House2Home Design Sprint
Product Overview
House2Home is a new startup company that wants to help people decorate their new homes and apartments. They have an e-commerce website that sells small home decor items and accessories like photo frames, vases, and lighting.
Day 1 - Understand & Map
Research Highlights
During research, we interviewed 10 participants and asked them to tell us when they shopped for items to decorate their new apartment. Below are some highlights we collected from these interviews:
User Persona
Meet Alley, a 23-year-old living alone in her first Chicago apartment.
Pain points
Knows the look she wants but doesn't know the right things to buy to achieve is
The pieces she likes are not within budget
Isn't allowed to paint or make large renovations
Does not buy items because she is afraid they won't look good in her apartment
Goals
Give her apartment a quick “facelift” without needing to shop for multiple individual items.
Find decorative items in her budget that will give her apartment the look and feel she wants
User Interviews
Meet Chelsea, a 24-year-old who recently moved to New York and is decorating her first apartment.
“I know what I like and what looks good for the most part, but once it comes down to putting it all together, I never know if it’s going to work”
Priorities & Preferences
Budget is her top priority
Items that fit and look good in small space
Prefers to hire an interior designer but cannot afford one
Pain Points
Does not know how to get the look she wants
Wants more than one item to decorate without going over budget
Wants items that fit in her small apartment
Problem Space
It is easy for users to become overwhelmed when decorating a new space. Users need an easy feature where they can search on House2Home’s website for items that go well together that fit their budget and theme.
Day 2 - Research & Map
Journey Mapping
To explore possible solutions for an end-to-end experience, User Journey Maps were used. From House2Home’s homepage, users should be able to find a style kit that fits the theme they are interested in, goal price point, and complements specific areas of their home quickly.
Lighting Demos
Before sketching a solution to House2Home’s problems, I researched other similar websites who have solved a similar problem.
I observed another interior deign website called Havenly that found a solution by implementing filters and style kits, allowing their users to search for items based on the style each user is searching for
Day 3 - story board
Solution
During the sketching process, I began to feel very confident about the idea of adding a filter and including the feature of style kits to the House2Home website. Also, seeing that this solution has worked for other similar companies, I am confident that adding a filter and implementing style kits will provide users the support they need when choosing items to decorate their homes with while giving them a seamless end-to-end user experience.
Story Board
Now that a solution has been decided upon, I created a story board to gain a better view of what the user’s process will look like when using the filter to look for home decor items beginning from the Homepage.
Day 4 - Prototype
Day 5 - Test
To gain user feedback, I gathered 5 participants who are currently or have previously decorated their homes. Interviews and testing took place virtually over Zoom and lasted 30 minutes. Each user was asked to complete the following task: “Please find all decor items that are under $35 and fit a Modern theme for your new home”
User Feedback
Users provided insightful and useful feedback highlighting improvements that can be implemented to the website for a better user experience.
Feedback included:
Include a feature where users can view the style kits up close to see what is included on the results page
Include sizing on items and a way to add items to the cart
Change the “Refine Search” button to make it look like it’s not already selected
Add an “Other” category for “Style Kits” and “Items” to give users more freedom
Add a feature to view what is already in the cart
Conclusion
This design sprint was very insightful, and I enjoyed developing a solution for people who are excited to decorate their new spaces. There were challenges along the way, but I found that the sprint format of a 5-day design process helped me to navigate efficiently and focus on time management. I found this very helpful and motivating because it allowed me to focus solely on the solution to the problem and not spend excess time on other details.
In the future, if I were to continue designing for House2Home, my next steps would be to incorporate user feedback into the final design and re-test to ensure that the feedback concerns have been addressed.
This design sprint has helped me to quickly identify problems, develop solutions, map out user experience, and create a functioning prototype in a 5-day time span. These are skills I will take with me as I progress throughout my career.
Thank you!
For any questions please get in touch with me through email: Akhunter101@gmail.com