Bakedwithlove is a physical and online Bakery store for cake lovers that offers affordable pricing options for a variety of cakes. The typical users are between 18-60 years old, families, men, women, young college students, or professionals. Bakedwithlove goal is to make shopping fun, fast, and easy for all types of users.
Duration
May 2022 to September 2022
The problem
Available Bakery websites have cluttered designs, inefficient systems for browsing through products, and confusing checkout processes.
The Goal
Design a Bakery website to be user-friendly by providing clear navigation and offering a fast checkout process.
My Role
UX designer leading the Bakedwithlove website design
Responsibilities
Conducting Interviews
Paper and Digital Wireframing
Low and High-fidelity prototyping
Conducting usability studies
Accounting for accessibility
iterating on designs, and responsive design
Understanding the Users
User research
Personas
Problem statements
User journey maps
User research: Summary
I conducted user interviews, which I then turned into empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs. I discovered that many target users treat online shopping as a fun and relaxing activity when they need a break from school or work. However, many shopping websites are overwhelming and confusing to navigate, which frustrated many target users. This caused a normally enjoyable experience to become challenging for them, defeating the purpose of relaxation.
Navigation
Shopping website designs are often busy, which results in confusing navigation
Interaction
Small buttons on shopping websites make item selection difficult, which sometimes leads users to make mistakes
Experience
Online shopping websites don’t provide an engaging browsing experience
User Persona
Problem statement
Natasha is a busy receptionist in an office who needs intuitive website navigation and checkout options because she wants online shopping to be stress-free.
User Journey Map
I created a user journey map of Natasha’s experience using the site to help identify possible pain points and improvement opportunities.
Starting the Design
Sitemap
Paper wireframes
Digital wireframes
Low-fidelity prototype
Usability studies
Sitemap
Difficulty with website navigation was a primary pain point for users, so I used that knowledge to create a sitemap.
My goal here was to make strategic information architecture decisions that would improve overall website navigation. The structure I chose was designed to make things simple and easy.
Paper Wireframes
Stars were used to mark the elements of each sketch that would be used in the initial digital wireframes.
Next, I sketched out paper wireframes for each screen in my responsive website, keeping the user's pain points about navigation, browsing, and checkout flow in mind.
The home screen paper wireframe variations to the right focus on optimising the browsing experience for users.
Paper wireframe screen size variations
Because Bakedwithlove’ customers access the site on a variety of different devices, I started to work on designs for additional screen sizes to make sure the site would be fully responsive.
Paper wireframe screen size variations
Because Bakedwithlove’ customers access the site on a variety of different devices, I started to work on designs for additional screen sizes to make sure the site would be fully responsive.
Paper wireframe screen size variations
Moving from paper to digital wireframes made it easy to understand how the redesign could help address user pain points and improve the user experience.
Prioritising useful button locations and visual element placement on the home page was a key part of my strategy.
Easy access for ordering a customised cakes.
Homepage is optimized for easy browsing through the main categories of products images and nav menu options
Easy access for ordering a customised cakes.
Low-fidelity prototype
To create a low-fidelity prototype, I connected all of the screens involved in the primary user flow of adding an item to the cart and checking out.
At this point, I received feedback on my designs from members of my team about things like the placement of buttons and page organization. I made sure to listen to their feedback, and I implemented several suggestions in places that addressed user pain points.
These were the main findings uncovered by the usability study:
Cart
Once at the checkout screen, users didn’t have a way to edit the number of items in the cart
Checkout
Users weren’t able to easily copy the shipping address information into the billing info field
Account
During the checkout process, there wasn’t a clear way for users to log in to their account to pre-fill previous billing and shipping info
Refiing the Design
Mockups
High-fidelity prototype
Accessibility
Mockups
Based on the insights from the usability study, I made changes to improve the site’s checkout flow. One of the changes I made was adding the option to edit the numbers of items in a user’s cart using a simple “+” or “-” option. This allowed users more freedom to edit their cart without going through a complicated process to add or remove items.
Mockups
To make the checkout flow even easier for users, I added a rectangle box that makes users see information more clearly and stay focused.
Mockups: Original screen size
Mockups: Screen size variations
I included considerations for additional screen sizes in my mockups based on my earlier wireframes. Because users shop from a variety of devices, I felt it was important to optimize the browsing experience for a range of device sizes, such as mobile and tablet so users have the smoothest experience possible.
High-fidelity prototype
My hi-fi prototype followed the same user flow as the lo-fi prototype and included the design changes made after the usability study, as well as several changes suggested by members of my team.
I used headings with different- sized text for a clear visual hierarchy
I used landmarks to help users navigate the site, including users who rely on assistive technologies
I designed the site with alt text available on each page for smooth screen reader access
Going Forward
Takeaways
Next steps
Takeaways
Impact:
Our target users shared that the design was intuitive to navigate through, more engaging with the images, and demonstrated a clear visual hierarchy.
What I learned:
I learned that even a small design change can have a huge impact on the user experience. The most important takeaway for me is to always focus on the real needs of the user when coming up with design ideas and solutions.
Next Steps
Conduct follow-up usability testing on the new website
Identify any additional areas of need and ideate on new features
Let’s connect!
Thank you for reviewing my work on the Bakewithlove responsive website!
If you’d like to see more or would like to get in touch, my contact information is provided below: