In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, e-commerce platforms must continually adapt to meet users' expectations for convenience, efficiency, and innovation. This case study outlines the redesign of EnailCouture, a nail product shopping website, over a three-week timeline, with a focus on enhancing user experience through a user-centered design approach.
EnailCouture faced challenges such as complex navigation, visual clutter, and limited functionality, which affected user satisfaction and hindered efficient product discovery. My goal was to address these issues by modernizing the design, improving navigation, and incorporating advanced features like virtual try-on tools. The redesign aimed to create a streamlined, visually engaging shopping experience that better aligns with user needs and strengthens the site’s competitive position in the nail product e-commerce market.
Redesign an existing nail product shopping website to enhance user experience and accessibility, with a focus on integrating innovative features like a virtual try-on tool.
The original EnailCouture website presented several challenges that prompted the redesign. The site was plagued by complex navigation, which made it difficult for users to find products efficiently. The visual clutter of the interface and limited functionality further hindered the user experience, leading to frustration and decreased satisfaction.
The homepage image does not immediately show the site's purpose or offerings to user.
Categories are not logically organized.
Too much information and elements for product name and image.
Product images are low-quality and inconsistent, and no product reviews.
To understand the current market and identify best practices, I conducted a competitive analysis of major nail product websites, including Sally Beauty and Amazon Beauty. This analysis focused on their navigation structures, product presentation, and user feedback mechanisms.
Sally Beauty offers a wide range of professional nail products with easy navigation and comprehensive search filters. They also includes tutorials for people who want to learn how to do nail art.
Amazon Beauty provides a powerful search functionality and fast shipping. They also have extensive reviews and ratings from customers.
To gain deep insights into the user experience and identify pain points, I conducted a series of interviews with five participants who regularly shop for nail products online. These participants were selected based on their varying levels of expertise in nail care, frequency of online shopping, and familiarity with different e-commerce platforms. The interviewees ranged from casual shoppers to more experienced nail art enthusiasts, providing a broad spectrum of perspectives.
MAIN TAKEAWAYS:
Desire for Convenience: Users sought a streamlined, easy-to-navigate shopping experience.
Importance of Visual Tools: The virtual try-on feature was highly valued for visualizing nail polish colors before purchase.
Information Needs: Users wanted detailed product information and reliable reviews.
To refine the design approach, I used affinity mapping to group user feedback into common themes. This process highlighted key areas like navigation difficulties, the need for detailed product information, and the importance of eco-friendly options, ensuring that my design decisions aligned with user needs.
VIEW AFFINITY MAP
Olivia is a 30-year-old marketing manager and passionate nail art enthusiast who frequently shops for nail products online. She struggles to navigate websites that are cluttered and lack detailed product information she needs to make informed purchases. Olivia needs a platform that offers a seamless shopping experience with eco-friendly products, reliable reviews, and visual tools to help her choose the right nail polish color. She benefits from a streamlined design that allows her to quickly find and purchase high-quality, trendy, and sustainable nail products despite her busy schedule.
To understand how users categorize nail products and improve the site's information architecture, I conducted open card sorting with participants, asking them to group nail products into categories that made sense to them. Which developed a navigation menu based on user preferences, making it easier for users to find what they need.
VIEW CARD SORTINGI designed a sitemap that outlines the structure of the website, showing the relationships between pages, and mapped out user flows to illustrate the steps Olivia takes to complete key site tasks, ensuring a logical and intuitive navigation experience.
Creating an effective sitemap was a critical step in redesigning EnailCouture’s website. The goal was to ensure a logical and intuitive structure that would improve navigation, streamline the user journey, and reduce friction in product discovery.
VIEW SITEMAP
The user flow process for the EnailCouture redesign was focused on simplifying the shopping experience while ensuring that key interactions were intuitive and efficient.
VIEW USER FLOWTo ensure a clear and user-focused design, I employed the Crazy 8's exercise to rapidly sketch key pages from the user flow. This approach allowed me to quickly explore multiple design solutions and iterate on them.
To create an intuitive user interface, I began by developing low-fidelity wireframes in Figma based on the refined sketches. The focus was on clear navigation, prominent product displays, and an accessible layout. The wireframes incorporated essential elements like a search bar, product categories, virtual try-on tool, and user reviews to align with the needs for Olivia.
With the wireframes in place, I conducted usability testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the design. The testing involved 3 participants. Users were tasked with performing common actions such as searching for products, using the virtual try-on tool, and reading reviews.
FINDINGS AND SOULUTIONS:
Font Sizes: Based on feedback indicating readability issues, I increased the font sizes for all text elements across the application. This adjustment ensures that text is legible on various devices and screen sizes, improving overall readability and user comfort.
Button Replacement: Users found some buttons less prominent and intuitive. To address this, I redesigned the buttons with larger sizes, higher contrast, and more distinct visual cues, such as rounded corners and shadow effects. This redesign enhances visibility and makes it easier for users to identify and interact with key actions.
Product Images: Users wanted a closer view of product images. To address this, I implemented quickview feature that allows users to click on product images to view them in a larger, zoomable format. This enhancement enables users to inspect product details more closely and make more informed purchase decisions.
Using the insights from wireframes and usability testing, I created high-fidelity mockups in Figma. The UI design process was focused on creating a visually appealing and functional interface that met user needs and adhered to design principles. By incorporating feedback, refining visual elements, and ensuring consistency, the final design aimed to provide an engaging and user-friendly experience.
Color Scheme: I chose a cream and neutral color palette to keep the site simple and uncluttered. Since nail polish products feature a wide range of colors, a neutral background ensures that the focus remains on the products themselves without overwhelming users with competing colors.
Typography: I used Kaisei Tokumin for a modern and clean look. This font choice provides clear readability and a sophisticated aesthetic, which helps in distinguishing headings from body text and important information from secondary details.
Clarity: The layout was designed to present information clearly, avoiding visual clutter and making key elements like product details and navigation options easily accessible.
The redesign of the website EnailCouture successfully integrated user feedback and advanced features to create a more engaging and efficient shopping experience. The project underscored the importance of a user-centered design approach and iterative testing in developing a seamless and intuitive online shopping platform. Future enhancements will focus on refining search functionality, expanding virtual try-on capabilities, and continuously monitoring user feedback to maintain high standards of user satisfaction.
