Overview

The solution

A seamless website design for House2Home which offers “starter kits” for customers to instantly decorate their new place with items and accessories curated according to their design style and budget. They can also get a feel of how these items would look like in their own space through a 3D visualizer tool.

The problem

Decor-shopping can be daunting and overwhelming especially for those who are working on a budget while trying to put together a cohesive ‘look’ for their new place.

My role

As the solo UX/UI Designer for this design sprint challenge, my role included Research Synthesis, Sketching, Storyboarding, Wireframing, Prototyping and Usability Testing.

The process

House2Home

A 5-day modified GV sprint challenge to create a seamless decor-shopping experience for an e-commerce startup

Day 1

Research synthesis

Through customer surveys, House2Home has found out that many of their customers have just moved into a new home or apartment. These users want to buy multiple small items to personalize their new place, but they don’t feel confident doing it on their own. A user interview also revealed that one of the main challenges in decor-buying is getting stuck trying to recreate a style while staying on a budget.

Mapping

Understanding the customer’s design style is key to successfully recommend products that will target the their taste. I mapped the possible end-to-end experience of a House2Home’s customer below, starting with the onboarding process questionnaire:

Users will be asked to answer a short questionnaire - mainly photo selections - regarding their style preferences and asked to upload photos of the ‘look’ they want to achieve
After the survey they’ll be directed to the home page which contains recommendations of vignettes or curated items according to their style and budget, and the ability to see these items in a 3D visualizer tool.

Users will be asked to answer a short questionnaire - mainly photo selections - regarding their style preferences and asked to upload photos of the ‘look’ they want to achieve
After the survey they’ll be directed to the home page which contains recommendations of vignettes or curated items according to their style and budget, and the ability to see these items in a 3D visualizer tool.

Because most users are stuck with indecision and lack the confidence to put decor items together, an intuitive 3D Visualizer would be a great way for them to get a “feel” of how these items will look like in their space. This tool will allow the users to drag and drop items from a predetermined “kit” to an uploaded photo of their actual interior spaces. Items in the kit will be based on the users’ style and budget. It will be like shopping for outfits and getting to try them on without the commitment to purchase.

Reflection

This part of the sprint challenge required the ability to empathize with the users and analyze their behavior. I was able to better map out the journey the users take take by understanding their problem. This is an important part of the process. Understanding the problem gave me a broader perspective and helped me think of solutions from different angles.

Pain points

Through an affinity map, I was able to narrow down the main problems that users face in decor-buying. The common themes that users brought up are: 1. getting stuck because they are uncertain about what products to buy, 2. budgetary constraints, 3. getting overwhelmed, and 4. lacking the confidence to create a cohesive look of their space.

Stuck in indecision

Not sure if decor items will look good together in own space

Budget constraints

Doesn’t know how to recreate a style while staying on a budget

Overwhelmed

Shopping for decor gets overwhelming and takes a lot of time

Lack confidence

Doesn’t know what items to buy to create a ‘cohesive’ look

How Might We

The questions I want answered in this sprint are:

HMW help users visualize their chosen decor items and accessories in their own space?
HMW make decor-buying quick and not overwhelming?
HMW help users stay within a budget while achieving the “look” that they want for their space?
HMW help users feel confident in choosing decor items to buy?

User persona

An understanding of the user's behavior, frustrations and goals helps me define who the product is created for and determine what is important and unimportant for them from a user-centered point of view.

Ally

23, Chicago IL

Behavior

Graduated from college and moved into her first apartment

Excited to decorate and personalize her space

Browses Pinterest for inspiration, saves photos of rooms she likes

Shops for decorations, gets overwhelmed, decides “to do it another time”

Frustrations

Knows the ‘looks’ she wants, doesn’t know the right things to buy

Saves inspiration photos - how can she get a similar look on a budget?

