Case Study: Patagonia App
General Assembly, Weeks 4 & 5
Project 3 was a group project. Our groups formed based on shared interest and our group chose to work on Patagonia’s mobile app. The three of us are fans of the company, their products, and their website, but were surprised at how basic and dated their app was. Our goal was to redesign and update the app while bringing awareness to Patagonia’s various initiatives and conscious production.
Team
First Paul, Kyle and I talked about working together as this was our first team project at GA. We established how to communicate outside of class, where and how to organize files, how to resolve any potential conflict, and chose roles. We also used a very helpful waterfall template to plan out the two weeks and time-box accordingly.
Brainstorming and Research
Our team of three started out by discussing how to improve the current app, which quickly led to market research and comparative and competitive analysis. We downloaded competing apps and studied the checkout flows and features. We drew a current consumer journey map of the Patagonia app on the white board and compared to the other apps. It was easy to see how much we could do to improve the current app!
We drew the user flow of the current app on the white board to have a visual representation of the user’s journey in completing a task (making a purchase).
Research also included a current sitemap of both the website and the app. We looked at the website sitemap because Patagonia has a ton of content and we needed to decide which content to add to the app, which brought us to card sorting.
We did 6 card sorts, which helped us decide how much content to include and how to prioritize and organize it. We also conducted a survey, which drilled down on user’s preferences, hobbies, and expectations regarding shopping on an app.
Sketching, Ideation, User Testing
After cart sorting and looking at our comparative and competitive analysis, we began sketching the new Patagonia app. Part of my role was to sketch with pen/pencil and paper and create a paper prototype.
How do we incorporate lots of information and shopping in one app without making it overcrowded? We decided on a hamburger menu that offers a “Shop” section and a “Learn” section and were able to fit everything perfectly! We also added features like touch ID log in and linking from technology to products that feature the technology.
As I finished sketches, I handed them off to Kyle who made the wire frames.
This was my first attempt at a paper prototype and I thought it was really fun and useful! Paul conducted most of the user testing and returned with lots of validation and feedback from users. We implemented a few changes on paper, then continued to mid fidelity wire frames.
Prototype and Presentation
Paul worked on our two personas and scenarios, which developed from the survey results. As Kyle finished wire frames, I made them clickable in Invision. As a group, we crafted the presentation, then presented the prototype to our class and instructors. It was so fun to see the before and after versions of the Patagonia app!
Take Away Thoughts
I only wish we had more resources to make the changes real! The group project was a great experience! I was stressed about dividing up the work and often working remotely, but we trusted each other (huge!), communicated several times each day and the end result was a success.
In the future, I would like to work on wire frames to gain more experience with Sketch. I would also like to try A/B testing and storyboards in upcoming projects.
