CRUSH
FINAL VIDEO
DESIGN REPORT
âCRUSHâ objectifies the purpose of creating a more interactive shopping experience and bring the in-store experience to life in a virtual sense. Even there are a lot of existing shopping apps on the market, they still need to improve the engagement with the customers regarding the lack of touch and feel of the products in the online shopping experience. Instead of making a generic app where people can simply purchase items online, I want to create a platform that co-create of value meanwhile enhance the customer experience by high technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality). This application is aiming at the most convenient shopping experience by bringing the in-store experience to life in a virtual sense, resell the used products and share personal collocation with others.
My final app design completed through six steps. It is very important to focus on the process before starting to design the project. Â Firstly, I came up with different ideas. From research into customer journey mapping last semester, I realised it is essential to understand the customers' experience before start designing the project. This is the area I was initially interested in. As a very active online buyer myself, I decided to create a shopping app that provides the most convenient and exciting shopping experience for customers. I decided to design the shopping app specifically focus on sneakers. Therefore, I can develop my project from the perspective of consumers. It can help me indicate what is the easiest way for customers as they move from one touchpoint to another. Â
Secondly, I did a lot of research into the project. When people were purchasing their favourite sneakers with the traditional online shopping, theyâre likely to guess and assume that the colour, size, and style might fit them well. The reality is, shoppers often discover that the product just doesnât fit as it should. Therefore, I researched into how augmented reality can be used in online e-commerce to increase buyers trust and create a different shopping experience and how can AR technology change the way we were usually shopping online. I realised bring the in-store experience to life in a virtual sense can catch customersâ attention. The reports show that over 70 per cent of buyers would be more loyal to brands who incorporate AR as part of their shopping experience.
From researching into pre-existing sneakers applications, I realised that none of the applications has integrated functions that can provide the most convenient online shopping experience for users. For example, some apps only focus on the release day of the sneakers. Users have to go to another app to buy them. I decided to create an app that involves all the useful shopping functions that users need. As well as providing the AR technology to allow customers to try on sneakers using their camera, I also want to involve other useful functions to make the most convenient online shopping experience for users. Â
The third step is to create the information architecture and the personas. After I decided the functions that could involve in my design, I started to think about my target audience. I created four personas with different occupation and online shopping habits. My app was aimed at young generation as they are the groups that would often buy products online. This age group of target audience determined the modern design style of my app. The information architecture helps me to get a better arrangement of the functions in my app. Basically, it has four main screens which are the home page, discover, try on and profile. The homepage allows users to know the most popular sneakers and remind them of the release day. Users can both buy or sell their sneakers. Discover page provides the collections of sneakers. Users can share their shoe collocation on the app to give others more suggestion. The try on page allows users to use our intuitive AR to try on shoes using their camera. Profile page provides the shopping records they have purchased on the app.
Then I started to develop the concepts and wireframes. I created the wireframes by hand which allows me to have more results. After testing lots of possible layout of the design, I put them all together in the sketch. To make a final decision of the design layout, I did a lot of user testing to determine the most suitable and easiest layout for my app.
After the creation of the app layout, I started designing the final screen. In the beginning, I did not create a design system. I tested out a lot of possible colour scheme and typeface which waste me a lot of time. Then I got suggestions from G that create a style guide first to ensure the overall look of the application was cohesive. For the colour scheme, I used black, white and dark orange as my primary colour. The less use of colour can make my application looks more modern and allows the sneakers stand out more. I chose the typeface Avenir as it is simple to style and easy to read. For the use of icons, I created them myself, and it is straightforward and easy to understand. I realised it is essential to create a design system before start designing. It can save a lot of time and ensure the overall design is cohesive. At the beginning of my design, I used some existing sneaker advertisement photos for the discover page. It almost takes over my design. The challenge for me is that I need to create some sneaker advertisement posters by myself. It was not easy for me as I need to make it looks real. But I am pleased with the results.
Overall, I realised plan a design process is essential for UI/UX designers. The result is always unsatisfactory when I focused on the final results too much. Through the constant learning of user experience and user testing during these two years, I found that the user experience is the most important thing for a successful application. I also discovered my weakness when I worked on the project by myself. I am always struggling with my design. Sometimes I have to keep asking others feedback. Unlike working as a group, we often make the decision very fast. In the future, I will keep improving myself, believing in my choices to create desirable designs.
