Day 1 - Map

The goal for the first day of the design spring is to develop a map that illustrates the users journey to complete the most critical objective this product should accomplish.

This product really should benefit people who don’t have a whole lot of time to shop for things and who don’t have a whole lot of money to spend on expensive items. The final product should also aid people who have developed a taste for certain decor styles and need help finding items to match. House2Home should take the guesswork out of purchasing accessories by creating combo packs for people to browse and purchase.

House2Home’s target audience demographic is primarily younger people who are getting into new apartments or living spaces. People who are new to living alone will benefit the most because they are starting with a fresh palette. For example, someone who has a space decorated with country chic accessories that is trying to infuse a bit of modern appeal might not benefit from an entire kit of accessories - they may just want one or two pieces.

Research

Iterview highlights:

Personas

With the research data gathered from interviews, personas developed. I used the personas to gain empathy so I could develop a useable product. Here is an example of a persona I created for this project.

Ally, 23 years old

• Graduated college one month ago, moved into a small studio apartment.
• Excited to decorate her own space.
• Browses Pinterest for ideas, and saves photos of apartments and rooms that she likes.
• She is interested in small spaces that feel bright and lively.

Frustrations

• Knows the look, but not what to buy.
• Decorative pieces are out of her price range.
• Doesn't want to make big changes.
• Doesn't know if items will look good together in her space.

Goals

• Quick apartment "facelift" without needing to shop for many individual items.
• Find decorative items in her budget.

Early Ideation

I began my process by looking at what leaders in the industry are doing to sell their products. My goal was to gain understanding about the industry especially how leaders handle information hierarchy and design elements.

The very first website that popped up in my google search I spent a great deal of time investigating. The company is worldmarket.com. Here are some things that caught my attention right away: 

• Simple aesthetics.
• Large call to action to catch impulse buyers.
• Basic modern design suggests that viewers study the images of the products.
• The design reads as elegant and has a nice refined nature with good photographs that bring out the best in the products being sold.

User map

The features I flow I thought was the most efficient was:

• Upload pictures of their space so they can see how the items look in their unique environment.
• Browse different styles quickly, with products changing with the different themes in their placed spaces.
• Cycle through the different elements, or delete elements at will.
• Settle the design of a room and then begin the payment work flow.

Finally, I reached out to five people who agreed to partake in a usability test later in the week.

Day 2 - Sketch

Lightning Demos

Since I found WorldMarket.com to be visually inspiring, I decided to do lightening demos with their website. Basically, I quickly sketched users routes in my sketchbook.

Next, I did a few rounds of crazy 8 drawing, quickly sketching out one screen in my perceived user's flow.

Critical Screens

After selecting the crazy 8 frame I thought worked best with my project goals, I created critical screens. I quickly drew out the screen before and the screen after.

Day 3 - Decide

I came back to my project and re-examined my sketches and my critical screen drawings. The next step was to create a several panel storyboard showing the process a user would take navigating the module. I thought of this portion of the process as a lightweight, sketched wireframe that I would use for building a prototype.

I chose necessary UI elements while sketching my storyboards that I expected to use in the prototype. I decided to include the process of selecting and creating a custom package for this part of the sprint, as I found it to be most critical.

The last thing I did on day 3 of my 5 day process was reach out to my participants to schedule my day 5 usability tests.

Day 4 - Prototype

My favorite day in the sprint process, prototyping! I developed a well rounded prototype for my participants to use for usability purposes.

The home screen contains a large call to action button, and has instructions for the user.

After the user selects the call to action, they are brought to a page with different options and styles they can cycle through until they find one that they like. There is also a link to a style quiz if they need help figuring out what syle they like best.

If the user selects the button to upload a photo, images from the users device populate to choose from.

The users items are placed in the last them the user was on before uploading the picture of the space.

The user can easily swap between pieces of furniture that they can move about the room and arrange in attractive ways.

The user can also get quick information about the items by rolling over the top of them, or clicking them to get options.

The user can either delete items that they don't wish to purchase, or proceed to purchase the times by clicking add to cart.

This product is interactive, sleek, and easy to use. It allows users to visualize items in their spaces and custom create packages for purchase.

Day 5 - Test

On the last day I did usability testing to make sure my product was meeting the goals that I developed at the beginning of the process. I took notes and carefully watched as my participants navigated my screens. After all of my usability tests were done, I made a few edits to UI elements, and clarified my on screen instructions a bit.