House2Home
A GV design sprint
Helping users find personalized decorative pieces for their new home.
Project Details
My Role
UI | UX Designer
Tools
Figma, Canva, Google Workspace
Scope
May 27 - May 31, 2024
Lean UX, Journey Mapping, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing, Information Architecture, Visual Design
Methods
The Problem Space
An e-commerce company that sells photos and small decorative items wants to help users who have just moved into a new home with a decorative starter kit.
Brief
The prototype must be designed as a website for a desktop or laptop computer
The focus is on users who want to quickly decorate their new home that they’ve just moved into with a starter kit.
House2Home does not sell large furniture. Most of their small items range from $10-$50.
Constraints
My Process
Monday - Mapping
The first day of the design sprint involved understanding the problem, reading through the research, and journey mapping that included the minimum viable product.
(Insights from user interviews had already been obtained and were provided by the founder.)
Insights:
Users are typically sticking to a small budget
Users want their homes to look good
Users get overwhelmed with too many options
Users who have a decorative eye aren’t sure how to create a desired look in their homes
Users don’t like having an empty space
Users don’t know if something will look good in their space until they see it
Things that look great on a website don’t look as good once it’s in their space
Users don’t want to spend too much time looking for decorative items
Using the insights that had already been gathered, I created a user persona that helped me better understand who I was designing this solution for, their needs, frustrations, and motivations.
Persona 1
Persona 2
Pain Points
Ally:
She knows what she wants, but is unable to find it online or in stores.
She wants items that will have a big impact on her place, but doesn’t want to (or can’t) make huge changes, like painting or major renovations, to her rented unit.
She doesn’t have the budget for the look she wants.
She sees things she likes, but doesn’t know if they’ll look right in her home.
Jacob:
He gets overwhelmed by all the options when shopping.
He has a personal style, but doesn’t know what to buy to express it.
He feels valuable time is wasted by shopping.
He doesn’t know what will look good in his home.
The following “How Might We” questions were created with Ally and Jacob’s pain points in mind to help create a solution that catered to their needs and eliminated their frustrations.
This was where the mapping process began. Using insights gained from the user personas, I created a journey map including the minimum viable product needed for the user to successfully purchase a decorative kit.
Tuesday - Sketching
The focus of Day 2 was analyzing industry standards and sketching ideas during ideation to generate solutions.
Lightning Demo
From lizandivy.com, I learned that decorative starter kit websites typically show images of everything included in the starter kit, along with the price, ratings, and desired quantity.
Roometry.com had a similar layout, but offered additional photos of each individual item included in the kit, which could be helpful to users looking for more details.
This screenshot was taken from airbnb.com. While it may not be in the same industry, the layout was similar to Pinterest, with a collage of visually pleasing, high-quality images that could help the user imagine the look they want to see in their own homes.
Stitchfix.com, while also not in the same industry, demonstrated how users might choose their style from a selection of various images to help determine their personal preferences.
Crazy 8 Sketches
Eight different sketches were created to determine which one would be the critical screen. This vital screen served as the point where the user would be able to solve the problem of finding the right decorative items to match their style, thus leading to the purchase of a decorative kit.
My choice
The critical screen chosen was one that provides multiple decorative kit options based on an assessment created to better understand the user’s personal style. This critical screen ensures the user is able to find a kit they actually like and desire to purchase.
After screen
Before screen
Critical screen
Wednesday - Deciding
I was the only UX Designer on this project, so I used Day 3 for storyboarding. The screens were sketched to help me determine the best path to helping the user find the right decorative kit and make the purchase.
My screens were created with the user personas’ pain points in mind.
For Ally:
She already knew her decorative style, so I created an option to upload examples of her preferences to help determine her find a similar look.
She mentioned the importance of finding a style within her budget, so I created the option to provide a budget to help the platform choose decorative kits within the correct price range.
For Jacob:
He was easily overwhelmed by the endless options found online and in stores. I created an assessment to help narrow down his selection to only the items he likes.
The assessment would solve Jacob’s issue of not knowing what he likes. The questions would help him identify his personal style, then suggest a kit to get him started.
For both:
Both user personas expressed concern about whether an item would look good once placed in their homes. To solve this, I created the option to virtually place items from the decorative kit into photos of the user’s home that were uploaded during the assessment.
Thursday - Prototyping
The prototype was designed to answer the HMW questions created on Day 1. To be effective, the app would need to accomplish the following:
Creating an experience that’s not overwhelming.
Helping users find items they like by making suggestions based on their personal style.
Creating suggestions based on the user’s budget
Allowing the user to see those suggestions in their home prior to purchasing.
Friday - Testing
During testing, I want to discover how well the prototype answers those HMW questions, creating an easy, organized flow to help the user decorate their homes without the unneeded stress.
Uncertainty around the meaning of the “None of these” option in the style assessment and a hesitancy to click it.
Trust issues concerning the confirmation page and the lack of information on it pertaining to their purchase.
Issues Discovered During Testing
Conclusion
Key Takeaway
Further usability testing would likely be needed to determine if changes made during the last iteration resulting in users feeling less confused about the style assessment and more trusting of the site’s checkout process.