House2Home
House2Home is an e-commerce website that wants to help people decorate their new spaces.
By providing customers with home ‘starter kits’, House2Home aims to remove the stressful steps of deciding on new decor.
The Problem
People moving into new spaces for the first time can struggle greatly with the challenge of selecting home decor that aligns with their vision. Factors like financial limitations, time constraints, and the effort involved complicate this process. The task can easily become overwhelming and daunting. This raises the pivotal question for House2Home: How might we assist users in decorating their spaces in a simple and affordable process?
Day 1 Mapping & Solutions
Users interviewed for House2Home had 3 main concerns when decorating for their new space:
Feeling overwhelmed by options and decision making
Not knowing how to style the items they like together
Affordability of decor
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By idea mapping I was able to better understand the steps a House2Home user would need in order to reach their goals. I also researched competitors and decided what elements would be successful utilized in House2Home. I wanted to bring in unique elements as well that would help the website stand out. During the end of Day 1 I synthesized the research into a solidified end-to-end experience that would serve as the foundation for my project.
Day 2 Sketching
I practiced Google’s Design Sprint Methodology by using their Crazy 8’s method. Each sketch was a potential idea for House2Home- all 8 created in increments of 60 seconds.
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Using ideas from the Crazy 8’s, I created a storyboard based on the end-to-end experience that I had created on Day 1 of the Sprint.
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Day 3 Decisions
This day was for finalizing all my ideas and concepts into a solution. The 12 panels presented below are the steps a user would take in-between the storyboard from Day 2. The process of the Sprint is to directly respond to customers main concerns and needs. So, the sketches aim address the user research presented on Day 1 within an easy and fast experience.
Creating Solutions for user Problems
User Action 1
Choose a room starter kit
Problem Addressed
Users wanting items that are within ‘the look’ they want
User Action 2
Ability to view items styled together & the total price
Problem Addressed
User concern for staying within budget and style preferences
User Action 3
Ability to see items styled within their own space
Problem Addressed
Addresses concern of decor working with their pre-existing things and their space
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Day 4 Prototyping
This day was all about finally addressing the solution into something more tangible.
Homepage
The home page introduces users right away to affordable room kits that suit their personality. Users still also have the choice to find individual items that fit the style they’re looking for.
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Room Kit page
The home page introduces users right away to affordable room kits that suit their personality. Users still also have the choice to find individual items that fit the style they’re looking for.
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Room Builder
The Room Builder tool allows more skeptical or curious users see how items look in their own space.
It lets users be able to arrange items around in different ways. The tools are meant to be simple, with a minimal learning curve. Yet powerful enough to fulfill their need to customize and be confident in their decisions.
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AI Design
House2Home optimizes AI technology to generate realistic rooms that resemble a users space. Users may simply describe decor and furniture and the AI will create a room that works alongside the chosen background and items in their cart.
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Figma Prototype
Day 5 Testing & Validating
The final day of my Design Sprint was focused on testing my solutions. It was a rewarding experience to find out what was successful and what could have been done differently.
5 Participants
Successes
6 Tasks
30 Minutes
Users overall gave positive feedback about House2Home. They felt the prototype was easy to use and navigate. There was little to no confusion when completing tasks, however users did have feedback on how to make functions more clear. Across interviews these were the most common positive remarks:
The prototype is clean and simple
Information about items is straightforward
Clear organization/hierarchy
Room builder is unique and gives users a fast way to design a room
Challenges
Despite the positives, a prototype is still a prototype. Confusion will arise and this is where I learned what areas I can improve in. Users pointed out that even though they were able to figure tasks out fairly quickly, not everyone has the same intuition with technology. Critiques included:
Room Builder tools could be overwhelming
Not everybody reads instructions & details, users could easily skip useful text and become confused with the Room Builder
It isn’t clear which items in the Room Builder are in your cart VS what’s just for display.
AI Designer could be simplified even further for usability
Takeaways
Doing a Google Design Sprint taught me a lot about working on a time constraint. It pushed me to not be picky about every single detail before moving forward. It felt like a great accomplishment to able to ideate and create each day without nitpicking everything. I believe I should consider simplicity even more for my next design sprint.
Even though users agreed that the Room Builder was simple, they pointed out how easy it would be for someone to get lost while completing the task. Proof of concept can still be successful without providing each and every function. Becoming too detailed without enough time may have been my greatest hinderance.
This project gave me the confidence to not be afraid to push ideas out without perfecting them.