Careful Peach
Summary
Careful Peach Boutique is a small specialty store in the Chicago suburbs offering a unique selection of items that exude sophistication and whimsy, including apothecary luxuries, handmade jewelry, home decor, and more.
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Careful Peach's eCommerce site is in need of a redesign, to eliminate consumer's frustrations and create a more enjoyable experience that reflects their unique brand.
Timeline
2-week sprint, December 2022
My Role
UX/UI Designer & Researcher
Tools
Figma, Canva, Gsuite
Deliverables
Desktop prototype (Figma)
Methods
Competitive & Comparative Analysis, Heuristic Evaluation, Usability Testing, User Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Journey Mapping, Personas, Userflows, Card Sorting, Sitemapping, Wireframing, and Prototyping.
Results
By focusing on key user needs from my research, my conceptual redesign of Careful Peach's desktop e-commerce site resulted in higher usability scores. I prioritized users' ease of use through simple language, clearly marked system status on all pages and consistent yet visually satisfying display of products and their information. Overall, the Careful Peach e-commerce site is now able to deliver an easy and satisfying user experience while representing its unique and sophisticated brand.
The Process
I worked through the double diamond approach to design by starting with research in the Discovery phase. I then used that research to clearly Define the problem and the user I was designing for. Next, I began the Design phase by sketching iterations, and wireframing. Finally, after testing my new product, I was able to Deliver a high-fidelity desktop Prototype.
Heuristic Evaluation
My first step in research was to evaluate Careful Peach's current site. I examined the interface and took note of areas that weren't compliant with standard usability principles. Several areas in need of improvement were found in this exercise. Most notable were inconsistencies in the size of product cards, differing and confusing language, as well as low visibility of system status. There was also a lack of accessibility because of color choices that resulted in poor readability of certain text.
User Interviews
I wanted to understand the habits and needs of people who enjoy boutique and online shopping, so I conducted 5 scripted user interviews to gain some insight. I then used their insights to perform Affinity mapping by writing out each user's points on notecards and then sorting them by theme to find common issues. I used these groups to generate three statements that summarize the most important user notes
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I shop at boutiques when I want to find something unique or more personal either as a gift or for myself
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When I shop online I want to find what I'm looking for as quickly as possible.
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Good product photos, details, and reviews are important in my decision to buy.
Usability Testing
My next step was to see how user friendly the current site was by running a usability test with 3 participants. I tasked participants with finding a candle to gift a friend between $20-$30. I measured the time to complete the task, and the number of errors that occurred. I also asked participants to complete a survey after testing that measured how easy to use they found the site to be.
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Results:
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The average system usability score or SUS score from surveying was 67.5 which falls in the poor category.
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Several people were frustrated with the inconsistent language on the site, and the lack of product information and quality photos.
Persona Building
Armed with all my research, I formed a persona for a typical Careful Peach online shopper. Meet Lisa, a busy professional who is always on the hunt for unique items that exciter her and the people she is shopping for. Lisa is limited on time and decides to shop online, but she doesn't want to sacrifice the experience of shopping at the local store that she loves.​
The Problem
Lisa needs to find the products she is looking for quickly and easily, because wasting time frustrates her and takes away from the bespoke experience of boutique shopping.
User Flows
Before sketching out my solution, I focused on mapping out what the ideal user flow for purchasing an item would look like.
I also designed a flow for generating revenue, by adding a gift wrapping option to items during the checkout process.
Design
With my persona's needs and goals in mind, and my user flows I started sketching possible solutions. Form there I worked on wireframing my solution and created a mid-fidelity prototype.
Home Page Sketch
Home Page Wireframe
Prototype Usability Testing
My next order of business was to conduct another round of usability testing on my prototype. I tasked 3 participants with purchasing a candle for their friend between $20-$30 and adding the gift wrapping option in the checkout. Participants were then asked to complete a survey measuring the usability of the prototype, which allowed me to calculate a system usability score.
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Results:
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The average System Usability Score was now at 95.8 which is excellent
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100% of users successfully completed the task with 0 errors.
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Comments:
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"I got a boutique feeling. Instead of seeing little squares, the product display made it feel more like an in-store experience"
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"I wasn't sure if I pressed the add to cart button because it didn't change enough"
Next Steps
After completing my high-fidelity prototype, my next step would be to run more usability testing on the updated prototype. I would also like to build out the other product category pages more thoroughly.
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Conclusion
This project was an immense learning experience for me. I was able to complete an intense 2-week design sprint on my own and really get to test my research and design skills. In hindsight, I would have liked to complete more user interviews, however with the time constraints and working alone, I am still proud of the work I accomplished. Overall, I delivered a product that was easier to use and delivered an online store experience that aligns with Careful Peach's brand.​