Wants items with ‘impact’ but does not or is not allowed to make big changes in apartment

Sees lots of small items she likes, but doesn’t buy them because she doesn’t know if they will look good together in her space

Goals

Wants to give a quick “facelift” to her apartment without needing to shop for lots of individual items

Wants to find decorative items in her budget that will give her apartment the look and feel she wants

Design constraints

Solutions should be designed as a responsive website

The focus should be on helping users who want a "starter kit" of multiple products to decorate a new apartment
House2Home focuses on decorative products and accessories - mostly ranging from $10-$50

“I moved into a new apartment and it was soooo empty, so I wanted to buy some stuff to make it a little more stylish. I knew I needed a few things, but it was hard trying to stick to a budget.”

-Maria
“I know the ‘look’ I want, and how I want to feel when I walk in….I just don't really know what products to buy to pull it off.”

-Deena
“I find lots of cool little items that I like, but I never know if they’ll all look good together in the same room until I buy them. Usually, I get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything.”

-Dan
“So many items look great in the staged photos - but will they look good in MY living room? You don't really know until you order them and see how they look in the space.”

-Anna
“I read a bunch of blog posts on how to decorate a small apartment. They always include 10+ items to buy - which ones should I get if I can only afford three or four of them?”

-Lindsay
“I’ll admit - I want my place to look good, but I never enjoy searching for decorations or items. I'm not super picky about specific items, so spending time searching for stuff just gets tiring.”

-Ron
“I don’t have a huge budget for strictly decorative items, so I want the stuff I buy to make the most impact in giving my apartment the look and feel I want.”

-Silvia
“I do a lot of searching and saving on Pinterest…for example, I’ll see a room with a beach-house theme and save it…but once it comes down to buying stuff for my place, it’s hard for me to pick out the right items.”

-Renata
“I don’t want to decorate my place with a bunch of tiny, cheap items….but I also don't want to spend all my money on one big thing. How can I get the look I want within my budget?”

-Lauren
“I rent a new apartment for a year or two - so, I don't want to commit to buying big expensive items that might be hard to move in the future….and that may not even look good anywhere else.”

-Taylor
“I moved into a new apartment and it was soooo empty, so I wanted to buy some stuff to make it a little more stylish. I knew I needed a few things, but it was hard trying to stick to a budget.”

-Maria
“I know the ‘look’ I want, and how I want to feel when I walk in….I just don't really know what products to buy to pull it off.”

-Deena
“I find lots of cool little items that I like, but I never know if they’ll all look good together in the same room until I buy them. Usually, I get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything.”

-Dan
“So many items look great in the staged photos - but will they look good in MY living room? You don't really know until you order them and see how they look in the space.”

-Anna
“I read a bunch of blog posts on how to decorate a small apartment. They always include 10+ items to buy - which ones should I get if I can only afford three or four of them?”

-Lindsay
“I’ll admit - I want my place to look good, but I never enjoy searching for decorations or items. I'm not super picky about specific items, so spending time searching for stuff just gets tiring.”

-Ron
“I don’t have a huge budget for strictly decorative items, so I want the stuff I buy to make the most impact in giving my apartment the look and feel I want.”

-Silvia
“I do a lot of searching and saving on Pinterest…for example, I’ll see a room with a beach-house theme and save it…but once it comes down to buying stuff for my place, it’s hard for me to pick out the right items.”

-Renata
“I don’t want to decorate my place with a bunch of tiny, cheap items….but I also don't want to spend all my money on one big thing. How can I get the look I want within my budget?”

-Lauren
“I rent a new apartment for a year or two - so, I don't want to commit to buying big expensive items that might be hard to move in the future….and that may not even look good anywhere else.”

-Taylor
“I moved into a new apartment and it was soooo empty, so I wanted to buy some stuff to make it a little more stylish. I knew I needed a few things, but it was hard trying to stick to a budget.”

-Maria
“I know the ‘look’ I want, and how I want to feel when I walk in….I just don't really know what products to buy to pull it off.”

-Deena
“I find lots of cool little items that I like, but I never know if they’ll all look good together in the same room until I buy them. Usually, I get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything.”

-Dan
“So many items look great in the staged photos - but will they look good in MY living room? You don't really know until you order them and see how they look in the space.”

