This artifact was intended to identify an existing website’s usability heuristics and apply new web solutions to the UX redesign. The website I chose to redesign is https://hollipopstoys.com/, a small mom and pop toy store in Mount Pleasant, SC.
Project Brief: Find a website that does not adhere to Nielson's 10 Usability Heuristics. Conduct a persona/scenario test to identify areas of user experience improvement. Create prototypes based on scenario testing results. Refine prototypes through usability testing, and finalize.
Personas
Scenarios
Responsive prototype pages:
A unique aspect of my design is that I've prototyped them to be interactive. My client can view the annotated prototype and observe how the user may experience the website.
Click the links below to view my interactive UX designs for hollipopstoys.com!
This project required abundant background research to understand how a large target audience (ages 0-99) interacts with websites. I did a good job of keeping this as a prioritized thought throughout the design process. Much of the current layout is centered on the screen, and there are too many lengthy paragraphs. The most important links and buttons on the website were quickly looked over by my personas, so visibility was very low. I incorporated more interactive elements, such as buttons, contact forms, and more pages. The overall new layout is much more established in hierarchy and customers are not confused about where to find information. My design artifact communicates how important user experience is to the public. In a business sense, a positive user experience will have the power to drive up sales, while a bad user experience will have the power to drive out potential customers.
If I were to work as a UX designer alongside a UI designer, ideally, this would then be sent off to my design partner to have colors, typefaces, and graphics/images added. Otherwise, this would be the initial phase of an interactive website redesign process (if I were the UX/UI designer). This artifact captures my ability to conduct research on a large target audience, and then apply my findings to a website. It also demonstrates my ability to create solutions for usability issues, like navigation, visibility, and lack of a minimal design.
