Neelam is a busy teacher and mom of one who needs supply delivery while saving money because she wants more free time and the ability to stay in budget.
Neelam is a busy teacher and mom of one who needs supply delivery while saving money because she wants more free time and the ability to stay in budget.
Neelam is a busy teacher and mom of one who needs supply delivery while saving money because she wants more free time and the ability to stay in budget.
Leah is a visually impaired craft store employee who needs assistive technology and an easy-to-navigate app because with it, it would make her job easier.
Craft Corner Prototype
Craft Corner is an app for crafters, teachers, office workers, and anyone in between. This app makes it easy for users to find the craft product they are looking for and have it delivered straight to the home, saving time and money.
Conceptual App Design
Problem
Busy and cost-conscious crafters lack the time and expense it takes to shop at a craft store.
Note: This is a conceptual project I completed as part of Google's UX Design program.
Solution
Design an app for craft stores that allows users to easily find what they're looking for and have it shipped straight to them.
Overview
Project Duration: May 2022 - July 2022
My Role: User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Tools Used: Figma
Empathize
Target Participant Characteristics
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Craft store employees
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Live near one of the craft store franchise stores
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People who craft as a hobby
Interview Questions
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Describe your experience with using a mobile app to purchase craft store products.
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Describe your experience with monitoring sales for a craft store.
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Is there anything you wish was different about the process of purchasing craft stuff? Why?
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What challenges do you face when monitoring sales for a craft store?
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Is there any way in which you feel these challenges could be resolved?
Research Goals
I began the process with the following research goals:
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I want to identify common user behaviors and experiences with tasks that my product is trying to address
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I want to understand user needs and frustrations as they relate to the product I'm designing
Primary Research
To better understand the pain points and goals of those who shop/work at craft stores, I developed an interview script and conducted user interviews with participants over the internet.
Interview Questions
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Describe your experience with using a mobile app to purchase craft store products.
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Describe your experience with monitoring sales for a craft store.
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Is there anything you wish was different about the process of purchasing craft stuff? Why?
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What challenges do you face when monitoring sales for a craft store?
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Is there any way in which you feel these challenges could be resolved?
Target Participant Characteristics
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Craft store employees
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Live near one of the craft store franchise stores
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People who craft as a hobby
User Research
I created personas, user stories, and user journey maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults that don’t have time to go to physical craft stores.
The user group confirmed initial assumptions about Craft Store customers, but research also revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from physically going into the craft store. Other user problems included obligations, expenses, or challenges that make it difficult to get craft supplies or go to the craft store in-person.
Pain Points
After my research, I found that there were four main categories of user pain points:
Personas
In order to understand my key users better, I created two personas:
Define
User Stories
User Journey Maps
Mapping Neelam’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a delivery service and a rewards system for craft store customers.
Mapping Leah’s user journey revealed how helpful assistive technology and an easy-to-navigate sales monitoring app would be for the craft store employees.
Problem Statements
Neelam is a busy teacher and mom of one who needs supply delivery while saving money because she wants more free time and the ability to stay in budget.
Leah is a visually impaired craft store employee who needs assistive technology and an easy-to-navigate app because with it, it would make her job easier.
Competitive Analysis
After completing my user research, I conducted a competitive analysis of websites and apps that shared similar target audiences and provided similar services as Craft Corner. I assessed each competitor by accessing their websites and installing their apps (if they had one).
Some gaps identified across the platforms included:
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Narrow target audience; could be broadened
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Lacking an easy-to-navigate interface
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Being too wordy or not having enough description
Some opportunities discovered based on my competitor analysis:
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Make the app available and accessible to more people
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Create a clean, simple, easy-to-navigate interface
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Include key information without making text wordy
Some opportunities discovered based on my competitor analysis:
-
Make the app available and accessible to more people
-
Create a clean, simple, easy-to-navigate interface
-
Include key information without making text wordy
Some gaps identified across the platforms included:
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Narrow target audience; could be broadened
-
Lacking an easy-to-navigate interface
-
Being too wordy or not having enough description
Ideate
Goal Statement
Entering the Ideation phase, my goal statement (following Neelam's problem statement) went as follows:
Our craft store app will let users get their orders delivered straight to them which will affect users who have to make and normally have to pick up large orders by easing the shopping process by allowing users to stay home, saving time and money. We will measure effectiveness by tracking delivery orders placed through the app.
User Flow
Using my research findings, I charted the main user flow for my app - placing an order for delivery.
Storyboards
Following the user flow and Neelam's persona, I drew both a big-picture and close-up storyboard to illustrate how Craft Corner can be a solution to her craft supply problem.