-Anna
“I read a bunch of blog posts on how to decorate a small apartment. They always include 10+ items to buy - which ones should I get if I can only afford three or four of them?”

-Lindsay
“I’ll admit - I want my place to look good, but I never enjoy searching for decorations or items. I'm not super picky about specific items, so spending time searching for stuff just gets tiring.”

-Ron
“I don’t have a huge budget for strictly decorative items, so I want the stuff I buy to make the most impact in giving my apartment the look and feel I want.”

-Silvia
“I do a lot of searching and saving on Pinterest…for example, I’ll see a room with a beach-house theme and save it…but once it comes down to buying stuff for my place, it’s hard for me to pick out the right items.”

-Renata
“I don’t want to decorate my place with a bunch of tiny, cheap items….but I also don't want to spend all my money on one big thing. How can I get the look I want within my budget?”

-Lauren
“I rent a new apartment for a year or two - so, I don't want to commit to buying big expensive items that might be hard to move in the future….and that may not even look good anywhere else.”

-Taylor
“I moved into a new apartment and it was soooo empty, so I wanted to buy some stuff to make it a little more stylish. I knew I needed a few things, but it was hard trying to stick to a budget.”

-Maria
“I know the ‘look’ I want, and how I want to feel when I walk in….I just don't really know what products to buy to pull it off.”

-Deena
“I find lots of cool little items that I like, but I never know if they’ll all look good together in the same room until I buy them. Usually, I get overwhelmed and end up not buying anything.”

-Dan
“So many items look great in the staged photos - but will they look good in MY living room? You don't really know until you order them and see how they look in the space.”

-Anna
“I read a bunch of blog posts on how to decorate a small apartment. They always include 10+ items to buy - which ones should I get if I can only afford three or four of them?”

-Lindsay
“I’ll admit - I want my place to look good, but I never enjoy searching for decorations or items. I'm not super picky about specific items, so spending time searching for stuff just gets tiring.”

-Ron
“I don’t have a huge budget for strictly decorative items, so I want the stuff I buy to make the most impact in giving my apartment the look and feel I want.”

-Silvia
“I do a lot of searching and saving on Pinterest…for example, I’ll see a room with a beach-house theme and save it…but once it comes down to buying stuff for my place, it’s hard for me to pick out the right items.”

-Renata
“I don’t want to decorate my place with a bunch of tiny, cheap items….but I also don't want to spend all my money on one big thing. How can I get the look I want within my budget?”

-Lauren
“I rent a new apartment for a year or two - so, I don't want to commit to buying big expensive items that might be hard to move in the future….and that may not even look good anywhere else.”

-Taylor

Day 2

Lightning demo

I searched for similar websites offering the same products, interfaces, design tools and screens that I can draw inspiration from, improve or experiment with.

Ashley Home Accessories has a plethora of decor selections and the way they categorize accessories is so logical. Their survey questionnaire serve as my inspiration in getting information from the customers regarding their style preferences.

I searched for similar websites offering the same products, interfaces, design tools and screens that I can draw inspiration from, improve or experiment with.

For the 3D visualizer tool, I’ll take inspiration from Roomstyler - their 3D tool is so intuitive that it only requires a short learning curve or none at all and customers can easily manage a tool like Roomstyler’s. Another tool is Wayfair’s Room Planner. These tools function differently from House2Home, but the drag and drop feature is a great idea to help customers visualize items in their own spaces.

The NestSet and the House of Elements both have a very clean and enticing way of presenting their curated products.

The Crazy 8s

Using the user journey map, the important screens will be the home screen which contains the recommended starter kits based on the users’ style (determined after they answer the survey questions). This page also includes a search filter that includes room, style, color and price range. The 3D Visualizer tool will be an optional tool but has a prominent place in this design. The 3D Visualizer will help users feel confident about how the items will look like in their space and thereby expediting the customers’ decision-making process.

The red star marks in the sketch are the features that I wanted to incorporate in the design solution.

Solution sketch

The main screens for this project are the home page which contains the starter kits recommendations, the filters (customers can filter their search based on style, price range, color and rooms) and the 3D Visualizer tool. I made the 3D visualizer optional because some users might want to skip this if they are already certain of their chosen starter kit.

