Known Source
Redesign Second-hand Fashion Website
UX Design | UX Research | UI Design
UX design for improving Known Source’s customer user experience, resulting in the launch of 5 out of 11 proposed features to improve its overall functionality and usability. I conducted user research in a team of 3. My main contribution includes designing the high-fidelity interactive portotype, and making UX and UI design decisions based on user research insights. The design address the issues of the original website and provide a more seamless user experience.
Timeline
2 months
(Oct - Dec 2022)
2 months
(Oct - Dec 2022)
TypeGroup Project
(teammates: Susie Huang, Jack Zhang)
(teammates: Susie Huang, Jack Zhang)
My Role
User Research,
Product Design, Prototyping, UI Design
Product Design, Prototyping, UI Design
Tool
Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop
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Project Brief
Context
Known Source is a newly launched online second-hand fashion marketplace for second-hand specialists, dealers, and fashion lovers.
Main focus
1. Improve customers’ second-hand shopping efficiency.
2. Establish the trust between customers and dealers.
3. Refine the visual hierarchy of the website.
Impact
1. Implemented design enhancements to elevate users' shopping experience, resulting in the successful launch of 5 out of the 11 proposed features.
2. Worked closely with the founders to convert various usability issues and business goals into 11 distinct design decisions.
3. Developed interactive prototypes in Figma to pitch ideas to the founders, effectively iterating prototypes to accommodate new design request.
Known Source is a newly launched online second-hand fashion marketplace for second-hand specialists, dealers, and fashion lovers.
Main focus
1. Improve customers’ second-hand shopping efficiency.
2. Establish the trust between customers and dealers.
3. Refine the visual hierarchy of the website.
Impact
1. Implemented design enhancements to elevate users' shopping experience, resulting in the successful launch of 5 out of the 11 proposed features.
2. Worked closely with the founders to convert various usability issues and business goals into 11 distinct design decisions.
3. Developed interactive prototypes in Figma to pitch ideas to the founders, effectively iterating prototypes to accommodate new design request.
Research
Heuristic Evaluation
Key Insight
- Users have limited flexibility and efficiency of use when interacting with the main navigation bar and homepage.
- Users experience increased cognitive load and diminished relative visibility when encountering the inconsistencies in visual elements.
Competitive Analysis
*for more detail, please click to view:
Competitor Analysis Conclusion (in Google doc)
Summary
Through competitive analysis, we dicovered potential design opportunities through studying the user flows, layout and features of different competitors.
Task Analysis & User Interview
We invited 5 participants to test the website according to the tasks we gave them, we discoverd 2 main pain points in the current service process.
* Click to see details
Users pain points
- Discoverability Challenges: Users struggle to locate desired items or brands, leading to frustration during their online shopping journey.
- Trustworthiness Concerns: Users find it challenging to determine the reliability of websites and dealers, resulting in hesitation and doubts when making online transactions.
Survey
We learned about customers needs and preferences through survey, and concluded our insights according to 123 participants’ responses.
Survey Insight
1. Improve recognizability and predictability by redesigning navigation bar.
2. Indicate the current status and improve information density by redesigning sidebar.
3. Establish the trust between customers and dealers by redesigning the dealer’s page and profile page.
4. Indicate the legitimacy by redesigning the product page.
1. Improve recognizability and predictability by redesigning navigation bar.
2. Indicate the current status and improve information density by redesigning sidebar.
3. Establish the trust between customers and dealers by redesigning the dealer’s page and profile page.
4. Indicate the legitimacy by redesigning the product page.
Persona
After collecting all the insights from our research, we edfied 2 personas representing our main users. Our prototypes also are designed around the 2 group of users.
New User: Jennifer represents new users who are not familiar with second hand fashion online shopping.
Experienced User: Phil represents users who are familiar with second hand fashion online shopping.
Stakeholder Interviews
We interviewed Theo, the founder of Known Source, to learn about their core design needs and to confirm that what we were designing matched their needs.
