Mint Julep
E-commerce prototype site for a local boutique.
Mint Julep is a women’s clothing boutique with locations in Brookline and Cambridge, Massachusetts. These neighborhood shops offer a wide selection of clothing, jewelry, and accessories. Each piece is carefully selected, so what you’ll browse is a well-edited collection of our favorite items from many different designers. The loyal customers of Mint Julep wanted a way to shop their collections online when not able to make it to their stores.
Timeline: Two weeks
Tools: Axure, Optimal Sort, Paper & Pen
Project: Conceptual e-commerce web design with a focus on Information Architecture, Individual work
OVERVIEW
The Problem
Mint Julep needs the ability to sell products online because customers would like to be able to shop their collections online if not able to make it to their stores.
The Solution
E-commerce interactive prototype.
FLOW 1: Product Discovery
FLOW 2: Checkout
RESEARCH
Contextual Inquiry
To learn more about Mint Julep and its customers, I talked to a store associate. I discovered that their customers are women between the ages of 17-70. Given this expansive range, Mint Julep carries collections that fall into all price points. Knowing this, I created a clean design with a navigation menu that is intuitive for all.
Open Card Sort
Dendrogram
Three participants in an online open card sort
100 products sorted into 28 different categories
Some categories were variations of each other and needed to be culled down before moving onto a closed card sort
Closed Card Sort
Two participants
The categories formed for closed card sorting were based on the trends I identified in the results of open card sorting and industry standards I found through competitive analysis
Based on the closed sorting results, I tweaked the secondary navigation and combined a few primary navigation buckets for a less broad set
Competitive Analysis
I focused my competitive analysis on my users’ favorites sites, Zara, Madewell, and Free People. I also analyzed a boutique, Shop Cathy B., that is more comparable in size to Mint Julep.
Heuristic Analysis
Before beginning the design process, I used Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics to evaluate Zara, Madewell, Free People, and Shop Cathy B’s sites. This helped me to use the strongest aspects of each site in my design for Mint Julep.
DESIGN
Sitemap
Map of hierarchy of pages on proposed site based on card sorting.
User Flows
Checkout Flow
Product Selection Flow
Sketches
Home
Product Category
Product Detail
Shopping Cart
Sign In
Shipping Information
Payment Information
Final Confirmation
Iterations
Users found it frustrating to scroll to the top of the page to continue the checkout process. Based on this feedback, I moved the button to the bottom of the screen to seamlessly continue checkout.
After placing order, there was no confirmation that order had been placed successfully. Users wanted to know that their order was complete.
Added pop-up option to see your bag after adding an item to bag. Users did not like being automatically directed to the shopping cart after adding a product to their bag.
REFLECTIONS
What I Learned:
This project taught me how to build a site with a focus on information architecture. It reminded me that I am not the user and to listen to my research findings instead of what I would want to see.
Next Steps:
Build out a hi-fi prototype, incorporating Mint Julep’s existing brand identity
Redesign the cart layout to accommodate for a large order