F A R I H A
PORTFOLIO ABOUT GALLERY
LILY
UX DESIGN / UI DESIGN / USER RESEARCH / USABILITY TESTING


OVERVIEW

Wedding costs can be notoriously high due to the wedding industry having overpriced products and services. Lily is an e-commerce platform that helps couples plan their nuptials in a cost-effective way, by providing catalogues of wedding professionals, vendors, and venues, based on their preferences and budget.


Click here to view the Full Prototype

MY ROLE

Sole UX/UI Designer

DURATION

6 weeks

TOOLS

Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, Surface Pen, Excel, OptimalSort, UsabilityHub



DESIGN PROCESS

With a focus on UI, the steps that will be covered in the design process are proto personas, sketching, wireframing, style guides, and prototyping.



COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

The initial stage of my process is to conduct market research and competitor analysis in order to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of Lily’s competitors and build the optimal final product. Based on the market research conducted I was able to find two competitors to Lily that offered a similar service.


PROBLEM STATEMENT & SOLUTION

My findings revealed that Zola is the only direct competitor to Lily which means the market is not saturated with wedding planning apps and Lily has good potential. This also means there might be a risk since now the question is, “Why isn’t Zola more popular?” I sought to overcome this risk by creating an app that has unique feature unavailable elsewhere and improves on some of its competitors’ shortcomings.

Problem Statement

Lily's users need help searching for reputable wedding professionals, vendors, and venues in order to plan their events in a cost-effective way. They require a catalogue of rated professionals from which they can select based on their preferences and budget.

Solution

Create a platform for users to access party planning experts through messages, phone, and video calls. Provide one-on-one interactions that will lead to solutions that are tailored to the user’s specific needs.



USER INTERVIEWS

Remote interviews were conducted on potential users to gain an understanding of the user’s needs, goals, and points of friction. The interview questions focused on the user’s experience with wedding planning. The answers were then analyzed and sorted into an affinity map to gain overarching insights. Post interview, all of the responses were analyzed and the most common frustrations, feelings, and user habits were noted. These remarks were then further analyzed and discussed as to how to address the wants and concerns of the users. Finally, viable solutions were worked out and further developed.


Click here to view the Interview Summary


CONCEPTUALIZATION

Based on the findings the following three user personas represent users with different backgrounds and needs that will find Lily to be a useful tool.


SITE MAP

Then I created a site map. This organized the structure of Lily and gave a visual representation of how the screens relate to each other. Optimal Sort was used to conduct a five-participant open card sort. The results indicated that I needed combine the User and Vendor accounts under the Switch Accounts function. I also renamed Chats to Messages after some participants found the term confusing.



DESIGN

I sketched low-fidelity wireframes with a surface pen on Adobe Illustrator which I reiterated in mid-high fidelity in Adobe XD. Throughout the different fidelity stages, continuous iterations were made to improve Lily's functionality and UX.



USABILITY TESTING

Remote usability tests were conducted using a test plan and test script which were prepared prior to testing. Using the findings, a rainbow spreadsheet was created to analyze the results and map out the responses received during testing.


Click here to view Test Plan and Script

Click here to view Rainbow Spreadsheet


FINAL MOCKUPS


Notable updates included:

1. Adding “Bookmark” and “Add to Cart” functions to the items on the compare products and services page for easier navigation for the users.

2. Making the menu modal box full screen to gain space and adding icons to make a clean and simple menu layout with visual aids so that the users do not feel overwhelmed with text.


STYLE GUIDE

Lily comprises real images and neutral colors to establish an elegant atmosphere. The images are aspirational, yet approachable, to show users the possibilities that are attainable. The images also showcase a variety of styles to ensure that the app is appealing to different user's styles and budgets.


Click here to view the Full Style Guide


FINAL REFLECTIONS

During the process, the usability testing was crucial in finding errors and seeing things from a different perspective. The biggest error occurred with a lack of functions available in the comparison page. Many of my participants wanted “add to bookmark” and “add to cart” functions for each item and I resolved this by adding both functions to each item.

Based on feedback received during usability testing, I also found that participant found the main menu cluttered. I addressed this by expanding the menu and adding icons to make the menu more visually appealing. I also conducted a preference test to see which version of the menu participants preferred. All of them preferred the alternate version.

In the future Lily’s targeted market can be expanded on. Now, Lily is geared towards couples planning to get married, but Lily can also be marketed towards other social event planning.





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