MIRROR

Responsive e-commerce website and redesign of brand

Branding /UX Design / UI Design / Prototyping / User Testing

THE CHALLENGE:

Mirror is a successful clothing store that has expanded to 32 countries with over 400 stores since 1994. The company believes that clothing should be accessible to everyone, in a variety of styles and at affordable prices. Due to a demand for online services and a need to sell remaining inventory in warehouses, Mirror has decided it’s time transition into the online market and to revamp its outdated brand.

This is a speculative project, and Mirror is a fictional clothing brand.

OBJECTIVES:

• To design an e-commerce website for Mirror customers

• To update Mirror’s logo and brand

• To create an intuitive and efficient shopping experience for users

PROCESS:

01. RESEARCH

Market Research / Competitive Analysis / Contextual Inquiry Interviews

MARKET RESEARCH:

To begin our process, I researched general information about the e-commerce clothing industry and documented the common trends and pain points of online clothing store websites. This secondary data helped me gain perspective about the subject matter and potential needs of current shoppers.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS:

In order to effectively enter the market, it was important to understand how Mirror compares against competitors. Therefore, I evaluated the websites of Mirror’s direct and indirect competitors by their strengths and weaknesses. Evaluating the competition gave me a better understand customer expectations and how Mirror can position itself against competing companies.

CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY INTERVIEWS:

To gain primary research from shoppers, I conducted contextual inquiry interviews with 8 participants about their shopping methods. The interviews consisted of open-ended questions about their in-store and online shopping experiences. By the end, I was able to gain insights on how shoppers behave and see patterns emerging.

• Gender: 3 male / 5 female

• Age: 19-55 years old

• Average Duration: ~12 min

02. DEFINE

Empathy Map / Persona / Storyboard

EMPATHY MAP:

To synthesize my research data, I constructed an empathy map by organizing the data points from each interview participant into groups. Then, I was able to deduce the user needs based off of the most common patterns within the user data.

PERSONA:

Next, I created a persona “Susan” to represent the findings synthesized from the empathy map. Susan reflects Mirror’s target customers and is characterized after the most common traits and behaviors from the interview participants. By giving context and personality to the research data, we can better empathize with the target user throughout the design process.

STORYBOARD:

To further understand the user and pain points, I sketched a short storyboard illustrating the persona’s transition from other retailers to Mirror. This quickly communicates a perceived user problem and how Mirror’s website can pose as the solution to this problem.

03. IDEATE

Card Sorting / Sitemap / Task Flow / User Flow

CARD SORTING:

An open card sorting activity was conducted with 3 participants and consisted of 60 categorical terms commonly found on online clothing stores. Through observation and feedback, I gained understanding of how participants structured information in their minds, which informed how I should then design the information architecture to be intuitive.

Main findings:

• There are various ways people categorize clothing terms

• Most objective way is to categorize by where the clothes are worn on the body

• More subjective methods, such as by personal usage or function, indicate potential value in allowing more personalized ways of organizing content

Based off of these findings, I hypothesized that the most universally understood way to organize clothing terms was by where the clothes are worn on the body. However, in future iterations, there is potential value in presenting clothes in more personalized ways such as by usage or function.

SITEMAP:

Next, I created a sitemap based on the findings from the card sorting activity and existing design patterns for e-commerce sites . By visualizing the information architecture and identifying key relationships between screens, we can better understand the flows and interactions throughout the site.

TASK FLOW:

Then, I constructed a task flow breaking down the necessary steps for a user to get from the landing page to the order confirmation page. Creating the task flow identified which pages were required within the customer’s process and forced me to think through the customer experience in more detail.

USER FLOW:

To further analyze the flow, I explored the possible paths that users could take while shopping at Mirror in a user flow diagram. Creating the user flow diagram allowed me to organize which pages were required and how they should relate to each other based on user decisions.

04. DESIGN

Sketches / Mid-Fidelity Wireframes / Branding

SKETCHES:

I began designing the UI by sketching low-fidelity wireframes for the Landing page. By presenting annotated sketches to my mentor and peers, I was able to quickly gain feedback about my designs and make improvements for the next iteration.

MID-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES:

I continued by creating mid-fidelity wireframes in Sketch, which helped me focus on the layout and visual hierarchy of the UI design before adding the styling. I was also able to present these wireframes and gain valuable feedback. To practice prototyping, I made a mid-fidelity prototype in InVision. Below are the wireframes of some of the main screens.

BRANDING:

Before beginning high-fidelity wireframes, I created branding guidelines to make sure the branding is cohesive and targets Mirror’s main audience. First, I gathered inspiration in a Pinterest mood board and brainstormed logo ideas. Since Mirror brands itself as a clothing store with styles for everyone, I wanted the branding to be welcoming but also modern and stylish.

05. PROTOTYPE

High-Fidelity Wireframes + Prototype / Usability Testing

HIGH-FIDELITY WIREFRAMES + PROTOTYPE:

Using the branding style, I created high-fidelity wireframes in Sketch. I then created a prototype in InVision to prepare for usability testing. Below are the designs of some of the main screens.

USABILITY TESTING:

Objectives:

• Test if users can accomplish tasks successfully

• Identify areas of difficulty and inconsistency within the website design

• Determine the overall usability of the website

User Tasks:

• Sign into account

• Use search function and Navigation function

• Find product and view information

• Add product to shopping bag

• Complete checkout process

Results:

I conducted usability testing with 5 participants who have similar backgrounds to our persona, Susan. From direct observation and audio recordings, I was able to collect valuable usability feedback from target users.

06. ITERATE

Affinity Map / Revised Wireframes + Prototype / UI Kit

AFFINITY MAP:

I created an affinity map to synthesize the usability findings, identifying reoccurring behaviors and feedback. From there, I drew insights from the synthesized information, which informed recommendations for the next iteration of the design. Since all of the insights involved usability issues within the checkout process, I knew I had to make improvements to those pages for the next iteration. Feel free to view the full affinity map below

REVISED WIREFRAMES + PROTOTYPE:

Finally, I revised the wireframes and the InVision prototype based on the recommendations drawn from the affinity map. The changes are shown below. Feel free to interact with the revised prototype using the button below.

OLD CHECKOUT:

NEW CHECKOUT:

UI KIT:

While prototyping, I maintained a UI kit in order to organize and document UI elements for future reference. Additionally, I prepared handoff deliverables in Zeplin in case I needed to share the design with developers.

REFLECTION:

Research is so important… Many features of clothing E-commerce sites have well-established design patterns to work off of. Because of this I had to use research for direction. I gained a lot of experience in researching best practices and determining which intuitive solutions were based for user testings. Additionally, since Mirror is entering an already established online clothing market, user expectations are more concrete, which makes it even more important for the website to reflect current e-commerce design patterns. As I learned from this project, usability testing can be a big help in discovering areas that are inconsistent with user expectations. Overall, I learned perspective in the e-commerce experience and the importance of understanding user needs.

NEXT STEPS:

• Prototype other features based on the persona’s user needs

• Identify areas of improvement through user feedback

• Design the UI for mobile and tablet screens

• Continue organizing design deliverables for handoff