Reflection

Having time constraints helped me avoid procrastination. I also learned how important it is to write down or sketch possible solutions especially during 'lightbulb' moments. Logical and analytical thinking skills are important in this part of the sprint.

Day 3

Storyboard

A Storyboard maps out each step of the experience that a designer wants to test and clarifies the pieces the designer needs to prototype. It shows exactly how the user will step through the prototype, click by click. I sketched the storyboard below and showed Ally's steps in navigating House2Home.

I imagined myself in Ally’s shoes and envisioned the path she would take starting from moving in into her new apartment. She’s excited to decorate her space, browses Pinterest for ideas, knows exactly what look she wants and starts shopping - but then she puts off purchasing decor items because she found the process overwhelming. She’s unsure about how the items will come together in her space and she has budgetary constraints. Before sketching, I wrote the script of Ally’s possible step-by-step actions:

Ally searches the web for “curated decor items” and comes across the House2Home website. She’s excited about the website’s promise of being able to get a feel of the decor items in her space.
Ally signs up and immediately jumped to the onboarding part - she answered the survey questions to find out her style and color preferences, comfortable price range, and shared her inspiration photos
After completing the questionnaire, Ally was delightfully surprised that the main page contains personalized ‘starter kit’ recommendations. She feels the items curated truly reflect the style she wants.
She clicks on the ‘kit’ that appealed to her the most. She’s glad that she could see clear images of each item with pricing and description.
The part she’s excited about the most - visualizing her chosen “starter kit” in her own space so she clicks the “See this in your space” button
Although apprehensive at first, Ally finds the app very easy and intuitive. She uploads a photo of her space and drags the items from her ‘kit’ to her photo. Now she gets an idea of the size, scale and how the items look together with her existing furniture, paint and flooring. She saves the 3D image.
Ally liked another kit and repeated the process of adding them to her photo. Now she couldn’t decide between the 2 curated set of items, so she shares the 3D photos to her interior designer friend for feedback.
Ally decides on the kit to buy with help from her friend. She then added the items to the cart. She reviews the items and purchases them.
Ally is confident about her kit choice and purchase. She couldn’t wait to start decorating!

Reflection

Storyboarding really helped me avoid overthinking. It is easy to be distracted and deviate from the important solution screens when one doesn’t use a story board. Also, as I was doing more detailed sketches than the Crazy 8s, it made me see the details I needed to add and design - so prioritizing the necessary screens was important at this point.

Day 4

Prototyping

The questionnaire is necessary to understand the user's style, budget constraints and other preferences that are important to determine the starter kits that are perfect for their needs.

After completing the questionnaire, the user will be directed to the home page which contains the recommended starter kits. To the left side, there are filter options so they can still customize their search according to their room, style, price range, color preference and user ratings.

The users will have the option to visualize these items in their own space by using the 3D visualizer tool. They will be asked to upload a photo of their room. The starter kit items will be on the left of the screen and they can drag and drop each item to the location they want.

Interact with prototype

The end-to-end user experience will be like the one below. Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to show how the users will sign up and how the check out process looks like.

Reflection

This part proved to be an enjoyable task. The main hurdle I encountered involved dedicating a considerable amount of time to locate the "ideal" graphics to utilize while deliberating over the appropriate color palette, font selection, and other UI-related elements. A valuable lesson I gleaned from this experience was the significance of being decisive and concentrating on the established solutions. Moreover, I discovered that creating a swift "to-do" list outlining priorities (even if it remained a mental note) greatly aided the process, as everything needed to be accomplished within a specified timeframe. Remarkably, preparing the storyboard in advance expedited the prototyping phase, as the user flow had already been meticulously determined step by step.

Day 5

User testing

I interviewed 5 people, 1 in-person and 4 others remotely. Overall, the website was easy to use and helpful in guiding users make a decision to purchase.

These are the key insights from the the user testing:

Successes

"This 3D visualizer is awesome. It will really help customers get a feel of the decor items in their space."

