Case Study
Beds Are Uzzz
UCD • Branding
An overview
Beds Are Uzzz’s (BAU) Magento 1 site had served them well over the years. However the time had come to upgrade to Magento 2; a perfect opportunity to take a look at the next evolution of their site, brand, UI/UX and get stuck in to some of the demands that their users were asking for over the lifespan of their original site.
👨🏻💻 Role: UX/UI Lead
💻 Platform: Magento 2 eComm
👥 Team: 2 Devs, 1 Designer
👁 Vision: Mobile 1st eComm
⏱ Delivery: 3 Months
💼 Agency: Advantec
Defining the problem
To begin the process, I facilitated a user centred design workshop with BAU to better understand the changing demands on their business. After talking with a representative from each specialism of their team and analysing site session data with our marketing department, it was clear that there were some correlating user issues that needed addressing. Collectively, we defined these as; users were confused by having to navigate a vast product range with multiple configurable items at product page. Users were experiencing a poor mobile journey. Users felt the brand didn’t reflect the quality of the stock being sold.
The challenges
We worked with the team to turn these key problems into ‘How might we’ statements, so that we had a clear and defined set of questions to innovate around. We defined these as follows; 1. How might we simplify the product range, visually, to help users find the products that they are looking for? 2. How might we improve the mobile experience to increase conversions? 3. How might we lift the brand to increase trust in the business? Once in agreement we were ready to start the ideation.
The concept
By using Sketch and Invision, we were able to rapidly prototype concepts and test them at design, making critical functionality decisions at design before code, a real time saver. This resulted in a mobile first site which incorporated some innovative concepts, such as a bed builder journey, which allowed the user to essentially create a bed in components and add it to their basket, far more efficiently with a tailored experience. An icon led bed finder on the homepage allowed the user to visually navigate the product range, saving confusion and time spent browsing.
Visual categories
Homepage design
Bespoke SVG graphics
A comprehensive design system has been defined to unify the site components of a rapidly growing brand, allowing them to scale efficiently without straying from core brand guidelines. A full set of scalable SVG icons have been designed to convey; bed sizes, firmness and storage along with attributes associated with individual products at the product page, to break up content. These in-turn sit tidily within the design system. A colour coded set of time sensitive, seasonal offers have been introduced to the design system, keeping the UI aligned and on brand whilst allowing offer codes to be clearly seen and understood, putting a stop to basket abandonment.
The results
The design work and prototype was applauded both internally and externally, described as being instrumental in lifting the brand and its online offering. Both agency and client are excited for it’s imminent launch and are confident that it will make a big impact to the rate of transactions and their market place, now that the user’s problems have been addressed.
What the client said
Alex Fellingham
Director at Beds Are Uzzz
“Moving to a Magento 2 site was a long term goal for our business, we knew that this would take thorough attention, planning and execution in order for the new site to be a success. Joe's professionalism and ability to empathise and understand our needs and those of our customer base played a key role in the success of the new site. Joe was instrumental with the new brand guidelines for our business and is an asset to the Advantec agency. He took the time to understand us and helped us understand the value of his atomic design system and trust the user-centred design process, both key components of his process that led to a strong and vastly improved design solution that will take our business to the next level online.”
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