Stakeholder Interview Summary
1. Streamline shopping experience
(also supported by heuristic review & survey insights)
2. Emphasize dealer and its reliability
3. Highlight Sustainability
• Implement return function
• Highlight renew function
1. Streamline shopping experience
(also supported by heuristic review & survey insights)
2. Emphasize dealer and its reliability
- Improved access to dealer information (also supported by insights from surveys and competitor analysis)
- Redesign dealer's info page with a focus on highlighting dealer authentication.
3. Highlight Sustainability
• Implement return function
• Highlight renew function
Define the Problems
First Problem Statement
How might we help users find and buy unique, specialist-authenticated goods efficiently with clear navigation?
Second Problem Statement
How might we improve customers’ shopping experience on Known Source by making it more trustworthy?
Solutions
Two Solutions
- Improved Discoverability: Implement intuitive search features, advanced navigation user flow, and enhanced filtering function to help users easily find the exact items they are looking for.
- Establishing Trustworthiness: Incorporate trust indicators such as customer reviews and verified seller badges to instill confidence in users.
Improving Two User Flows
- Streamline the user flow from the homepage to the product page, enhancing customers' shopping efficiency.
- Redesign the user flow from the dealer's page to the dealer's profile page and product page to strengthen the website's credibility.
Design
Design
Wireframe
We redesigned 5 pages including homepage, product page, product detail page, dealers page, dealers detail page.
User Testing
User flow (homepage)
• Top navigation bar missing “Menswear” and “womenswear” section. They are the two important categories users are looking for.
• Homepage: Users expects to see detail information under each item pictures
• Resell function is missing on the homepage.
• Top navigation bar missing “Menswear” and “womenswear” section. They are the two important categories users are looking for.
• Homepage: Users expects to see detail information under each item pictures
• Resell function is missing on the homepage.
Filter feature & product detail page
• Filter side bar is missing “Gender” section
• Product detail page: need to emphasize whether a dealer is authenticated
Dealers pages
• Rating and Review functuon need to be added since users think they are very important.
• Users are looking for location information of the dealers.
Final Outcomes
User Flow 1: Online Shopping Experience
Step 1: Searching Product by Categories
A new navigation bar and goods categorizing system that improve customers’ second-hand shopping efficiency.
The new shopping flow integrating a new filter side bar, optimzing the efficiency of finding an item.Step 2: Filtering Products by Preferences
The new product detail page improves user experience by providing convenient access to comprehensive information about the item and the associated dealer.Step 3: Learning Product Informations
User Flow 2: Trust built-up Experience
Emphasizing Dealer Reliability
The revamped dealer main page effectively highlights dealer reliability by displaying the exact count of verified dealers. In addition to quantified information, trust indicators such as customer reviews are incorporated.
Before and After
Takeaways
Design Decisions
One of the most valuable skills I developed throughout the process was the ability to make informed design decisions by utilizing a diverse range of user research methods. These included conducting user interviews, performing task analysis, gathering survey data, and conducting competitive analysis. By combining quantitative and qualitative research approaches, I successfully identified users' pain points and gained a comprehensive understanding of their needs. This knowledge empowered me to make well-informed design decisions that were rooted in the insights derived from my research.
Collective Intelligence
Collaboration played a crucial role in expediting our user research efforts. By working together as a team, we were able to efficiently gather and analyze data within a relatively short timeframe. Initially, we collectively discussed the research questions and devised a research plan that guided our individual and collaborative efforts. This project's achievements would not have been possible without the collective power and synergy of our team.
One of the most valuable skills I developed throughout the process was the ability to make informed design decisions by utilizing a diverse range of user research methods. These included conducting user interviews, performing task analysis, gathering survey data, and conducting competitive analysis. By combining quantitative and qualitative research approaches, I successfully identified users' pain points and gained a comprehensive understanding of their needs. This knowledge empowered me to make well-informed design decisions that were rooted in the insights derived from my research.
Collective Intelligence
Collaboration played a crucial role in expediting our user research efforts. By working together as a team, we were able to efficiently gather and analyze data within a relatively short timeframe. Initially, we collectively discussed the research questions and devised a research plan that guided our individual and collaborative efforts. This project's achievements would not have been possible without the collective power and synergy of our team.