"I like the color and the photos used."
All users agreed that the questionnaire was a necessary step so they can have better product results shown to them
All users agree that the website is easy to navigate

Needs improvement

Questionnaire - "inspirational images" needs to be explained so users will be able to understand what to upload
Questionnaire - some users were confused about the "I'll do this later" button as a response to the question and the "I'll do this later" button as a way to skip the questionnaire altogether
Home Page - some users voiced out that they need more information on the products like product name and a short description without clicking on each photo
Home Page - some users suggested that an 'add to cart' button be added so they can quickly buy the starter kit they like
3D visualizer - one user questioned the intuitive ability of the tool - for example, if a user uploads a poor-quality photo, will the tool recognized the existing items in the room?
A better-designed checkout process

Going forward

The future iteration will include:

Improving the home page design with more information about the product
Improving the 3D visualizer tool design by adding more options to adjust and edit photos that users upload
Creating the route for users where they can sign up
Designing a clear check-out process
Designing the route for users to share their photos with friends or pros to get some feedback to help their decision-making process easier
Refine the questionnaire - text to be clearer and navigation to be easier to understand

Takeaways

I was apprehensive about starting this challenge because of the time constraints, but it turned out to be a fun and insightful experience. I learned a lot and am excited to learn more and do projects like this in the future. Through this design sprint, I was able to conceptualize, prototype and test concepts within a week - and that is what I like best about this challenge. I learned the importance of understanding the problem, documenting ideas, being decisive, improving the skills to use design tools and observing the non-verbal cues during user testing. I know I still have a lot to learn but I'm happy with how this design sprint turned out.

Thank you!

Other case studies

Going forward

The future iteration will include:

Improving the home page design with more information about the product
Improving the 3D visualizer tool design by adding more options to adjust and edit photos that users upload
Creating the route for users where they can sign up
Designing a clear check-out process
Designing the route for users to share their photos with friends or pros to get some feedback to help their decision-making process easier
Refining the questionnaire - text to be clearer and navigation to be easier to understand

Takeaways

Initially hesitant due to time limitations, I embarked on this challenge with a mix of caution and anticipation. Surprisingly, it unfolded as a delightful and enlightening journey. The abundance of knowledge I gained has only fueled my excitement to delve deeper into similar projects in the future. This design sprint proved to be an immersive experience, where I successfully envisioned, prototyped, and tested concepts within the span of a week—an aspect that resonates most with me. Notably, I grasped the significance of comprehending the problem at hand, capturing ideas in documentation, making confident decisions, refining proficiency in design tools, and keenly observing non-verbal cues during user testing. While acknowledging that I still have much to learn, I am genuinely content with the outcome of this design sprint.

Thank you!

Other case studies

Day 4

Prototyping

The questionnaire is necessary to understand the user's style, budget constraints and other preferences that are important to determine the starter kits that are perfect for their needs.

Interact with prototype

The end-to-end user experience will be like the one below. Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to show how the users will sign up and how the check out process looks like.

Reflection

Day 5

User testing

I interviewed 5 people, 1 in-person and 4 others remotely. Overall, the website was easy to use and helpful in guiding users make a decision to purchase.

These are the key insights from the the user testing:

Successes

"This 3D visualizer is awesome. It will really help customers get a feel of the decor items in their space."

"I like the color and the photos used."
All users agreed that the questionnaire was a necessary step so they can have better product results shown to them
All users agree that the website is easy to navigate

Needs improvement

Questionnaire - "inspirational images" needs to be explained so users will be able to understand what to upload
Questionnaire - some users were confused about the "I'll do this later" button as a response to the question and the "I'll do this later" button as a way to skip the questionnaire altogether
Home Page - some users voiced out that they need more information on the products like product name and a short description without clicking on each photo
Home Page - some users suggested that an 'add to cart' button be added so they can quickly buy the starter kit they like
3D visualizer - one user questioned the intuitive ability of the tool - for example, if a user uploads a poor-quality photo, will the tool recognized the existing items in the room?
A better-designed checkout process