Initial Research

To intuitively understand users' eCommerce desires, I began my research with a direct/indirect competitive analysis. First, I interviewed four people who fit the preferred user categories of shoppers. After recruiting the interview participants, I developed an interview/usability test to understand the specific motivations & frustrations of a user.

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Competitive Analysis: Direct competitors analyzed for strengths and weaknesses.

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Preferred Online Website Users to Interview:

Users that surf/browse/purchase from online stores on a weekly/bi-weekly basis.

Users that shop for clothes using websites or apps.

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User Interview Conclusions: Documented Findings

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Persona: "Naomi" is a realistic representation of Mirror's key audience segment for an online shopping experience.

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Information Architecture

To develop a better framework for Mirror's website, I began building the site's information structure to dictate my design decisions based on user feedback up to this point.

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Card Sorting: I used OptimalSort.com with four participants based on clothing categories (i.e., Womans Tops, Men's Bottoms, Shoes, etc.) I discovered the info below on categorizing certain items together for efficiency while shopping.

Sitemap: Created with competitive analysis, 1-on-1 interviews, and card sorting exercises considered

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Research Insight

Users' online shopping experience is highly affected by the website's display & visual design. Therefore, ease of use within UI is highly considered by users while browsing.

Participants need to see clothing worn/displayed properly on humans to be comfortable enough to make the purchase.

UI style may vary, but many people don't like to scroll excessively.

Users hold a balanced in-store and online shopping relationship.

The most common feature requested: Interactive Display (VR, 3D, etc.)

Synthesizing User Research

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Interaction Design

Task Flow, User Flow, Responsive Wireframes, and UI product requirements - continuing my process to develop designed deliverables.

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Initial Task Flow: To buy a product and checkout.

UI Product Requirements: Homepage, Category, Menu, Product Info, Shopping Bag, Checkout.

UI Wireframes

Desktop Wireframes developed from revised layout sketches and research. Each page is specifically designed for simplicity; minimal type usage is paired with large display images for ease of use/accessibility.

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UI Design

Mirror's visual identity was created once my research began to show user-selected patterns. A modern aesthetic was developed with the project's brief in mind. Clean, Neutral, & Minimal stylization was applied to develop a unique look for the responsive website. Corporate Visual Identity Document

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High Fidelity Design (Desktop)

Mirror's landing page displays the website's minimal design style. Modernist San-serif typefaces curate a calm shopping experience - Desktop "Menu" flow shown below:

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High Fidelity Design (Mobile)

Mobile UI design developed through wireframes and competitive analysis. Check out Task flow is shown below; the main user flow used to design the site.

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Usability Testing (Desktop & Mobile)

Affinity Map

Below I have the recorded outcome of the observations I made during testing Mirror's usability and readability. Assisting me in understanding how the website is interacted with and noting pain points from different users.

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Usability Insight

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Home Page

None of the users used the "women's category" to navigate - I do not believe this is an issue/paint point, but I would like to create more entry points for accessing the numerous clothing categories on the website. Also, rather than being able to scroll through individual items on the homepage, I believe a way to delegate menu usage would be to place a section to scroll through the website's different categories.

Menu

Participants three and four cited irregular text scale and spacing. A smaller grid for this page would tighten up the composition and off-putting look of the long list of words inside the menu. Re-formatting the menu to be in alphabetical order - as I noticed participant four hesitated in locating “Dresses” within the menu.

Category Product Page

I observed slight confusion on where exactly to press when using the filters. A resolution would be to place the word filter over the arrow in smaller point size.

Product Page

I observed multiple users hesitating in using the bookmark icon. Participant four could not locate the bookmark icon - due to the multiple user issues with the bookmark icon; I created a subcategory below.

Shopping bag Page

Participants one, two, and three could not locate the save for later list button on the page's top right. In designing a solution - I will have to create a halved rectangle design with two categories as options above the products list. Participant one was the only user to click the CTA to check out. A re-design of the checkout icon will allow users to not scroll to the bottom of the page.

Bookmark/Save for Later Icon

Change the bookmark icon to the Star icon to represent the wish list. Also, revised “Save for later” to “Wishlist” for consistent labeling.

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View Prototype

Walk-through the mobile website here.

User tasks include: "Purchase a Dress" / "Filter your clothing options"

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Revisions

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Conclusion

In conclusion, designing a responsive website is a skill set to be mastered with constant practice. In finalizing this project, I found successful ways to display product photography in a clear and engaging way for the user. Hopefully, motivating the person to make a purchase. If I had more time to dedicate to this project, I would consider working on the following:

• Revise product display page with multi-media viewing options: Interactive Design.
• Develop Men's, Kids, and Shoe clothing category pages.
• Observe/Test more users to develop revisions for more efficiency.

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Mirror Case Study - PDF

Thank you

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