oPen station
concept Ux/uI project
Within a 4 week timeline, I was tasked with designing an eCommerce website for a small stationary store. While this store was popular with locals and known for their quality, they were having difficulty moving their business onto the digital platform. My goal as the UX designer, was to expand the customer base while maintaining the business values.
Overview
My Role:
Lead UX Designer, Researcher, UI Designer
Tools: Figma, Marvel, Adobe
research process
card sorting
I used card sorting to determine the best navigation and hierarchy of products.
c&C analysis
A competitive analysis helped me view what other successful stationary stores were doing. I also used a comparative analysis to study the design of labels and product hierarchy.
archetype
We based our designs on an archetype of shopper. This helped us align to certain shopper goals and needs.
affinity map
While card sorting helped us determine navigation, I also used an affinity map to create categories in the most efficient and collected manner.
user flow
The user flow shows a potential “happy path” that users would take to achieve their goal. I designed this with a persona of a critical buyer in mind (a person who likes to read reviews and compare items).
Here, the flow shows that a user will find two products, compare them, and then choose one to purchase. They will then checkout, enter their info, and then confirm their purchase.
a lot of thought and iterations
design process
sketches
I created a few sketches for homepages and menu options. I also worked on potential logos and iterations of pages. This was a lot of fun—the concept of a stationary store website alluded to a lot of potential design ideas!
Business analysis
goals:
Quality, trust, & loyalty
Why these goals:
oPen Station opened in the late 1960’s
They are a small stationary store
They are known for their quality materials and amazing service
They are local
color choices
Purples
Purple is well-known for quality, as it was the color worn by royalty. Purples can also be associated with loyalty.
Greens
I believed green was a good positivity color. As well as being associated with health and nature, the color green is a good neutral color for balance.
Reds/Pinks
Red hues (and pink hues) are associated with warmth and love. Red can also be used for passion and trust. I believed these would be the most important to show the owner’s love and care for their store and customers.
mood board & gallery thoughts
What did I learn?
Smaller stores tend to keep items out and in the open.
There are also very few, if any, separations (or categories).
There is a more cohesive and open environment.
There is a natural vibrancy and organic mood due to this layout and the colors.
HI-fi prototype and mockups
Large images with a clear division of categories!
Quick access to important details after purchase!
Product pages with reviews and images from real people!
Next Steps
This product will not become live, but I loved working on this concept. Designing a product, not just for aesthetics, but also for the user was great.
I would like to pursue making this prototype into a workable MVP. I also believe that the designs are not great for a desktop in mind. I would like to develop the layout more so that it is more compatible.