Bloom Room

DURATION:

January 2022
(4 weeks)

PROJECT TYPE:

Google UX Course Project

MY ROLE:

UX Designer/Researcher

OUTPUT:

Live Prototype

TAGS: UX Research, Service Design, Prototyping, Wireframing, UI Design

How might I redesign the bouquet shopping experience for busy creative professionals to deliver high quality gifts?

CHALLENGE

I redesigned the bouquet shopping experience for a boutique florist, addressing key industry challenges: limited flower selections, absence of gift add-ons, and lack of comprehensive product information, enhancing the overall customer experience through a digital experience.

RESULT

The Bloom Room is a floral delivery service for the modern flower enthusiast. It’s a one-stop shop for those looking to gift timeless and memorable bouquets to their friends and colleagues. I created a responsive website that works on desktop, tablet, and mobile.

OVERVIEW

Discovery

I conducted user interviews with 6 participants and a competitive analysis.

Ideation

I did a Crazy 8’s activity and created a hypothetical scenario mapping out the presona’s journey.

Prototyping

Built a site map and explored various lo-fidelity layouts to test with users.

Usability Testing

I conducted a moderated usability test with 4 participants to understand the first iteration.

Result

I applied visual elements to bring the design to life across mobile, tablet, and desktop applications.

Discovery

Research

I conducted user interviews with 6 participants and a competitive analysis to understand user needs and industry context. Key findings revealed that users, mostly creative professionals, were frustrated with limited bouquet variety and quality when gifting. They also noted a lack of personalization options and insufficient care information for bouquets.

These insights guided the development of the primary persona and highlighted areas for improving the bouquet shopping experience.

Persona

Research led to the development of two user personas: a primary and a secondary. The primary persona, Neelou, is "The Gifter" who regularly sends bouquets to friends and colleagues. The secondary persona, Sophie, buys bouquets for herself as a form of self-care. This project focused on addressing the needs of the primary persona, Neelou.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Neelou is a busy creative who needs an easy way to buy and send floral bouquets because her schedule is always busy.

Ideation

To enhance Neelou's bouquet shopping experience, I used Crazy 8’s to brainstorm ideas. After evaluation, I prioritized implementing filtering, same-day delivery, and quick add-on features for their practicality and feasibility on a website.

To visualize the user's journey, I created a hypothetical scenario mapping out Neelou's process, which informed the subsequent user flow design.

Site Map

I decided to use a hierarchal model for the structure in order to create the website with an effective and clear navigation system. This will also meet users familiarity with e-commerce using patterns that typically follow a hierarchy of categories and subcategories.

Prototyping

Building on the primary user task flow, I explored various layouts for the e-commerce website. Experimentation included multi-column and asymmetrical layouts for product displays, carousels, and category grids. The final selection was a Z-shape flow with a tiered layout, which best suited the project goals.

Usability Testing

I conducted a moderated usability test with four participants to understand the first iteration of the design. This provided insights into navigation issues and task completion. Using their feedback, I categorized issues with affinity mapping and prioritized changes based on task interference and misleading design elements.

Result

User Interface

For the final step, I applied visual elements to bring the design to life, focusing on aesthetics and quality to meet our primary user's preferences.

  • Headings: Chose a typeface reflecting the delicacy of flowers – light, sophisticated, natural, and carefully crafted.

  • Body Typeface: Selected a balanced, sans-serif typeface for legibility and scalability across various sizes.

  • Colors: Used a primary cream color to complement the changing colors of flowers, avoiding bold colors that would overshadow them. An orange accent color was added for navigation clarity and to tie back to the brand's playful voice.

  • Responsive Design: Implemented a 12-column grid for desktop, 8-column for tablet, and 4-column for mobile to ensure adaptability across devices.

Final Result

Next Steps

Live Florist Guide

  • For users who want a more convenient way to shop, offering a Live Florist can be a beneficial feature to help them select a bouquet by narrowing down their search with guided assistance in real-time.

  • This idea would need to be tested and validated first.

DIY Bouquets

  • To expand the product for more customers, I would take a closer look at the secondary persona and explore ways to help them make custom bouquets – maybe a DIY Bouquet feature that allows them to choose specific flowers and arrange as needed.