Introduction
SolaStyle is a well-established retail brand specializing in clothing brand for women. With a strong online presence, they aim to expand their reach and boost sales by launching a shopping eCommerce website. SolaStyle's business case revolves around leveraging the power of a well-designed eCommerce website to enhance customer experience, drive conversions, and foster brand loyalty.
Design Process
For this case study, I have chosen the Double Diamond Design Process. By providing a clear and systematic structure to the design process, it helps me generate creative and user-centered solutions that address the pain points, goals, and needs of my target audience.
Discovery
In the discover phase, I researched to gain domain knowledge of eCommerce, which helped me enter the initial meeting with a solid understanding of the domain, relevant trends, and potential challenges.
Then, I had an initial meeting with the client to understand the broader context of the project. Also, we discussed their business goals, current challenges, competitors, their desired features, and their vision for the future.
After that, I created empathetic proto-personas based on the assumptions to identify target user groups.
To ensure the accuracy of my assumptions about target users, I validated my proto-persona with potential users who matched its profile.
Define
After carefully analyzing the information gathered in the discover phase, I listed the specific challenges to be solved through the design of the SoloStyle website.
Develop
In this phase, I did a solution-oriented competitive analysis to gain insights into how other products in the market solve similar problems. Then, I created solution blueprint, detailed user journeys, low-fidelity designs, and high fidelity designs. After that, I tested the created solution with the actual users.
After creating the solution blueprint I detailed key user journeys to Identify the basic interactions, delightful features, prerequisites, sub-journeys, and expected outcomes related to each touchpoint.
For this case study, I’m presenting one of the key user journeys from my solution blueprint. This journey highlights the touchpoints involved from browsing products to completing the purchase.
Let's explore how these solutions provide a seamless and user-friendly shopping experience for SolaStyle's customers.
After that, I conducted user testing with users aligned with previously defined personas. Here are the results of that solution test.
Deliver
Now, the final solution is refined, tested, and validated based on information and feedback collected throughout the early stages of the design process. This phase ensures that the SoloStyle website is fully polished and ready for implementation.
What I Learned
Throughout this case study, I gained an understanding of user-centered design and how essential it is to truly understand users' needs and pain points. One of the key takeaways was how user research and creating personas are important for effective design solutions. By conducting user interviews and testing, I uncovered challenges that were not immediately obvious, which helped truly improve the shopping experience of SoloStyle customers..
Effective communication with stakeholders was another important lesson I have learned. Engaging them and maintaining an open dialogue throughout the project helped align the design with both user expectations and business objectives.
Additionally, this project allowed me to further develop my skills in conducting user research, problem-solving, wireframing, prototyping, and conducting user testing. These skills are invaluable and will guide my approach to future projects.
In the end, This case study underscored the importance of understanding user needs, the critical role of collaboration, and the value of the Double Diamond Design Process, which provides a structured approach to problem-solving. Finally, I will use what I learned from this case study to improve and elevate my future designs as a UX Designer.
