Second Sprout
Project Details
Client
Personal Project
Timeline
70 Hours
Role
UX Researcher
Product Designer
Graphic Designer
Project Type
End to End Design
The Process
1.Empathize
Conducting research and understanding the users through interviews
2.Define
Identifying pain points from user feedback
3.Ideate
Brainstorming and building
4.Design
Creating wireframes based on research and deliverables
5.Test
Prototyping and usability testing
6.Wrap Up
Key findings and reflections to move forward
Empathize
Understanding and Relating
The Problem
Parents and caregivers often struggle to find affordable, quality children’s clothing while also being mindful of environmental impacts. Existing platforms are not user-friendly and often lack trust-building features that assure the quality and condition of items. There is also frustration with the time-consuming process of listing items for sale, leading to low engagement from sellers.
The Solution
With a new design in mind, I aimed to simplify the buying and selling processes, provide better search filters and navigation, and enhance trust with clear product descriptions and seller ratings. Ultimately, this would make sustainable shopping a hassle-free experience for users. I took an iterative approach, continuously creating, testing, and refining based on user feedback.
To understand the core problems and the needs of our target audience, I conducted a mix of qualitative and quantitative research, including user interviews, surveys, and competitive analysis.
User Feedback
-Users expressed frustration over lack of specific search filters, tedious listing processes, and concerns about item quality.
-Desires: They wanted intuitive navigation, better filtering options, and greater transparency about item conditions.
-One interviewee highlighted the time wasted scrolling through items without knowing the true condition or fit, which strongly guided the development of the condition display and filtering features.
Define
Research and Feedback
In order to focus on the proper direction of the project, I identified three key personas using direct feedback from user interviews that encapsulate the variety of users who would benefit from Second Sprout. By gaining insight into their unique motivations, challenges, and needs, I was able to customize the design to enhance specific user experiences while remaining consistent in decision making.
Using the personas, I reverse engineered with “how might we” questions. I was able to frame these questions around the specific needs and challenges identified. This method guided the design process, ensuring that the solutions developed were directly aligned with user goals and pain points.
How might we offer personalized recommendations that align with users’ past behaviors and preferences?
How might we improve the search and filtering options to help users find specific sizes, brands, and styles of children’s clothing more efficiently?
How might we use data to suggest items that users might be interested in while keeping the experience respectful of their time and attention?
How might we design a search experience that feels intuitive and rewarding, even when specific items are not available?
Ideate
Synthesize Research Findings and Creating Building Blocks
Given the synthesized user research, I focused on clear, direct paths to frequently used actions. The decision to prioritize these features and actions in the sitemap was driven by the need for efficiency, ease of use, and ultimately helped shape the design of the app.
By creating user flows, I was able to identify any areas of confusion within the navigation paths. This iterative process allowed for refinements that ensured the final design was intuitive and user-friendly, aligning with the goals identified through the personas and "How Might We" questions.
Design
Framework and Branding
While keeping in mind the user needs, pain points, and desires, I sketched out low fidelity wireframes with the design influenced by existing platforms. I wanted to design a familiar interface that was intuitive and easy to understand for users. From there, I incorporated branding and visual design for digital wireframes.
For branding, I focused on a warm, inviting palette to reflect trust and a child-friendly appeal. As for the logo design, under the basis of “sprout”, I started doodling flower related graphics and built off that. I put together all the components into a UI tool kit for easy access through iterations.
Test
Gauging Efficiency, Accessibility, and Effectiveness
With all the screens designed to the highest fidelity, I made interactive prototypes for user testing.
Here’s what the users had to say:
-Users found the interface easy to use and familiar to existing platforms.
-Users found the color scheme to be inviting, easy on the eyes, and accessible, contributing -positively to the overall user experience.
-App Functions and navigation are intuitive and easy to use.
-Users appreciated the personalized recommendations and found them useful in discovering new items.
-The new filtering options significantly reduced the time spent searching for specific items.
Would like to have an “edit cart” feature where items can be removed.
-Adding a category or filter based on "age" was suggested as a useful enhancement to improve the search and browsing experience.
Given the user feedback, I was able to focus on these iterations:
-Integrate a feature allowing users to easily edit their cart, including options to remove or adjust the quantity of items without having to navigate away from the cart page.
-Implement additional “age” filters to help users quickly narrow down search results and find items that fit their needs.
Conclusion
Final Thoughts
To me, the success of the project lay in understanding user frustrations and desires, allowing me to create a solution exceeded user expectations. Balancing simplicity with functionality while catering to user needs was challenging, especially when prioritizing features. Witnessing users express excitement and relief over the ease of use and thoughtful design choices was fun to see since the problems at hand were some I personally experience myself with similar apps.