Branded | The Ashley Method Hair Extension Salon & Skin Bar
Great hair doesn’t happen by chance, it happens by appointment.
When you ask Ashley Stevens how long she's been styling hair, the noise that burst forth as she answers is a cross between a snort and a drunken laugh, with Ashley never knowing when to breathe between the giggles.
"Since I was 14 years old!" She finally replies.
Her nose scrunches up, she is double fisting peace fingers, mimicking the motion of scissors opening and closing all while dancing side-to-side in her salon chair.
She talks about those early years and the time she "accidentally" fried the head cheerleaders' hair right before homecoming, and it's easy to see how she got her rebellious, misfit, rocker edge.
When you step into her boutique salon, you can sense the playful, energetic, upbeat vibe immediately. She's created the kind of place and the kind of experience that genuinely feels like medicine the rest of us need, to lift us on even the darkest of days when our roots are...well...dark!!
Nothing says, "I just chopped my hair" like a straight, harsh line, so to avoid this, Ashley cuts into the hair to construct variation and give the hair-do a lived-in effect.
"You know when you get a new pair of jeans, and you have to break them in? I'm kinda breaking the hair in for you before you leave," she grins.
Ashley carefully balances meticulous movement, and texture for every client and confesses to drawing much of her creative inspiration from the other things she loves. Gungy fashion, rebellious art, and rock 'n' roll music.
Channeling her inner Joan Jet, she proceeds to tell me, "Instead of walking out in a new stiff pair of jeans, you get the worn-in, vintage jeans. That's my philosophy for hair. Whether we are adding extensions or bold color, even if it's something new, I want you to end up with a style that suits you and becomes part of who you are!
The first step in transforming The Ashley Method's web presence from its "Bad Reputation" was with fresh, gritty photos that spoke to her enviable, and totally badass sense of style. I worked with Ashley and her team to ensure that each outfit that we photographed incorporated tough materials like leather, chains, studs, and safety pins paying close attention to the details and adding little pieces that incorporated her brand and style into her images.
Next up, came the process of creating Ashley's custom website and keeping it simple, effective, and responsive across all mediums while infusing her signature rock 'n' roll vibes throughout the site. I wanted to make sure that Ashley's website copy infused the same quirky, down-to-earth, and relatable personality that Ashley herself is known for so in an effort to inject a little life back into her website pages, I made sure to write her web copy similar to the way she actually speaks.
The Website
Ashley gives me a tour, pointing to different styling stations, and busy, busy, bees giving blow-outs to delighted clients. The Tempe salon is the first of it's kind, offering hand-tied weft extensions, root melts, balayage, brow tinting, microneedling, botox, and more among its list of services.
We walk further back into the salon, where Ashley points to the shampoo bowl and waves to a regular "Hey, Bailey! Your hair follicles frolicking in a sudsy bath this morning?"
Watching Ashley in her element, greeting guests, and grinning from ear to ear as she shows me around, it's easy to see why she's risen to become a leading expert in the Arizona hair scene. Specializing in vanguard cuts and chic rocker styles, Ashley injects creativity, passion, and innovation into every masterpiece that walks out her front door.
Ashley's key differentiator lies in her methodology. Hence "The Ashley Method". Just what (TF) is The Ashley Method, you ask? I won't bore you with the technical-scientific definitions, but Ashley's approach to hair is as unique as my cowlick I quickly learn, and just her cuts alone have a beautifully subtle edge.
For as much as Ashley and her Method were blowing away clients and other industry experts by her creative impact, her website was doing the very opposite. It wasn't capturing any leads, it was struggling with conversions, and translatting traffic into tangible business for Ashley and her husband Colt, who both co-own the salon.
Looking back at her old website, and there was no consistency among fonts, no clear navigation, and it wasn't a clean design by any means. Any reader coming to her old website was getting bamboozled with cluttered pages and too much information.
Its a common issue in the world of salon websites and digital marketing, but fortunately for Ashley, one that I was able to rectify with a salon website digital makeover.
Take a peek at the new website
Finally, I worked with Ashley and Colt to mirror their social media channels with the website I designed and all the fresh content we created with my monthly social media membership. I designed fun little custom beauty specific quotes for The Ashley Method's Instagram account that matched to font and design aspects from her website. Working with Ashley and Colt was a dream! I'm excited to watch their social media following grow over the next few years as well as their business which if you haven't heard is already expanding into a second location for their Skin Bar which will be getting it's own custom website soon!
If you haven't done so already, hop on over to their website, follow them on Instagram and Facebook and if you're in the Valley, make sure to stop by and check out their restaurant, you won't be disappointed!