Posh Arts
Challenge
One of the most precious forms of Cashmere wool is called Pashmina and its products are highly sought after by collectors. Finding 100% pure pashmina which is ethically sourced right from the artisans themselves is quite difficult.
Posh Arts is a mobile app bringing to your doorstep pure, rare, beautifully crafted pashmina products. Through the mobile app, Posh Arts aims to bridge the gap between artisans and buyers.
Making 100% pure, ethically sourced pashmina products easily available to people all over the world.
Solution
A mobile app which hosts a multitude of pashmina products classified into categories with an easy checkout process curated for pashmina enthusiasts of all ages.
My Role
User Interface Designer, Information Architecture, User Research, Sketches, Wireframes, Prototypes, Usability Testing
My Design Process
1. Understanding the user
To empathize with the user and understand their needs, I conducted foundational research in the form of interviews and identified four pain points.
Five online shoppers and buyers of pashmina products were interviewed about their shopping experiences. Interviews covered the features they hoped were present in current websites (as there are no apps yet for selling pashmina products), features they wished would be removed. They also talked about their shopping preferences and ideas.
In addition to the main pain point of unavailability of ethically sourced, pure pashmina products online, four secondary pain points were identified:
2. Personas
By analyzing the data from user interviews, I identified two distinct user groups and created two corresponding personas. One user group is concerned with ethical sourcing of hand-made products, other is an avid online shopper group, wanting maximum benefit from minimum time spent.
3. User Journey Maps
To delve deeper into the empathize phase of design, I created user journey maps to better understand the user's experiences as they shop online.
4. Goal Statement
I started off the define stage of my design by formulating the goal statement which would guide my subsequent design process:
Posh Arts app will let users get access to ethically sourced 100% pure pashmina products which will affect busy pashmina enthusiasts and collectors who wish to shop 'quick & easy' by providing them with an unmatched collection, multiple filters, easy returns, and loyalty benefits. We will measure effectiveness by number of orders per month and member sign-ups.
5. User Flow
Using the insights from the interviews and focusing on the goal statement, I sketched user flows to satisfy the user's needs
6. Storyboards
To visualize the app design in a better way and get into the user's shoes I created the 'big picture' and 'close-up' storyboards. These highlighted the user's emotions and experience while using the product.
7. Wireframes & Prototypes
Emerging from the 'ideate' phase of the app design, it was time to shift gears to prototyping. Setting the user-flow as my guide, I sketched three iterations of each screen. After finalizing the sketches, I started developing lo-fi prototypes in Figma.
Lo-Fi Prototypes in Figma
8. Usability Study
After all the sketching and prototyping, it was time to put my designs through the litmus test of a usability study.
Objectives
(i) Has the app made the process of shopping for authentic pashmina easier?
(ii) Is the main user experience of selecting and paying for a product easy to complete?
Study
Unmoderated with 5 participants.
2 males, 3 females (20-60 years).
Tasks on a Lo-Fi prototype + Survey.
Insights
1. Redesign homepage icon & access
2. Redesign cart icon
3. Change font style, placement & secondary cart icon
4. Add ‘About Pashmina’ section & care tips on the homepage
What's new?
User centered design is all about the user. Based on the experiences and recommendations of majority of the users from the usability study, changes were made to the original designs.
Final Look & thoughts
Hailing from the valley of Kashmir, this project is very close to my heart. Pure pashmina is rare and is being corrupted by cheap copies all over the market. Posh Arts is a project aimed at reviving the art of pure pashmina.
The pashmina artisans are a community of hard working individuals without many resources at hand. Posh Arts advocates fair pay and good working conditions for them. It also eliminates the middlemen from the pashmina chain and keeps the artisans in the primary loop.
Since Posh Arts is directly in touch with the artisans and their families, they ensure the pashmina wool is combed off the goats with proper care and precautions. Ethical sourcing of raw materials lies at the heart of Posh Arts.
The Posh Arts web app, is a small step in making pure, ethical pashmina available to the masses.
Learnings
Since I started from scratch in this project, I learnt the importance of getting user feedback in the earliest stages of design and keeping users in the loop throughout the design process. Visualizing my designs through their eyes gave me a fresh perspective and helped me carry out user-centered design in the truest sense.