2nd Story
An In-store app, specifically for a second hand bookstore that only employs disabled people, serving as a digital solution for both customers and employees, making the shopping experience more enjoyable and efficient. With the app customers can find their desired books on their own by being directed to the correct shelf and offered book suggestions, and the employees can focus on their work tasks.
My Role
UX Design
UX Research
UI Design
Date
June 1st, 2022
August 1st, 2022
Project Type
In-store Software
1. Overview
Problem Statement
I wanted to make the shopping experience as smooth and efficient as possible. When the stores is packed, which is a usual occurrence, Costumers get frustrated with the long await for service and feel helpless, whilst the employees get overwhelmed by the stressful environment and chaos.
Solution
After going through the design thinking methodology, I created a product that will help both participating parties, the costumers and the staff. With the software’s help, costumers can locate their desired books on their own by being directed to the correct shelves, and get relevant suggestions for similar books.
Main Features
* Locating books by shelves number * Relevant book suggestions
* Synchronized books archive * Up to date “New books” announcements
My Role
I conducted initial user research and created low-fi wireframes, followed by hi-fi. Also helped evaluate the designs through usability tests. Lastly, created mock-ups and interactive prototypes.
2. Design Process
I used design-thinking methodology of 5 phases to solve this problem
1. Emphasize
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Design
5. Test
* User Surveys
* User Interviews
* Affinity Map
* User Personas
* Competitor Analysis
* Brainstorming
* User Flows
* Wireframing
* Visual Design
* Usability Testing
* Quantitative Usability Testing
3. Emphasize
SURVEY
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I asked 32 various costumers about their shopping habits and experience in the store to understand the difficulties they face and here are the results…
My assumption - that costumers have an overall feeling of discomfort and helplessness to - was correct 🎉🎉🎉
To develop a rich understanding of the habits and problems of the costumers and the employees, I conducted user interviews with 4 costumers and 3 employees, 30 minutes each.
USER INTERVIEWS
* STYLE : MODERATED * DURATION : 430 MINUTES
* NUMBER : 7 PEOPLE * INTERVIEW TYPE : 1:1 INTERVIEW
Main questions I asked costumers Preparation
* How often do you attend the store? In order to stay organized and take track of all sessions,
I used Notion.
* What problems do you face when
shopping for books in the store?
* How would you describe you overall
experience shopping in the store?
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✨ Key Insights ✨
*Costumers lack access to books records and feel helpless getting around in the store, which makes them frustrated and disappointed from their shopping experience.
*Costumers typically lose interest in coming back, which results in loss of revenue and funding from the city hall.
*Most costumers arrive with their children which makes the experience more chaotic, waiting in the long lines.
*Employees described their work environment stressful and demanding, having to attend 5 costumers at a time.
Management described 2 incidents of employees meltdowns.
Research revealed, that costumers face problems like waiting for a long time to receive service, not being able to find their books on their own and having trouble to come with their children because of the chaos.
On the employee’s side, I discovered that their working environment is highly stressful and not benefiting their program to become integrated in the work force, having to attend 5+/- costumers at a time whilst managing their work tasks.
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Main questions I asked employees Preparation
* How often do you attend the store? In order to stay organized and take track of all sessions,
I used Notion.
* What problems do you face when
shopping for books in the store?
* How would you describe you overall
experience shopping in the store?
4. Define
AFFINITY DIAGRAM
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To organize research findings, I used an affinity mapping technique. I put down each insight on one sticky note, found patterns, and grouped them together. As a result, I got 2 main user groups
For each user group that I’ve discovered, I developed a persona. See the example of one representative of the group
USER INTERVIEWS
5. Ideate
COMPETITOR ANALYSES
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To evaluate the market and get more accurate ideas at the ideation stage of the design-thinking process, I conducted a competitor analysis
I spent hours brainstorming, coming up with ideas on how to solve the problem.
✨ Finally, I came up with the idea of an In-store software that has a synchronized archives of the books in the store, that will direct costumers to the right shelves & personalized book recommendation feature based on AI technology. ✨
BRAINSTORM SESSION
Once I had a clear idea of our users and their needs, I was able to ideate on a final user flow and more features for the app.
USER FLOW
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My goal was to create an easy to use, minimalistic app that will allow costumers to help themselves and reduce the task load of the employees . 🙌🏻
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6. Prototype
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I created low-fi wireframes, followed by hi-fi with Figma, so I could test out my idea
7. Usability Testing
To see how people interact with the wireframes and whether the product idea meets their expectations, I conducted several iterations of usability testing.
* STYLE : MODERATED
Main Tasks I asked to complete
1. Find a specific book
2. Find the ‘new books’ section and scroll through it
3. Get a personal book recommendation
🏆 98 % of the costumers and employees found it easy and intuitive to use the software without any guidance 🏆
8. Final Results
Costumers were feeling helpless and frustrated shopping in the store and the employees were feeling overwhelmed, which ultimately caused loss of revenue and an unpleasant environment.
An in-store software that will allow costumers to help themselves making them feel satisfied and in control while simultaneously relieving the employees from added pressure.
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User Problem
Solution
8. Reflection
Outcome
I’ve successfully created an app which solves the major problem with the shopping experience in the store. I received a decent amount of positive feedback about the idea the app. However, the current app is in its foundational state and it would be beneficial to run additional tests and discover what can enhance the user experience even more.
Takeaway
Ive noticed that it was better to create the most simple, clean and minimal interface, since the app was meant to be used by many types of users and ages. Users continued giving feedback more on the usability of the app rather than the look and feel of the interface.
✨ Thanks for watching ✨