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House2Home
Simplifying the way you customize your home space
Roles
UI/UX Designer
Timeline
2 Months
Tools
Adobe XD
Problem
Decorating your home is a big project, let alone moving to a new city. Users often face decision fatigue, budget issues, and lack of a master plan that ties everything together.
Solution
An e-commerce website designed to find the user’s preferences and give product recommendations based on their preferred style. This would ensure users find the right home decor through personalized recommendations.
Day 1 - Understand and Map
Research Highlights
The modified GV design sprint provided me with a challenge brief that included research data, a persona, and user interview notes. Below are a few insights important to the problem space:
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Maria - She wants to buy products to decorate the place as it was empty and has budget issues.
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Dan - He is not sure of the big picture but he knows of many cool little products. He is overwhelmed with many choices.
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Deena - She knows the “look” she wants but not sure which items fit that “look”.
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Silvia - She wants the best value for her budget.
Persona
Ally was the persona that was included in the data and I focused my solutions around her frustrations and goals as the basis of my solution design.
Mapping - User Flow
I mapped out three user flow maps for the most common tasks Ally would undertake in her home decor quest.
Possible solutions to the user’s problem space were ideated quickly on day one.
Day 2 - Sketching Solutions
Competitive Research
I conducted competitive research with five competitors who were Furnishr, Houzz, Room Planner, Scentbird, and Wayfair. I wanted to figure out what worked and what the competition did not offer. Three competitors stood above the rest and below highlights functions I believe worked in this problem space:
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Furnishr
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Users take a personalized quiz to figure out their needs and preferences. A personal designer then works closely with users from design to setting up the handpicked products.
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Houzz
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A great resource for inspiration by providing visual set pieces. They also to connect users with multi-disciplinary professionals to assist with projects.
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Scentbird
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The preference quizzes provided many personalized recommendations to users.
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Sketches
I drew inspirations from the data to sketch a total of eight possible solution screens and I selected three screens. The screens included “Style assistant tool”, “studio”, and “kit page” and they provided the multiple areas to address the problem space.
Eight screens were sketched out from ideas generated from research data insights.
I then created a three panel sketch for each of the three critical screens as my solution sketches. These sketches would simulate user interactions encountered on the website.
Two screens were added to expand the user flow upon the three solution screens.
Day 3 - Decisions and Storyboards
Decide
To keep this design sprint simple, I decided on one user flow which was the "Style assistant tool" due to it providing a personalized and functional approach to pick home decor.
Storyboard
A basic five panel storyboard was sketched out from the style assistant tool solution sketch and this served as the core foundation of the website.
A five screen storyboard was rapidly sketched out of what Ally would encounter on the website.
Day 4 - Prototype
House2Home homepage screen, users noted the original CTA button was not clear in language.
I designed a high fidelity prototype from the style assistant tool and starter kits solution sketches to test out the user flow. My goals for this prototype test was to determine if the prototype was easy to navigate, personalized quiz would provide good product recommendations, and if users enjoyed the experience.
House2Home recommended items screen, items screen was added due to users feedback. The item screen was not included in the original prototype.
Day 5 - Test
Usability Test Key Insights:
Key Prototype Revisions:
Challenges
Conclusion
I recruited five users and scheduled 30 minute usability testing sessions with each user. I conducted the moderated usability tests virtually and below are some key insights from the tests.
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Three of five users felt that the quiz CTA button should be reworded as the resulting action behind it is unclear.
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Three of five users felt the style quiz was not comprehensive enough and the “continue” button was not necessary and should add a a back button to change previous answers.
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Two users mentioned they would like a checkout review page.
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Quiz CTA button reworded from “begin quiz” to “find your style”.
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Quiz questions reworded and more answers were added to the quiz to flesh out it out further.
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Final order details review page information was added onto the checkout process page.
The main challenge that I faced during the design sprint was time. As each stage required me to quickly move forward, I had to shortern the time I spent on . However, because each stage was quick, I
House2Home is a digital solution to help users find the right style and home decor products for their homes. I see potential in House2Home based on user feedback and testing results of the prototype. Some features that I feel can strengthen the project with more time would be:
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Connecting users with design professionals for bigger projects.
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Website / app tool to view products in the users desired location.
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Community driven content creators adding guides and recommendations on the website / app.
Final Prototype
After revising the prototype, try out the interactive prototype below and guess your home decor style!