ANTHROPOLOGIE
With new features added to the existing Anthropologie website, customers will be able to find and test their style without having to think twice.
Role
UX/UI Designer
UX Researcher
Tools
Figma, Figjam,
Optimal Workshop,
Discord
Project Type
Add-a-Feature
Time Frame
3 weeks
(100 hours)
1. OVERVIEW
THE BRAND
Anthropologie is an American retailer operating within the United States, Canada and the UK, that sells clothing, accessories, home furniture, decorations, beauty products and gifts.
CONTEXT
Shopping online is a fun experience that allows for universal convenience, however, the act of purchasing large home pieces such as furniture, non-returnable makeup, and sifting through thousands of products to find the right thing can also hold its frustrations. Providing features that take the stress out of guessing if something will look right, picking the perfect color/ shade to match skin tone, and narrowing down options to scroll through allows for a more enjoyable and stress-free experience.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
People who shop for apparel, furniture, and beauty cosmetics, want to be able to order with confidence, especially on bulky items and on merchandise marked final sale. However, people are not able to picture items in their living space, are not able to test certain colors against their skin tone, and don’t have the time or patience to sift through thousands of online products.
THE SOLUTION
Providing new features where consumers can virtually view furniture and home decor pieces in their personal space, try on makeup virtually to color-match their skin tone, and shop curated lists pre-selected to match their personal style, will take the stress off of shopping online while creating a pleasant and joyous shopping experience.
2. EMPATHIZE
I wanted to understand the habits, motivations, pain points, and goals of people who shop at Anthropologie while also learning more about the hardships they face with shopping online vs. in-person. To uncover these goals, I employed 3 distinct research methodologies.
1. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Key similarities:
All online websites have a search bar for customers to search keywords/specific items
All online websites have a customer service number or email and live chat
All online stores have an account login for returning customers
Key differences:
Some competitor companies have an AR feature to view items in your home virtually before purchasing
Some competitor companies have a rewards system to encourage further shopping from customers
Some competitor companies offer free returns in-person and/or free shipping for convenience to the customer
2. USER INTERVIEWS
I conducted 6 user interviews with participants ranging from 28-59 years old. All participants identified as female and are avid Anthropologie shoppers. Through Affinity Mapping, I was able to find common themes:
Shopping for furniture/home decor online is difficult
Participants found it hard to pull the trigger on expensive/bulky items without knowing how it would look or fit in their space
Participants worried that returning large pieces would be difficult and costly (restocking fee)
Struggles purchasing beauty/makeup products online
Participants felt it was too risky when the makeup is non-returnable after being opened/tested at home
Hard to know what shade or color to order
Challenges faced when shopping online
Afraid of missing certain items/not filtering correctly
Time consuming to scroll through everything
3. SURVEY
I created and distributed a survey online that was completed by 2 men and 15 women in their 20’s - 40’s, all with experience shopping online. The following takeaways were noted:
Biggest frustrations shopping for furniture at Anthropologie:
High prices
Dimensions aren’t accurate and then have to return
Hassle of getting item home
Lack of inventory in-stores
Long delivery wait times (4+ months)
Biggest frustrations when ordering beauty products/makeup:
Unclear ingredients
Not able to match skin shade/color inconsistency
3. DEFINE
I synthesized the insights gained in the interviews to create representative personas to humanize the user and to guide later design decisions. My research led me to identify two user personas: Bonnie, ‘the busy bee’, and ‘lazy’ Susan.
Creating these specific personas allowed me to eliminate any personal bias I may have had initially started with. The most crucial things for these users were rooted in their personal and social needs which include making online shopping less overwhelming, matching makeup to skin tone virtually, and being able to visualize bulky item purchases in home first. Their motivations also helped me identify them as separate user categories.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Based off of my user interviews, I was able to scope the user journey of Anthropologie’s current customers and mark their feelings and the pain points they face with their current online shopping experience.
STORYBOARDING
Storyboarding was beneficial for me to understand the user more deeply, their pain points, and to explore possible solutions to ultimately demonstrate the user goals. Here is 1 of the 3 storyboards I created based off my user personas:
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM & DEVELOPING SOLUTIONS
Once I was able to determine user goals, motivations, and current pain points, I not only found a problem through Point of View Statements, but also turned it into How Might We...? questions to then solve for a solution.
FEATURE SET
To prioritize the features that went into my product, I thoroughly reviewed my research synthesis and personas in order to support my user’s goals. The 'Must Haves' are features that all/the majority of users stressed that they needed to improve their shopping experience where as the 'Nice to Have' and 'Can Come Later' are features that aren't as important to the user experience in this moment.
4. IDEATE
USER FLOWS
To help visualize the decision points and potential pathways that users may take in order to complete functions within the product, I created a user flow centered setting up 'MyStyle' and then shopping the personal style list.
The first two rust/orange boxes represent the different paths taken whether the user does not have an account and needs to create one vs. logging into their already registered account
The diamond signifies the decision the user must take in setting their personal preference to create their own style in order to shop curated lists based on what they like
TASK FLOWS
To focus on each specific task, I created task flows to focus on one singular path. From my 3 user flows, I created 5 task flows. The 2 task flows shown below are as follows:
Trying on a new blush virtually
Anthropologie account holder set up ‘My Style’ account
LOW FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
Once I identified the key pages I was designing for, I took pen to paper to sketch out different possibilities of site design for each new feature.
In my research, I found that 93% of users preferred to shop online via desktop because they preferred viewing items on a larger screen
I designed the new features as desktop-first, however, because the AR feature has to be mobile, I sketched how to move from desktop to mobile for this particular flow. Below details starting on desktop and moving to mobile within the same flow
Testing low fidelity wireframes made me aware that I needed to re-name labels under icons because users didn’t understand what they meant
5. DESIGN
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
Using Anthropologie’s existing design system and all of the components that I created, my sketched wireframes evolved into high-fidelity prototypes.
6. TEST & ITERATE
USABILITY TESTING
Once I had my high fidelity mockup of the new features, I recruited 5 participants to test my prototype made in Figma. My goal was to see if users could successfully complete 3 flows to test the ease and usability of the product. All 5 users that participated in this moderated test are avid Anthropologie shoppers as well as shop at other retail stores online. Their tasks:
See how the Bowen Sofa looks in your space, change the color to brown, then add it to your cart
Try on a new blush (and lipstick) virtually
Set up your ‘MyStyle’
Findings:
All participants were able to complete their tasks, however, ease could be improved.
IMPROVEMENTS/ITERATIONS
I prioritized my feedback to make changes to my designs based on usability tests and standard design practices.
Virtual makeup try-on screen adjustments:
Because users felt that the makeup should automatically populate once their desired product and picture is on the screen, I redesigned it to automatically apply makeup upon uploading the user’s personal image.
Users were unsure of what “Add More Products” and “Save Room” meant, so I changed the copy on those buttons to read, “Try On More Products” and “Save Look” to make the actions as clear as possible.
Users had a difficult time finding the correct blush because they thought it looked more like a lipstick, so I changed which blush for them to try on
‘MyStyle’ creation adjustments:
Image alignment and spacing didn’t feel consistent to users so I redesigned the placement to match Anthropologie’s already existing screens.
I added more questions to the ‘My Style’ questionnaire because participants wanted to narrow down their style. Users also felt that the form fields were distracting and liked the idea of consistency with checkboxes.
I added the option to create multiple styles, similar to how users can have multiple wishlists.
‘MyStyle’ landing page adjustments:
I added an image/picture to fill the white space and to reflect that the user had successfully created a specific style.
Adding an additional new style is now easily accessible to the user.
The options list is now consistent with all Anthropologie’s pages.
I added ways for user to make their checkout experience easier with the click of the button (consistent on other Anthropologie pages.)
FINALIZED DESIGN
Click below to view my finalized design in an interactive prototype. After iterating on my designs based on user feedback, I found that ease and accessibility were greatly improved.
The 3 flows that I created for the new features:
See how the Bowen Sofa looks in your space, change the color to brown, then add it to your cart
Try on a new blush (and lipstick) virtually
Set up your ‘MyStyle’
7. REFLECT
DECISIONS/STRUGGLES
Going into this project, I planned on adding a feature to Free People, not Anthropologie. However, when the initial user research failed to uncover significant problems, I adapted by pivoting to a different product, that being Anthropologie. With a love for clothes and fashion, I was just as excited to work on a feature for Anthropologie as I was for Free People.
LESSONS LEARNED
Conducting an initial round of user research for Free People first was important because had I designed from my own assumptions, the feature(s) would have been worthless since ultimately I did not come across any significant problems or pain points.
User research was key in discovering consumer’s frustrations specifically to Anthropologie, allowing me to find and discover problems that I didn’t realize existed.