UX Researcher
Information Architect
Product Designer
Figma
Mural
Optimal Workshop
2 weeks solo passion
UNIQLO saw an increase in online sales when its physical outlets are closed during the pandemic lockdown. I needed to fully capitalise on this online demand surge and identify any problems that may cause a conversation drop.
I am a big fan of UNIQLO’s UT graphic tees. As someone from an animation background, it excites me what the company brings to the table whenever they collaborate with Disney, Pixar, and other franchises. I also love the shopping experience in its physical stores. So when they were all closed during COVID-19 "Circuit Breaker”, I turned to their online store instead. To my surprise, I found it a little challenging to navigate. So with this opportunity, I decided to find out more about other users' experiences.
I conducted user interviews with 9 participants who shop at UNIQLO to understand their online shopping experience and discover their needs and frustrations.
By using an affinity map to group my interview findings, I'm able to analyse and pinpoint 3 key insights to focus on:
Now that I have a better understanding of my users' pain points and needs, I created a user persona, Serene, to help us stay anchored on the users and avoid letting our desire for features trump user needs.
Without further ado, let's meet Serene!
Developing a problem statement helps me summarise into concise insights for stakeholders. Using the persona as my guide, I then define Serene’s problem.
Serene needs a clear way to look for
her shopping wants so that she doesn’t spend so much time searching for them.
Our proposed solution statement for her.
To provide simple and clear navigation and filtering system by improving on information architecture and visual hierarchy.
What is the general perception of how UNIQLO apparel should be grouped and structured? That is the question I'm interested in finding out. With so much content, it was important to organise information for digestibility.
To remove any personal bias, I ran an open card sort with 21 participants to discover their interpretations in sorting them into logical categories. The goal is to simplify navigation and make products easy to find.
18 out of 21 users placed them under “ Women ”.
On the UNIQLO website, it is under “ Tops ”.
I will move it out of " Tops ".
19 out of 21 users placed them under “ Women” and “Men ”.
Users associate UNIQLO graphic tees with their particular category instead of just a regular top. That goes to show its strong branding and reputation among consumers.
It is under the category “ Tops ” in UNIQLO.
I will move it out of " Tops. "
16 out of 21 users placed them under “ Women / Men ”.
These accessories include caps and masks. UNIQLO grouped it with “ Homewear'' instead.
I will bring that out of “Homewear”.
The existing site map is restructured and organised to consider my key findings—changes in red below.
Next, I conduct user testing on the existing website to discover any design issues. I reached out to 7 participants and assigned 2 tasks on browsing and filtering.
3 out of 7 users completed the tasks successfully, with an average score of 4.3 out of 7.0 points on completion ease. That is not looking good.
I attempt to find out why.
6 out of 7 users have difficulty narrowing down because there are no filters in product listings
Sort by Price filter only shows up after a successful search bar result. However, it is easy to miss.
3 out of 7 users missed it and scrolled past several times.
Even so, the price is sorted by the lowest price only. We are unable to set a price range.
4 out of 7 users find the product page cluttered on both sides. They are unsure of which area to focus on.
Different image views are awkwardly positioned under the fold at the bottom left. Users have to scroll
3 out of 7 users felt overwhelmed by the display of information inside the Home page and Product listing page. There is too much cognitive load for users.
After sketching the flows on paper, I made a low fidelity wireframe using Figma.
I conducted 2 rounds of usability testing with 7 users each and received valuable insights to incorporate into the final design.
High fidelity screens established a realistic experience to encourage useful stakeholder feedback. I centred my major design decisions around:
Let me take you through the changes.
I invited another 7 participants to simulate Serene’s role and attempt the tasks again. I also included 1 more task to check out both of the items. The aim is to evaluate and validate the redesign.
This time the redesign was met with a positive response. Users have no problem completing all the tasks. Average easiness ratings also shot up to a near-perfect score of 6.8 - 7.0.
There is still room for improvement. Next, I would like to streamline the length of the Homepage. Few users commented it is still a long page to scroll through. Given more time, I would like to include a filter for sizes. A minority of my user interviewees are plus-size women, and later on, they expressed their struggles in finding apparel with larger sizes that suit them. There is a small demand that I did not expect and cater for. Thus I seek to address their concerns in my next iteration. Finally, to make the website responsive. Users who have not installed the mobile app may still head to the mobile browser to access the website.
The vast amount of UNIQLO product information can be overwhelming to sift through.
Thankfully in this project, I learned about Card Sorting and applied them to good use. My takeaway is information architecture is very critical in determining the organisation and content priority for e-commerce sites. Furthermore, it allows us to shift away from assumption-based decisions, a common trap for UX designers to fall into. Analysing the raw data and trying to make sense out of it is another challenge in itself. I am glad to bring my new skill sets to the arsenal.
There are also new constraints I learned to work with, such as abiding by UNIQLO ’s rich history of branding and respecting its business needs. It is a delicate balance. Mastering the user-centred design aspect is essential. But it also dawned on me that a keen understanding of business objectives and rationale is just as crucial in making our products sustainable for a long-term business goal. That is a personal goal that I would love to see myself apply to my subsequent case studies.
Designed & Developed by Daniel Aw