silver by saskia website
Silver By Saskia is a small, local jewelry business founded by Cal Poly student, Saskia Lamb. Saskia began making jewelry at the Cal Poly Craft Center her sophomore year. Over the years, Saskia has grown Silver By Saskia and now has her own workbench and studio in her San Luis Obispo home.
the problem
Most small businesses use social media such as Instagram and TikTok to sell and market their products. Etsy is also a common platform for more established businesses but they take a fee for each order and there is no option to personalize your storefront.
the goal
Help empower a small business by designing a website that establishes brand identity and allows customers from anywhere to purchase handmade jewelry.
saskia lamb
UX designer & founder - Silver by Saskia
Responsible for conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low- and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, and iterating on designs.
user research: understanding the user
Target Audience: Since the pandemic, consumers have been spending more money at small businesses than ever before, especially Millennials and Gen Z. However, 63% of millennials say they're more likely to support small businesses that have an online presence. With this data, I’ve determined that our target audience is 25-40 year olds who have previously shopped from a small business online.
Interview Findings:
access
Many users struggled to find new small businesses unless their social media came up on a “Discover” page.
confusion
Social media platforms did not clearly show pictures, descriptions, and prices of each product being offered.
trust
New customers did not feel comfortable making unverified purchases through social media.
persona
nicole
“I don’t believe in fast fashion”
Age: 32
Education: Bachelor’s Degree
Family: Mom of 2
Occupation: Real Estate Agent
Goals:
buy daughter a nice, unique birthday present
support local businesses
Problems:
difficult to tell if products from large retailers are ethically made
all items from large retailers are mass produced and look the same
ux design: starting the design process
Paper Wireframes: As a small business, it is important for customers to have a relationship or a connection to the business so include an “About” section was essential. Initially, I thought that the logo should be clearly visible of the homepage as it is an important piece of Silver by Saskia’s brand identity. These were the initial paper wireframes.
Digital Wireframes: The next step was digitizing the paper wireframes but for each page of the website. These wireframes would be used to conduct a usability study in the next step.
Homepage wireframe
In this wireframe, the logo and featured products section are above the fold. The featured products and navigation bar allow the user to reach the products from two different journeys.
Product page wireframe
The product selection details are above the fold, next to the accompanying photos of the product. This allows the user to visualize their purchase.
Usability Study Findings: After conducting an unmoderated usability study with the digital wireframes, we found 3 important concepts to include in the next iterations of the design.
customization
People want their item to fit their personal style and preferences. This means making it easy for users to customize their purchases.
gallery
People want online shopping to feel like shopping for a product physically in the store, so we must match between the system and the real world with pleasantly displayed photos of the product.
efficiency
People want a quick and simple checkout process. This saves time for our users and makes their experience more enjoyable.
refining the design
Mockups:
Homepage mockup
Having the logo front and center took up too much room and did not help the users reach their goal for using this system so it was moved to the navigation bar.
Product page mockup
The usability study showed that users felt that the product page worked well. Minor adjustments were made to improve the gallery and efficiency.
High-fidelity prototype:
For the final iteration of the Silver by Saskia website, each webpage was completed and interactions were added between each screen. Explore the clickable prototype below or here.
going forward
Impact: The website makes users feel like they are shopping from a small business and not a large corporation. One quote from peer feedback: “I can tell how much personality this website and business has. It makes me feel very connected to the owner behind it".”
What I learned: While designing the Silver by Saskia website, I learned that the first ideas for the website are only the beginning of the process and there is a long road to go before you achieve your final iteration.
Next Steps:
1.
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experience has been effectively addressed.
2.
Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of interest.
3.
Work on UI for mobile version. Add new features that make the website more personal, customizable and efficient.