of the service offering, emphasizing the strengths of their expertise and years in service. They decided to embrace their brand with even more strength, making the Uomo brand more Italian and sophisticated.

Primary Target:

1. Boomers and Gen-X
2. Men earning higher than average incomes
3. Confident, aware of their own sensibilities
4. Craving Italian style
5. Enjoy humor and travel
6. Cultured/refined opinions, socially and politically
7. Dressed traditionally

Secondary Target:

1. Millennials
2. Women purchasing for men

With every cultural change, their is a counter-culture. Uomo decided to be the counter-culture: ie, more sophisticated, more Italian. They veered away from the temptation to follow the crowd by focusing clients who wanted Uomo service, not competitor service. 

The ideal persona: a man, young or old, dressed well, enjoying an espresso at a bar in Rome on a Monday morning, respectfully flirting with the world around him, making jokes, laughing and philosophizing as he prepares for a busy day to conquer his world.

When considering voice, the design team pictured the aforementioned persona: an Italian gentleman, enjoying an espresso on a Monday morning at a Roman Bar, while flirting with world.

The persona ultimately dictates voice and tone. With the persona in mind, this was how his voice was picture to be:

1. Formal, without being stiff,
2. Funny without being hysterical,
3. Respectful without being stuffy
4. Enthusiastic without being pushy

With a clear voice concisely defined, tone was adjusted according to the message being delivered. An important factor was never take the customer for granted, which was often the case with the competing barbershops who assumed the customer loved everything they offered. This was done by placing the customer at the center of each interaction, and to illustrate how the customer improves the lives of Uomo’s brand, creating a symbiosis between both client and business. In fact, Uomo wouldn’t exist without the client, and vice-versa.

A good example of this client-centric perspective is found in the following microcopy:

“One thing we pride ourselves on is that we listen.

We may not understand you all the time…but we listen.”

The client is hidden in the sub-text. Who does Uomo listen to? The client, even if the client isn’t mentioned, he is in this conversation. The word “you” was used to personalize the tone. Without it, the phrase becomes dry and impersonal: “We may not understand all the time, but we listen.” This is an important measure taken to ensure the microcopy is relatable without getting too personal.

Another example of a more general microcopy which was used earlier in the brand’s history is the following:

“Where tradition meets trend”

This was a much colder yet stylish copy that set a sophisticated tone. It worked earlier in the brand’s development, but it was sidelined to allow for a more intimate, yet just as stylish copy:

“Uomo: Italian for man”

This copy creates mystery. It begs the question: is that what uomo means? Provocative questions are a great way to generate client interest. It also clearly defines an aspect of Uomo’s brand: men are the focus. In this age of diversity thinking, this also adds a sprinkle of controversy, which the Uomo team felt comfortable embracing. Controversy, done in a respectful way, generates interest. In fact, this slogan has faired little negative comments, and continues to be the brand’s leading tagline.

At the center of every UX writer’s decision is font choice. Though this is often chosen by the design team, in some cases, the writer is asked to decide fonts based on the criteria of the project.

For the Uomo project, serif based fonts were coupled with sans-serif to merge tradition with modern. This was meant to resonate with more traditional clients and attract a contemporary crowd. 

For this reason, the headers were mixed with the following fonts:

1. Playfair Display (italic) + Open Sans

Playfair Display is typified with high-strokes and contrasting serifs, perfect for fashion brands wanting to exude elegance and grace. It was perfect for Uomo’s desire to respect tradition.

Open Sans is described as friendly and humanist, and since Uomo deals with friendly humans, it was the perfect choice for headers and paragraph text.

When tested with users, data showed that many had not noticed the inter-mixing of fonts, yet most liked it.

Once all this data was gathered, pages were created to attract the ideal persona through voice, tone and messaging.

The landing page was meant to use a matter-of-fact approach to clearly explain what the site is about. The company slogan was paramount to exude the target style of the brand,

Everything about Uomo was designed to reflect Italian modernity. One of the biggest hurdles was the word “Uomo.”

Too often the question was asked by users: “What does Uomo mean?”

With the answer being “uomo means man in italian,” the brand slogan quickly became:

“Uomo. Italian for man.”

Here is example of content exuding a confident voice with a worldly tone:

The brand voice was written to exude Italian confidence without cockiness. Italian culture outwardly expresses confidence and style, without a need to belittle on behalf of this exuberance.

“Paparazzi” denotes surprise and flair. It’s a moment when any man needs to be ready for. With this in mind, Italian men style themselves with this in mind.

They style themselves to be “Paparazzi Ready.”

Conversions is the most important aspect of any website. Without them, a business cannot thrive. Content is a way to drive user interest as well as conversions. SEO keywords are an important component of attracting high-quality users looking to convert. Here is an example of how a strong keyword was used to exude the confident voice of Uomo.

With a strong SEO title boasting the brand’s achievements, we found it necessary to lean into this confidence by unapologetically pronouncing Uomo’s accolade.

The trick was not to linger too long on the subject. This was accomplished by quickly redirect this achievement to the client, placing them as the reason for Uomo’s success.

Finally, a playful button added an on-brand tone to the content.

Humor is an important tone necessary for the Uomo image. Here is a fun way Uomo made their content relatable with humor:

Italians love to laugh, and Italian barbershops are no exception. With a little humor, we added a quip about Uomo’s communication skills.

Flamboyant and puzzled often came to mind in our brand research as both Italian barber and un-Italian client often shared words where both parties stared in confusion, then laughed with giggling embarrassment. 

Of course, hands were flailing with every  spoken syllable .

Part of the Uomo brand’s voice was enthusiasm without gushing. This meant a matter-of-fact tone could be incorporated, as long as it remained light. 

Describing service varieties can often be repetitive and dry. To lighten the copy, we added a few quips to keep the mood light and airy.

Words such as “noggin” keep the tone light but informative at the same time. It also introduces jargon without being overly informal.

Conversions often run parallel to click through rates (CTR). Uomo has earned the trust of its market, and earned a higher than average CTR and open rate on its newsletters.

Since the primary target market for the Uomo brand was educated men, blog posts were written for an inquisitive clientele. Using popular movies as a trigger, Uomo capitalized on current trends to earn a click through rate (CTR) of 5% or more on its newsletters and a 50% average open rate.

In this example, both the Napoleon and Barbie movies were used to capitalize on popular trends already existing in the market.