Project 2: Retrospective

Intro

This project was definitely the most challenging for me in making myself really focus on the research and make sure all of my design and information architecture was backed by the research I had done. The overarching goal of this project was to redesign the IA and content strategy around an experience for users of an online retailer, which for me was a store called Whisk. Whisk is a small business, selling kitchen and tableware with a local feel, located in Manhattan and Brooklyn. For the project, I was also supposed to keep in mind the goals of the users, the goals of the retailer, and the site’s existing brand.

Research

I first started off by identifying my target personas, these would be important to keep in mind throughout the project because they are what the site needed to be reorganized to cater to. I also completed an heuristic analysis of the competing stores which include stores like Sur La Table, William’s Sonoma and Bed, Bath & Beyond. By observing the different layouts and user flows of these sites, I was able to glean information about what worked and what didn’t for Whisk’s site.

The second method of research I used was contextual inquiry, this involved going to the store itself and really watching the customers interact with the the store environment and staff. Through this, I learned that Customers come to the store knowing what they are looking for, items in the store are placed close together and clerks are ready to help customers find things as customers might not be able to locate items on their own. The store, like the site, is densely packed with items and can be overwhelming for customers.

The last form of research that I used was called “card sorting”. There are two variations of this; open, which involves letting the user sort cards (or in this case stickies) into whichever category made the most sense to them.

The second of the two options for card sorting is “closed card sorting.” This is where the user being tested has predetermined categories to sort the cards into but they can put them into whichever category makes the most sense.

These two methods really helped me to understand how users would intuitively expect the different items the store carries to be organized. It also gave me insight into what was currently wrong with the architecture of the Whisk site.

First Design Iterations

The first design iterations were based off of the contextual inquiry, personas, card sorting and competitive analysis that I completed. Initially, there were a couple of user pain points when I first did user testing on the prototypes. I found that users had a hard time navigating back to home, they were unsure if certain items were clickable and didn’t know the difference between the next button and checkout button.

Second Iteration

After this user testing feedback, I was able to make changes to make the site more easy to navigate and buttons more intuitive. I also further took into account in the prototype that my primary persona, Roland, who is an experienced cook and likes to spend time with his granddaughter, might want to walk through the steps of finding a cookbook they could use together. This is shown in the prototype link below:

https://projects.invisionapp.com/d/main#/projects/8074252

Final Thoughts

The next steps I would envision for this project if it were to continue would be: creating more fluid ways for customers to return to the home screen, giving users ability to create an account, higher fidelity versions of this last iteration and making checkout and cart review more visible to the user.