User Experience Consultant

Chiali Tsai

I help companies to design & build delightful products

Case Studies

/ Luxury bathroom - Configured

How might we help consumers to use well their space for the desire?

Web application, eCommerce.
Company: MAAX

/ Summary

What was delivered and how

Services

Business requirement gathering
User interview
Wireframe
User-interface design
Prototypes to run A/B testing
Developer collaboration

Technology

Sitecore
SAP

Outcomes

Working with the marketing team and user researcher, we have gathered feedback and user’s needs.

With the prototype I prepared, we went to the clients’ site to perform usability testing. It was a great experience, we have returned with valuable insights and iterated based on the feedback.

The app was developed by a 3rd party team, we launched the tool within 6 months and now its widely used by many bath-ware sales professionals in North America.

/ Understand the problem

First thing first, the "Why"

Market’s desire

With desires from consumers, the company realized that they need to expand their product line in order to satisfy the market. The Modulr product line was designed to enable the luxury customers to own a great bath experience within the limited space. The combination was more than 104, how might we help the target customer to find what they desired.

Complexity of the product

Modulr product line can expand up to 104, but it has its own limitation based on physic boundaries. Designing a digital product requires a solid understanding of the physical product. Thanks to the in-house industrial designer, he has helped me to understand the boundaries

Audit and inspiration

The audit and inspiration have helped me to design what interaction we want to move forward. We were really taking all angles of consideration, from the scenario where our target user will use this tool, at what moment, and what type of setup. We definitely took a lot of inspiration from the e-commerce site where users can configure the product.

The middle man

Ultimately our target user is consumers, but the company didn’t plan to launch this product line in the retail store. The user journey we outlined was the consumer will visit a showroom in person and the sales representative will demonstrate the actual product in their location. The sales rep. then help customers to configure the bathroom online or customers can also continue their journey after the visit. We understood the design challenge is about targeting to 2 types of user profiles. It’s a B2B tool but at the same time, B2C.

/ User Interface & Prototype

The most essential of the design process

Once we have outlined what challenge we would face, I sketch out a couple of paper prototypes and test them out with an industrial designer. At this point, I was only testing my logical thinking and flow. Because paper prototypes and static screens can be easily made within a few mins, I have iterated and improved the logic flow.

Few interface examples below:

Pre-made layout

Your wall position

Shower door

Tub options

With solid logic and flow, I started to craft out mid-prototypes to have options A and B to test with real users. At this stage, we were targeting the sales rep.

Moving forward with interactive prototypes.

Option A

This prototype was designed with step by step in mind, the target user can view what they have selected at every stage. It also displays more details in order to help them to be transparent with their customer.

Option B

This prototype was with the same step-by-step approach. But instead of displaying all the information all the way, this is a much more linear approach with simpler UI.

/ Test result

It happens very often that the best answer is always option C. We traveled to different cities to perform usability testing. With both options, our target users responded to users that both options are easy to use. But 80% of them have a preference for option B, because of its simpler UI.

/ Solution

Once we return with the result from usability testing, we have shared our findings with the team and 3rd party development company. I continued to apply the iteration and support dev team for interaction needs. The development was the integration of Sitecore and SAP. It was a great experience to learn the integration between SAP and Sitecore.

A sample of the final product.

/ More Case Studies

Visual experience for hospitality

Reimage the connected wall in smart rooms.

Control how you consume

Designing for Transparency and Trust. Understand your consumption