eComm
Carpenter
mobile app
eCommCarpenter is an e-commerce platform to help woodworking professionals located in Athens Greece. Offers a special experience in buying specialty products for woodworking professionals. It is easy to understand and navigate. It has a diverse variety of secure and highly reliable payment methods, and it ships products home to a large number of countries
Date:
May 1, 2021 to June 11 2021
Services:
User research. Personas. Problem statements. User journey maps. Paper wireframes Digital wireframes. Low-fidelity prototype. Usability studies. Mockups. High-fidelity prototype. Accessibility
Client:
Google Career Certificates Proyect
Project overview
The problem:
Woodworking professionals are wary of the use of their bank details on a digital platform and a large percentage do not have an international credit card.
The goal:
Design a simple payment process, with a variety of safe and reliable payment methods.
My role:
UX designer designing a payment process for the digital platform (web & app) from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities:
User research, conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
Understanding the user
- User research
- Personas
- Problem statements
- User journey maps
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through the research were professional carpenters and industrial design professionals.
This group of users confirmed initial assumptions by online shoppers of woodworking products.
The investigation also found that the majority distrust the use of their bank details due to the history of improper charges on their account statements. Also that many online stores only allow the use of credit cards to buy and are interested in other payment options. Additionally, we discovered that they also required to select the parcel service of their preference.
User research: pain points
Clarity and security of user data
Users need more clarity in the instructions at this step of the checkout process.
Parcel service options
Users need parcel service options. Cannot choose a different parcel service than the default one due to bad past experiences.
Various payment methods
Most users do not have an internationally accepted credit card. They need payment alternatives.
Accessibility options
Platforms for ordering food are not equipped with assistive technologies.
Persona: Evadne
Problem statement:
Evadne is a Industrial designer who needs clarity and security in your online purchases because you need certainty of the use of your data and not receive unacknowledged charges on your bank card.
Persona: Andreus
Problem statement:
Andreus is a professional cabinetmaker who needs receive products sent by parcel before the estimated time because he needs to deliver various projects to different clients and does not have time to fetch the materials himself.
User journey map: Evadne
Mapping Evadne user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users Implementing various secure payment methods such as Paypal.
User journey map: Andreus
Mapping Andreus user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to provide necessary information in the confirmation email such as the follow-up guide, cancellation option, and customer support and follow-up.
Starting the design
- Paper wireframes
- Digital wireframes
- Low-fidelity prototype
- Usability studies
Paper wireframes
The paper and blackboard iterations helped define the fewest steps necessary to complete the payment process that includes all the elements that provide security, confidence and clarity of the payment process.
Paper wireframes
As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research. This is the product page.
Low-fidelity prototype
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected if checkout process, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.
See the low-hi prototype in the following link: low-fidelity prototype
Usability study: findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
Round 1 findings
- Users need more clarity in the instructions at this step of the checkout process.
- Users need parcel service options.
- Users need more accessibility options.
Round 2 findings
- The color palette did not meet usability standards.
- When finishing the process on the confirmation page, it was not clear that the user could continue browsing.
Refining the design
- Mockups
- High-fidelity prototype
- Accessibility
Mockups
After several iterations, we changed the order of items in the site header and added a quantity selector to the product page.
High-fidelity prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for process checkout. It also met user needs for selecting a parcel service other than the default and various secure and reliable payment options.
See the high-hi prototype in the following link: high-fidelity prototype
Accessibility considerations
- Color palette with WCAG 2.0 level AAA standards.
- Add audio options for users with a preference to listen to important texts such as product descriptions, instructions, and purchase summaries.
- Provided access
to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
Going forward
- Takeaways
- Next steps
Impact:
The platform allows you to buy safely and easily with payment options such as Paypal that allows you to buy from different countries.
Allows users accessibility not provided by the competition.
What I learned:
While designing the payment process, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the platform designs.
Thank you for your time reviewing my work on the eCommCarpenter website! If you’d like to see more or get in touch, my contact information is provided below.