The Goal
The objective of this project is to update and redesign the Furnishr digital presence:
What is the ideal optimized user flow for Furnisher customers?
What problems are Furnishr target users needing to solve?
What are the recommended solutions that Furnishr should implement in their digital platform to optimize the information architecture and improve user experience?
Upon project completion, Furnishr will have an understanding of their target user base, defined user needs, and a completed user flow, sitemap, and wireframes of the redesigned digital experience.
The Research
On September 18-24 of 2022, initial usability research was conducted on the Furnishr.com website. Below are excerpts of the Usability Report summarizing the task analysis, rainbow analysis, insights, and recommendations.
Research Findings
The overall experience of the participants when engaging the site was positive and they felt the site was relatively easy to navigate. However, testing revealed potential areas of improvement. It would be beneficial to implement the suggested recommendations which address the following areas of concern:
Navigation
Diversity in design aesthetics
Information Hierarchy
Strategic placement of most requested information and questions
Terminology that supports user’s mental models
Content structure
Revision of the design intake survey
Improvements and modifications in these areas will provide a better user experience, a higher level of customer satisfaction, and yield a potential increase in sales and revenue.
Navigation Revision
Based on the research findings, a mid-fidelity revision of the site navigation was proposed to ensure discoverability and an overall intuitive structure.
Final Designs
Based upon the research, a new user flow was created for the designer/client consultation portal. This allowed for the following added functionality:
Ability to present multiple mood boards
Ability to create a custom design collection
Designer/Client feedback feature
Selection or removal of individual products from design collection
Ability to assign a product to a specific design space
Option to exchange a product from one design space to another
Mobile Designs
Desktop/Tablet Designs
Customer Proposal
A new design proposal was requested and designed as an engagement tool for potential new clients. Designers create the proposal based on the customer’s intake survey and submit it to the customer for review.
Challenges & Results
What went well?
The revisions to the designer/client portal provided a significant increase in functionality and interaction between the designer and the client. User research revealed usability issues and potential marketing opportunities involving a need for diversity in design aesthetics. Confusion in the intake process was resolved allowing for a more streamlined process in onboarding.
What didn’t go well?
The feature prioritizations of the client consistently evolved making it challenging to address some of the issues revealed in the research. Also, communication between myself and stakeholders was limited and frequently delayed creating multiple adjustments in the project roadmap.
What can be improved?
The home page of Furnishr.com needs to be streamlined and content prioritized for optimal engagement. The design aesthetic needs to be diversified to attract a broader range of potential clients. More detail can also be added to the designer/client portal experience.
What was learned?
This project gave me the opportunity to experience a new industry sector. It also gave me greater insight into articulating a better project structure and timeline defined by a working agreement for future clients/projects.