Esther’s
Oktober - November 2021
Executive summary
In this project, me and my team of 5 Hyper Island dear students designed a new MVP for a social e-commerce app. It was a somewhat rocky, but fun, road as it was our first project with a real client during Hyper Island, the project came attached with great learnings. In the end the stakeholder was very pleased with our results and the MVP got green light to be developed.
💡 My role
Stakeholder management
Workshop facilitation
Rapid prototyping - low to high fidelity clickable prototypes
Rapid iteration (pen & paper wireframing to digital mockups, creating a design system)
Desk research & usability testing
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Based on the stakeholders feedback aswell as user testing - we realized that the vision for Esther’s was focused on user generated content rather than the e-commerce. The content would eventually lead the user to buy items, but it’s a secondary step in the process.
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Uusability testing showed that most users don’t understand the purpose of Esther’s upon first glance (creating a feeling of frustrations with the users). In today's mindset of quick consumption and great competition, this will lead to a drop off in potential users. To ensure Esther’s value is translated early we added an clarification CTA in the hero image.
✨ Key learnings
The result
Check the video below to see our high-fidelity clickable prototype for Esther’s. The full process on how we ended up here is just further down the page.
Esther’s - Shoppable inspiration
Client
Esther’s is a social e-commerce platform for home and interior design where users can upload and discover inspirational content. If the users want to purchase something it’s simply a click away. Esther’s is shoppable inspiration.
Problem description
We set out to improve their already existing MVP for mobile with new features and a brand new UI design. The client also requested that we educated them in how the UX process works.
🔍 The process
We used the Double Diamond method as a framework for our UX process during the project.
Target group
Esther’s create value for three different target groups.
Retailers & brands
The creators/influencers
The consumers
Our challenge
Problem
Esther’s purpose & niche is not clear to the users. The onboarding experience and user flows is not translating Esther’s value to the user in an understandable way. The problem could lead to a drop off in potential users as Esther’s launches their MVP.
Discovering the problem
To discover the problem I started off by facilitating a stakeholder meeting to get further understanding of the stakeholders views on the problem area, aswell as their values and creative vision for Esthers. As to make sure we didn’t miss any crucial information, my teammates observed and took notes during the meeting.
Grasping the landscape
To further understand the business landscape I analysed the current market and competitors.
The analysis helped us gain early insights as to where Esthers design opportunities could be, as we noticed a opening in the business for creating an e-commerce SaaS with a strong focus on community.
🧠 Exploring and defining the scope
I gathered the raw data we collected from the stakeholder meeting and our desk research. In order to understand the data I facilitated an affinity mapping workshop with the team. It helped us gain key insights as to how the MVP should be designed.
How might we drive users to actively engage within the Esther’s ecosystem?
How might we provide users with a high end community that also feels inclusive?
Actionable HMW’s to frame the ideation phase
✍️ Time to iterate & test
The first step in the develop section of the double diamond was to design lo-fi wireframes using pen & paper. It’s a great method to use when you want to quickly iterate designs with a creative flow. I tested the prototypes to validate which designs to continue with in Figma.
From pen & paper to low-fi in Figma
Design system
To ensure that the users experience of Esther’s was cohesive I iterated a design system based on Esther’s brand book. The design system made the progression from low-fi to mid/hi-fi protoype smooth.
Mid-fi & stakeholder alignment
It was now time to facilitate a second stakeholder meeting, to showcase our designs and align with our stakeholder.
We realized by the feedback from our stakeholder that our designs did not align with the stakeholders vision.
🔁Time for another round for iteration
By reflecting on the stakeholder feedback, we realized they wanted a design that had more emphasis on social media rather than e-commerce. We embarked on a new design journey, iterating from low-fidelity to high-fidelity. Since we already had a design system the process was smooth.
In the double diamond we trust
At this point, our goal was to be efficient, as we didn’t have much time left. Luckily we had the double diamond & great team spirit to the rescue. Naturally we resorted back to the ‘Define’ part of the double diamond.
📲 Testing prototype 2.0
To finalize our solution i carried out continous usability testing with the prototype.
We recruited 5 participants that fit our target group. I based our user testing questions on a cone model - broad questions in the beginning and narrow in the end.
One of the main subjects to test was to see if the users quickly could understand the purpose of Esthers by reading the landing page copy.
I also carried out functionality tests on the user flows below.
“Its feels like IKEA but elegant”
The analyzing of the testing data gave me valuable insights to as what the users pain & gain points are.
Before and after testing
The user testing showed that the purpose of the website was not clear to users. In order to ensure to the user that the purpose of the website was clear I changed the CTA for the landing page.
Results
To help users find a community their interior desires & needs, Esther’s is it. A community where you can share shoppable inspiration. A community where you can buy everything you see. Check the video below to see our high-fidelity clickable prototype (obs, there’s sound).
Reflections
Considering this project was early in my Hyper Island journey and my first project with a real client, it came attached with some incredibly valuable learnings.
Get in touch! :) ✉️
Markus.bucat@hyperisland.se
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Soft skills is key! We as a team faced some obstacles as our first designs didn’t align with the stakeholders vision. Without having a great team spirit it wouldn’t have been possible to succeed, considering we only had 1 week left to create a new Hi-fi prototype. In the end the stakeholder was very pleased with our designs which was a testimony to how crucial soft skills & teamwork actually is.
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Present your designs to your stakeholder as early as possible - even though you might have little to show. As humans we can choose easier if we have visual alternatives in front of us. Showing visuals to the stakeholder early in the process creates alignment - so you know that you’re on the right track.