Prototype
Paper Wireframe
Taking the time to draft iterations of the home screen ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited for the homepage and address user pain points. Stars were used to mark the elements of each sketch that would be used in the initial digital wireframe.
Digital Wireframe
Following my paper wireframe, I transferred the designs onto Figma. The designs below are just two screens of my digital wireframe.
Ease of access was a key user need to address in the designs in addition to equipping the app to work with assistive technologies.
As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research.
Low-Fidelity Prototype
The low-fidelity prototype connected to the primary user flow of shopping and ordering craft supplies.
High-Fidelity Prototype
The high-fidelity prototype was updated with text, photos, and color to help guide the user through the main user flow of browsing the store (screens 1-3), adding an item to cart (screen 4), and completing the purchase (screens 5-9).
Test
Research Plan
I tested the usability of the main user flow using the high-fidelity prototype. My main goals were to:
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Evaluate the overall usability of the app.
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Make note of any difficulties for further iteration/improvement.
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Collect feedback from users on ease of navigating app.
Usability Study
To test my design, I tested the high-fidelity prototype on 5 imaginary users with an unmoderated usability study. Each participant conducted 4 tasks:
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Inputting their location
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Navigate to "Classroom Supplies"
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Add 3 items to cart
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Checkout and complete the order for delivery
In the document below, you can see observations I made about each participant's attempt as well as each participants click path, quotes, and task completion.
Affinity Diagram
My analysis via the affinity map below is categorized by task (location, shopping sections, add to cart, and checkout) and is filled with observations, quotes, or task completion by each participant (A, B, C, D, and E).
Themes and Insights
Patterns identified:
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It was observed that 3 out of 5 participants had trouble finding certain store sections. This means that certain store sections are difficult to find for most users.
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It was observed that 2 out of 5 participants were annoyed that quantity could not be modified when adding items to cart. This means that some users find it useful to be able to modify the quantity of items when adding to cart.
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It was observed that 2 out of 5 participants had trouble finding the Location input on the mains screen. This means that the Location is hard to find for some users.
Insights identified:
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Based on the theme that: certain store sections are hard to find for most users, an insight is: users need a better organized category layout in order to find what they are searching for easier.
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Based on the theme that: some users find it useful to be able to modify the quantity of items when adding to cart, an insight is: users need to be able to modify their quantity of items from the main store page.
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Based on the theme that: the Location input is hard to find for some users, an insight is: users need the Location input to be more distinguishable on the home screen.
Implement
Visual Design
Entering the final stage of development, visual design was locked in and a sticker sheet was created to guide me through working on the interface design.
Refining the Design
Following my paper wireframe, I transferred the designs onto Figma. The designs below are just two screens of my digital wireframe.
Change #1: There seemed to be some confusion with the naming conventions of the category screen. I organized categories and category names.
Change #2: Early designs made the users go through two screens of choosing categories. To streamline the flow, I consolidated the category and subcategory screens to one category screen.
Usability Study
After these improvements, it was time for another usability study.
To test my design, I tested the updated high-fidelity prototype on 5 imaginary users with a moderated usability study. Each participant conducted 3 tasks:
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Select "Art Supplies" and purchase 4 different items
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Select a category and purchase 3 of the same item
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Purchase items by navigating with the search bar
Affinity Diagram
My analysis via the affinity map below is categorized by task (location, shopping sections, add to cart, and checkout) and is filled with observations, quotes, or task completion by each participant (A, B, C, D, and E).
Themes and Insights
Patterns identified:
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It was observed that 3 out of 5 participants had some difficulties with selecting a given category and purchasing 4 different items. This means that categories need to be better organized and/or the user flow could be further improved.
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It was observed that 1 out of 5 participants had some difficulties with navigating the app to purchase 3 of the same item. This means that the user flow could be further improved.
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It was observed that 2 out of 5 participants were confused by the naming conventions of the categories. This means that the categories could be better labeled and/or organized.
Insights identified:
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Based on the theme that: categories need to be better organized and/or the user flow could be further improved, an insight is: users need a better organized category layout or a more intuitive user flow in order to navigate the app easier and find what they are searching for.
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Based on the theme that: the user flow could be further improved, an insight is: users need a more intuitive user flow in order to navigate the app easier.
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Based on the theme that: the categories could be better labeled and/or organized, an insight is: users need a better organized category layout in order to find what they are searching for easier.
Final Prototype
Taking the usability study into consideration, I created my final iteration of the Craft Corner prototype.
Reflecting and Looking Ahead
While designing the Craft Corner app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the lengthy process. Usability studies and user feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next steps include:
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Implement ‘Today’s Deals’ and other couponing features to help users save money.
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Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
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Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.