Mirror is a responsive e-commerce retail store for women and men.

Challenge

Mirror is an international brick-and-mortar clothing store looking to add online sales to their buisness by building an e-commerce website. I was responsible for designing their logo and branding to attract both male and female customers. as well as to design the UX and UI of the responsive e-commerce website.

 

Design Process

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RESEARCH

Percentage of total US e-commerce traffic

I found that mobile uses continue to increase but desktop is still dominating retail conversion. *E-Marketer

REASEARCH

Secondary research/ Competitive analysis: I wanted to understand the retail e-commerce market and to learn about common practices on their responsive websites.

Primary research/ User interviews: I interviewed 10 online shoppers to gain insight on their shopping feelings and reasons for choosing an e-commerce store over a physical store. I also wanted to learn about their likes and dislikes of their current online shopping experiences.

Interview findings

  • Customers look for social validation for their purchasing decisions.
  • Customers use physical stores and online stores as a supplement of one and other.
  • Most purchases are performed on desktop or laptop.
  • Customers need a shopping experience that is seamless and reliable.
  • Store needs to be approachable to the customers to build trust and loyalty.

PERSONA DEVELOPMENT & EMPATHY MAP

Based on the research findings, I developed a persona to have a realistic representation of Mirror's key audience. Our persona, Carol Morales, a 29 year-old female from Chicago helps address the major needs and aspirations of the user group. 

 

DEFINE

SITEMAP

After understanding the target audience, I conducted a card sorting exercise to understand how users categorize the products Mirror sells. The content categories and subcategories helped me start the interaction design using taxonomy of an e-commerce retailer and establish content hierarchy. 

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HOMEPAGE SKETCHES

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IDEATE

TASK FLOW & USER FLOW

By identifying the main flow that Mirror's users will follow to complete a main task of purchasing an item, 

To further empathize with the user, the main steps on the user flow identifies the different paths that a user would take to complete each task, considering points of entry, browsing for items, and sign ups in the process. 

 

WIREFRAMES

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PROTOTYPE

LOGO & BRANDING

Finally, I was ready to work on the visual design starting with the logo. Like all my designs I start with paper and pencil. I sketched anything that came to mind when thinking of the literal word "mirror". Here were a few of my sketches...

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I experimented with the concept of broken mirror fragments symbolizing breaking away from the distorted interpretation that we give ourselves. 

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The final logo and branding of Mirror represents authenticity and individuality; a confidence in identity.

UI KIT & RESPONSIVE UI

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TEST

I created a high-fidelity desktop prototype Invision and conducted a usability tests on 10 users. After a few iterations and recommendations we established error-free completion for on tasks for searching and purchasing a dress on sale. The next steps are to design and test additional screens before implementation.