Behr is a major paint supplier with a vision to revolutionize the way people purchase paint and interior decorate. They approached us to translate their intensive research into requirements and a mobile/tablet app prototype.
My Contributions
- Developed a deep understanding of years of marketing and user research
- Defined user goals and requirements
- Mapped user journeys and flows
- Ideated product ideas from existing research
- Led the storyboard creation process with another UX Designer
- Built, usability tested, and iterated an Axure prototype
- Presented deliverables and advised client
I was involved in the bolded parts of the process
Challenges
- Instructed a storyboard workshop with people who were unfamiliar with the process
- Advocated against feature creep as the project passed through the hands of many designers and stakeholders
- Advised a number of executive stakeholders
- Rapidly iterated and usability tested a prototype on a tight schedule
- Built a novel product based on an industry-disruptive subject matter, without knowing if it would be adopted by users
Strategy
First, I aligned with another UX Designer and stakeholders on the existing research and business objectives. Behr’s existing research revealed three key types of customers, who had varying degrees of familiarity with interior decorating.
We decided to tailor our product to an untapped market with strong purchase potential whose interests aligned with Behr’s business goals. We would empower our users to be interior designers through a broad home renovation experience.
We summarized the customer segments in a high-level view to make it easily digestible to everyone involved in this project.
Storyboard Process
Once I gained a thorough understanding of the stakeholders’ business objectives and existing user and marketing research, I co-directed workshops to include other UX Designers, project managers, creatives, and stakeholders in the ideation process. During our workshops, we brainstormed user goals based on the primary persona, user journey, and features.
Storyboard process
Identifying the user’s interior decorating process freed us to focus on the goals and features most relevant for our product.
Goal Mapping
Since our product idea was unique and innovative, it was imperative to communicate our vision effectively. Our storyboard demonstrated how the product worked, and how its features solved user and business goals.
A page from one of our storyboards
User Flows
Once our storyboard concept was approved, I diagrammed the app’s user flows to create a road map for our prototype.
One of the user flows
Iterative Prototyping
After we built our Axure prototype, we conducted usability tests that revealed the following insights:
- Some of our messaging was vague, so we made it more specific. For example, we reworded “home decor” as “furniture”.
- It took time for people to read the app instructions, so we simplified them.
- It was not clear to everyone that certain steps were optional, so we made the “optional” labels more prominent.
Guidance through each step
Easy to digest visual experience
The Result
After we finished fine-tuning the prototype, we handed off the high fidelity concept to visual designers. Along with these, we offered Behr two storyboards and a strategy for MVP, as well as future product phases.
Visual exploration