SK Canes
UX Researcher, UX Designer, UI designer
Project Overview
S. Kumar Furnitures, nestled in the heart of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, is a small business that offers furniture to customers in the area as well as nationwide. Their specialty lies in crafting exquisite cane swings and stools alongside a range of iron furniture. Despite their small scale, they serve a diverse clientele within the state and extend their craftsmanship to customers scattered across the country.
This project emerged from a comprehensive four-week multidisciplinary systems level research project. The overarching aim was to assess and dissect the shop's ecosystem, including its stakeholders and operations, pinpointing areas that could benefit from design improvements.
I spearheaded an initiative to elevate the user experience when buying cane furniture. My focus was on creating a seamless process for both in-store and remote purchases, instilling confidence in customers. The objective was clear: to ensure the digital platform perfectly matched customer needs by providing convenience, efficiency, and a flawless purchasing journey. Taking full ownership, I designed the entire app and meticulously tested it to guarantee the finest purchasing experience possible.
The Emerging Problem
Through interviews and daily observation which took place for 3 days, I found that some users are often confused as to which furniture to buy. More users are unaware how to maintain it and usually struggle to clean it properly, especially between two adjacent sticks. Most of their sales took place from the store by locals. Some of their other customers are either tourists and other businesses like cafes or small companies for their leisure spaces. Most of their sales completely depends on the word of mouth, loyal customers and businesses and sometimes small advertisements in public spaces.
Thus we asked,
Project Goals
To start and direct our research objectives and methods we came up with a few set goals to help understand the key focus areas and customer/user needs.
Logo design and app serving as an e-commerce platform
Create a good purchasing experience and loyal customer base
Becoming in an established brand for cane furniture
Use technology to help in making purchasing decision
Research Goals
Surveys
User Interviews
User Persona
Fly on the Wall
Prototype Testing
The research doc has the overview and brief description of the large research project from which I took insights and data from.
Key Focus Areas
Based on the various research methods we used and after conducting our interviews with our target user groups I concluded on a few specific areas which would then go on to shaping our final concept.
What are the challenges faced by customers whilst making purchasing decision
What’s important for confident purchases
What are the sales techniques used and how effective are the sales personnel
What are the deciding factors of a successful sale of the furniture
How furniture is not a simple purchase
Why people don’t buy furniture on the first go
How comfortable is it to interact with AR and VR to help make purchase decision
Persona
The persona was conceived as a culmination of our research insights, providing us with a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental needs of our primary customers.
Core Customer Needs
Finding what’s right for me
With a myriad of products and customer archetypes, furniture store customers still need to feel like they belong and can find what they’re after with ease.
Personalization is an important feature for users with specific style and sizing needs.
I need assistance
Some of the customer’s core frustrations are seen during the in-store experience. The customers are often confused about the fact whether this piece of furniture will go with the rest of the furniture or not. The sales personnel are unable to show or help the customers visualize the same.
Often the customers need second opinion from a spouse, family members or friends before purchase
It better be worth the space
Customers are protective of their storage space and regularly cull apps they don’t use often.
We were to introduce AR and VR to the in-store experience as well as remote purchasing experience. In order to keep the app size small we were required to only keep the important things for online customer experience.
Product is key
Whether exploring new products or looking for something specific, product browsing is the key goal of any shopping experience, and as such it must be well thought-out and intuitive to use.
Without a traditional website to browse and purchase products, it’s important that an app can service these core customer needs.
User Flow
Through the strategic integration of Fly on the wall activities, persona development, task allocation matrix, and user journey mapping, we successfully crafted our primary user flow. This approach ensured an optimal alignment with the core needs of our customers, maximizing effectiveness in our design and implementation.
Leveraging the insights gleaned from our User flow map, customer interviews, and system’s mapping provided a robust foundation for advancing into the feature-building phase and ideation of our product.
Re-Branding
Given the absence of an online presence for the business, I took the initiative to craft a comprehensive brand identity that could serve as a universal logo across digital and print assets. The iterative process heavily relied on feedback from the business owner to ensure alignment with their vision and goals.
Product browse
For new users navigating the online platform, product and brand discovery served as a pivotal aspect of both their initial interaction and continued experience within the app.
AR experience
Supporting the traditional item purchase flow — an AR visualization feature became an important app function for customers to see an item they could then either purchase in-store or online.
Sharing
Introducing the AR view feature allows users to share their product experiences with friends and family, seeking valuable feedback and opinions. This innovative approach empowers users to make more confident purchasing decisions by immersing their close circle in the product's virtual realm, fostering informed choices.
Product Purchase
I designed an intuitive and familiar item purchase flow, ensuring seamless user onboarding within the app. This simplified process mirrors the traditional purchasing experience, prioritizing user convenience and ease of navigation.
Mobile Grid
390 x 844px
Type Stretched
Column width Auto
4 Column
Margin 16px
Gutter width 16px
Typography
Its expansive design space allows Anek to don multiple personalities. At its most condensed, capsular forms keep structures compact for that graphic texture. On the wide end of the spectrum, the extra legroom lets each letter yawn and stretch into their message. But it is in the boldest weights that Anek comes alive. Sharp terminals and tapered joineries sparkle amidst regimented forms, making this ideal for setting titillating headlines or that magnetic word-mark.
Roboto has a dual nature. It has a mechanical skeleton and the forms are largely geometric. At the same time, the font features friendly and open curves. Roboto allows letters to be settled into their natural width which makes for a more natural reading rhythm more commonly found in humanist and serif types.
Learnings
Understanding Custormers
This project was primarily customer focused and it gave me a good grasp of talking and gaging customer behaviour. This gave me more confidence to push for real conversations and taught me to uphold the objectiveness during those conversation.
Macro to Micro
Since this project started as a systems project, I learned how to look and things from a macro to micro perspective to identify key problem areas which when solved would help the overall system to function a bit better.
Talking to Client
During the course of this project, I also engaged with multiple stakeholders within and outside the cane furniture business. It brought out certain aspects of bridging the business goals and user goals with customer satisfaction as one of the primary goals to achieve for the overall success of the business.