Project Overview
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Buttonwood Books and Toys is an independent, full service bookstore that offers a selection of books for all ages, a specialty toy department, and a collection of gifts for all occasions. In this conceptual project, Buttonwood Books is unhappy with their online shopping business. The owners requested UX research on their existing site as well as a newly designed eCommerce website that stays true to their “rooted in the community” brand image.
Timeline: 2 Week Sprint
Role: UX Designer
Approach: Contextual Inquiry, Task Analysis, Competitive & Comparative Analysis, Card Sorting, Prototyping, Usability Testing
Analyzing the Website
To fully understand the scope of this project, I did a deep dive into the current website and identified the biggest opportunities to make the shopping experience better.
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Too many options in the navigation menu
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Navigation looks squished
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Shopping Cart located at the bottom of the page instead of the top​
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Shopping Cart blocking product search results
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Inconsistent text layout for search results
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Add to Cart button too small
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Time-consuming checkout process
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Credit Card or Gift Card only forms of payment accepted
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No Toy or Gift inventory online
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Only shows pictures of items that might be in the store
Competitive and Comparative Analysis
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I conducted a competitive and comparative analysis on Buttonwood’s main competitors. Examining Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and Amazon, I found that Buttonwood had many of the same basic features included on the other sites. However, Buttonwood was missing some key features. I decided to include these missing features in my redesign.
Included on Website
Not Included on Website
Persona
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I was given a persona to use for this project, but added a few details to help guide my design process.
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Problem Statement
Victoria needs a website that gives her recommendations on what gifts to buy because she doesn’t want to spend a lot of time shopping for the right gift.
Card Sorting
Using the online platform Optimal Workshop, I created a digital open card sort in which participants were given forty inventory items sold by Buttonwood, and I asked them to sort the items into categories. I included a mix of different inventory items, including books, toys, jewelry, candles, clothing, home items, and stationary.
Site Map
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Based on the results of my card sort, I created a simple sitemap. The main navigation bar would feature books, toys, gifts, services, and contact information. The book option would then open a drop down menu with the categories of fiction, nonfiction, children, and teen/young adult. Since I didn’t have time to build out the inventory for the other items, I didn’t create drop down menus for them.
User Flow
I created a simple user flow to highlight the steps and decisions Victoria has to make when making a purchase on the website.
Usability Testing Results
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Once I was ready with the mid-fidelity prototype, I conducted usability testing. I created a usability testing plan in which participants were given two scenarios to complete with a moderator asking questions after each task was completed. I tested the prototype with three participants.
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100% of participants completed the tasks in less than 5 minutes
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100% of participants liked the clean layout of the website
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100% of participants found the drop down menu hard to read
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66% of participants wanted to see what the Toys and Gifts pages looked like​
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66% of participants found that some items didn’t stand out as much because of the color applied​
Prototype
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Next Steps
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After analyzing usability test results, I outlined what the next steps would be if I continued working on this project. My next steps would include:​​
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Redesign drop down navigation menu to make it less cluttered
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Build out Toy and Gift product pages
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Create new palette and revisit color design
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Revisit and refine typography across the website