Timeline: May 2022 - August 2022 (4 months)

My role: Project Manager, UX Designer

My collaborators: Nga Ting Chan, Nguyen Phuong Trinh Vo, Thi Hoai Thu Tran

Deliverables: Personas, Comparative Analysis, User Flows, Wireframes, Prototype

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Background

Situation overview

In the second semester of my graduate program in Interactive Media Management at Centennial College, I had the opportunity to go through the whole design thinking process to work on my project. I had three collaborators to provide help and offer valuable feedback.

I needed to observe and explore the problem for this personal project, which was different from the last semester when I was given an actual client with an existing problem. So I started thinking about what problem I encountered recently that I would like to solve.

At that time, the pandemic was still happening, and I had fewer chances to meet friends and shop together. Instead of going out with friends to buy things, I shop online more often. Online shopping is convenient, but the experience is boring to me. It’s just me facing a bunch of product images. Therefore, I wondered whether people have the same problem as me and if this problem is worth solving.

The goal

After discovering the problem, I needed to set a project plan and objectives. The project aims to create a high-fidelity prototype of an interactive e-commerce platform that promotes customer engagement by going through the design thinking process.

Problem Definition

Online shopping destroys customer engagement.

The growing popularity of e-commerce and the influence of the pandemic make online shopping desirable. However, online shopping lacks social interaction, making it difficult for retailers to build relationships and connect with customers. Customers who feel disengaged about online shopping are eager to have a better shopping experience, but retailers face obstacles in delivering an engaging user experience in the digital space.

Research

User survey

In order to validate my project idea, I conducted a concept validation survey with 15 target users in mid-May 2022 to find user needs and insights.

Overview of the responses

Key findings

• Social interaction is one of the biggest problems with the existing e-commerce platforms
• Non-tech-savvy shoppers would also like to enjoy the experience
• Retailers would like to know more about the product types on this platform
• Consumers want a fun, relaxing and smooth experience

Personas

Based on the user research and analysis, I created two personas to represent two types of target users.

Olivia Baker, the beginner business owner

Megan Nelson, the indecisive shopper

Finding solution

What do the consumers want?

Before jumping into the solution, I initially researched what shopping experience the consumers want.

I found useful data from the Future Shopper Report 2022 released by Wunderman Thompson.

I had the 4 key insights:

1. Consumers want innovative retail experiences
2. Consumers want omni-channel experiences
3. Consumers are interested in the idea of metaverse
4. Tech-driven consumers will be the new normal

Therefore, I came up with a proposed solution from the research findings.

Proposed Solution

Downtown - an apparel e-commerce platform that promotes customer engagement

What is it?

Downtown is a 2D metaverse apparel e-commerce platform for retailers and customers. It bridges the gap between physical stores and online stores. It is an innovative sales option for apparel retailers to promote their brands by building relationships and engaging with customers. It also allows customers to shop with anyone, anytime and anywhere, through web browsers with their avatars.

Target users

1. Apparel Retailers
2. Consumers

Design

Design is iterative and collaborative.

Identifying key features

Virtual world and metaverse are big topics, and the project can be large and complex. However, this project period was only four months. With limited time and resources, I had to identify the critical features for providing an engaging experience to the users and demonstrate those in the prototype. Therefore, I decided to host a UX workshop for a Feature Prioritization Exercise to identify the most critical features that can be completed before the end of the semester.

This is how the InVision board looks after the UX workshop:

What I have learned from the UX workshop

I often come up with many ideas, but I cannot complete them all at once. I found that this UX workshop is a useful tool for collaboratively assessing the benefits in two aspects. From the findings, I decided to complete the features with the highest user value and least design effort.

Defining UX Theme

Connect with the real world

Before prototyping, I created a UX theme to capture the value my project would bring to users. It’s a great way to define what experience I want users to have.

Mood board

Wireframes

To better showcase my idea, I selected one of the most important flows to create a low-fidelity prototype using InVision for user testing.

Journey map

The purpose of the Journey Map is to understand the users' mindset and empathize with the user’s frustration and joy in order to find opportunities to improve their user experience. It represents a timeline of a user journey which illustrates the customer’s feelings and thoughts. It is an effective tool for finding problems and improving the current design.

This journey map explains the process of one of the personas, Megan Nelson, using Downtown.

User Testing

I learned about my users by watching how they interact with my product.

After designing the wireframes, I defined the tasks, wrote a test script and came up with some follow-up questions for user testing. I conducted the user testing with 5 potential users.

Key findings

• Users created the accounts smoothly
• Users took a few seconds to think about their following action after creating an account
• They weren't sure about the difference between the "create" and "create and add next" buttons
• Overall, it didn't take long for them to complete the whole process

Modifications made after user testing

• Added cancel and back buttons to provide more user control and freedom
• Showed the recently created products on the add product page to minimize the users’ memory load
• Provided tips on the next step to guide the users
• Rename confusing button labels

Prototype

My prototype is all about the user journeys.

I developed the prototype with two user flows. Based on the two personas, I defined their goal and designed their user journey.

Let’s see how Olivia and Megan begin their journey and how they fulfill their goal.

Olivia's journey:

Megan's journey:

Final Thoughts

This project gave me a taste of what it might be like to work as a UX designer and project manager. I learned how to effectively pitch my project idea and support my idea with data and market research.

I also learned the importance of the iterative design process. My initial design was changed multiple times based on user feedback in order to improve usability.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was to demonstrate how my platform offers better customer engagement while not destroying the convenience of the modern online shopping site. I had to research other similar products and ask some of the potential users. I found that users would like to have a personalized experience and a better categorization. Therefore, I designed a “personal town” customized by interests and different “themed towns” by clothing categories.

Overall, I enjoyed the design process of turning my idea into a prototype. I hope I can have more opportunities to design products and solve problems.