VIEW SITE

My Role:

Sole creator of Indoor Eden’s re-designed:

UX/UI Designer
Web Developer
Brand Strategist

The Client:

Indoor Eden is a small local business providing interior plant services to local establishments and public spaces. They are looking for an online presence makeover to gain new clientele by defining a new brand personality across all platforms. Indoor Eden is interested in using this new persona to open a small online store selling selective products.

Strengths:

Established small business, well known in the community
High-quality plant and container products
Impeccable customer service with a loyal customer base
Locally-sourced materials

Weaknesses:

Current online presence is almost non-existent
Low quality images
Current website created with Flash Player >> unavailable on mobile
Small inventory, creating difficulties in adapting to an e-commerce site

Indoor Eden Before:

Goals:

Create a polished and responsive website

Tools:

Sketch/Figma
Adobe Illustrator & Xd
HTML
CSS
Bootstrap
JavaScript
jQuery

Procedures:

Conduct user experience research
Define the product sense
Create target-user personas

Weigh outcomes of maintaining a small online inventory

How will Indoor Eden attract a new customer base?
Should the client start with a platform like Etsy to establish an online customer base before moving onto a Shopify website?

ANSWER: YES

Clearly outline the purpose of business

Why should people choose Indoor Eden?

Customer satisfaction rate
Transparent communication
High-quality products: healthy plants in modern containers

Choose a Color Pallete

Redesign the Logo

Map out Icon Ideation

Wireframes:

Low-fidelity:

Basic hand-sketch of mobile and web layout
Includes placement of objects: photos, icons, written information

Mid-fidelity:

Includes detailed drawings of layout created in Sketch
Includes Indoor Eden photos, some icons, and colorization

I've always had more confidence with my abilities behind the keyboard, but when it comes to hand-sketching I find myself creating poorly drawn lines. Despite this, hand-drawing instantly induces a meditative state of mind and allows me to distinctly outline my objective. I find myself making fewer alterations when translating drawings into Sketch, Figma, or Illustrator/Xd.

Low-fidelity

Mid-fidelity

Challenges:

Find a professional photographer on a minimum budget

STORYTIME: One day I swiveled my chair to the right and faced my deskmate, “Can I create your portfolio website in exchange for your photography?” His face lit up after showing him my design samples and he quickly agreed to take professional pictures of Indoor Eden’s live plants.

Create a fully responsive online platform from the bottom up

Computer language learning curves: I chose to create a website from scratch instead of using something like Wordpress because I want to provide a fully customizable experience for my client.

Turn a small inventory of products into a lively online site

Find a third-party operator that is well established and brings in a high-volume of users
Transition site from this platform to a custom option allowing Indoor Eden to become a fully operable e-commerce site

Background Research:

Define the users common interests when shopping for plants
Define why a user would choose live plants over the alternative
Define the benefits of buying from an online platform

Primary research:

Competitive analysis: What is Indoor Eden lacking?
Research expectations: To determine the users expectations when shopping online for live plants

Secondary research:

User backgrounds and developments of the online retail industry
Peer-reviewed articles and case studies
Industry standards in the plantscaping community

Storyboard Time!

PERSONA:

USER JOURNEY:

For those of you who struggle with hand-sketched illustrations like myself...

Want to know my secret?

I used Bitmoji and Sketch to create this user journey. Otherwise Shelby would have looked more like this:

Information Architecture

CARD SORTING: