AQUARIUS MERMAID TAILS
E-Commerce Website Re-Design
Aquarius Mermaid Tails is a boutique, artist-run company specializing in the production of high-quality, swimmable mermaid tails in small-batch, limited runs. Tails were showcased by collection in accordance with the artist's vision, as they are released, with announcements via the AQM website and social media accounts.
THE CHALLENGE
Finding The Perfect Tail
The AQM website redesign focused chiefly on improving the navigation scheme. A comprehensive research plan involving comparative task analyses, usability testing, and a heuristic analysis lead to several key findings
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INSIGHTS
Key Findings -Â Usability Testing
Usability testing of the original website brought to light several key obstacles preventing users from making a successful purchase
USER HABITS
Users interviewed helped create an idea of the typical AQM customer and their shopping habits online. This was used to generate a journey map of the customer's shopping experience.
NAVIGATION
Given our findings, it was clear that the organizational scheme on the AQM website was not intuitive. In order to get a sense of user expectations, we had 3 participants organize the inventory in a card sort. We discovered that users were most inclined to sort the tails by COLOR and SHAPE, as opposed to the collections originally featured on the website. Users were also quick to mention having strong emotional attachments to color, as well as a desire to search for and sort their choices accordingly.
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CARTOGRAPHY
Mapping it Out
Data from the card sort was synthesized into a focused navigational scheme.
SKETCHING
With the nav scheme set, I was able to begin sketching layouts for the prototype.
SIMPLICITY
Testing the grey-scale led to a more simplified approach for the lo-fi. Overlays were resized to become less overbearing, and menu items were pared down to make for a more streamlined shopping experience.
DELIVERY
The Final Pass
Usability tests of the lo-fi were met with high levels of user satisfaction but called attention to some minor UI interactions throughout the experience. Users expressed that although the website was visually appealing, some font choices & colors were hard to read. Issues of accessibility, visibility, and lack of tagging were brought up by a minority of interviewees as possible next steps for the website.
NEXT STEPS
ADDRESSING UI:
-Addressing UI issues brought up during user testing by adjusting colors, fonts, and graphics to be in keeping with 508 compliance regulations in accordance with comments from user testing would improve accessibility, and encourage shoppers to explore and interact.
ADAPTING THE WEBSITE TO MOBILE VIEWING:
-Users expressed interest in being able to shop from their phones. Many were shocked that the product was not yet available for mobile applications as most of them were accustomed to shopping untethered to a desktop computer.