Pastelerías Suspiros has been part of Mexican family celebrations for decades (birthdays, quinceañeras, graduations, etc.) but their online shop didn't carry any of that emotional weight.
Working with the Design Lead at LKMX on my first project there, I built a new UI proposal and user flow map that modernized the visual experience while preserving the brand's warmth and Mexican identity.
One interaction became the talking point of the redesign: a "rain effect" animating cake ingredients falling across the screen: unexpected, delightful, and distinctly Suspiros that drove notable increases in website traffic and social media engagement, demonstrating that the right visual surprise in the right context can do the work of a marketing campaign.
Design Process
Digital Wireframes
Low-fidelity prototype
Key views
Final mockup
Then & Now
'Home' page.
'Chocolate Club' page.
Impact
One interaction became the talking point of the redesign: a "rain effect" animating cake ingredients falling across the screen: unexpected, delightful, and distinctly Suspiros that drove notable increases in website traffic and social media engagement.
The effect was eventually retired due to lazy loading performance issues on mobile and older operating systems, but its brief run demonstrated that the right visual surprise in the right context can do the work of a marketing campaign. The tradeoff it revealed (delight versus performance) is one I've carried into every animation and interaction decision since.
What happened after
The client retained the fonts and color palette from our redesign. However, the current site (now managed without our involvement) has introduced carousels organized by location-based promotions, abandoned the colorful product palette, and reintroduced the search, category, and shopping cart pain points the redesign had resolved.
The regression is instructive: Good UX doesn't maintain itself, it requires ongoing stewardship.
