The Collective Mobile App
All of my work done for the project is under an NDA, so please reach out to me personally if you have any questions regarding my work or the project.
Roles and Responsibilities
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User Research: Competitive Analysis, Heuristic Analysis, Discovery, User interviews.
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Design: AS-IS Analysis and strategy, Personas, Empathy Maps, User Journeys, Strategic Pillars, Recommendations
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Ideate: Feature Mapping, Wireframing
Project Context
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March 2023 – July 2023
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Client Project at BORN Group
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Teams: Creative
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Role: UX Executive
Tools used
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Miro
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Figma
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Google suite
Project Approach
Research
Conducted desk research, web analytics study, competitive analysis, heuristic evaluation and a flagship store visit to understand more about the users and their behavior patterns and problems.
Workshop
Conducted workshops with all key stakeholders to gather detailed insight about significant users, their goals, need & workflow to generate proto persona, journey map and ideas around the consumer.
Synthesis & Modelling
Post discovery & research, we have endeavored to model the information through 5W & H framework. Additionally, we have considered the motivations & behavioral aspects of users.
Strategic Solutions
Our approach is to ensure to bring the human factors, empathize with the users & bring the solutions to provide a better experience. At the strategic level, Our findings were reflected in personas, journey maps, features and information architecture.
Design Process
Analytics Review
To gather Insights on users’ typical journeys on the website, traffic generation patterns and users’ shopping behaviour.
Source: Adobe Analytics
Time period reference - Last 12 months
Stakeholders: The Collective and BORN Team
Store Visit
To understand the user archetypes, behavior and purchase patterns along with other journey insights.
Store Visited: The Collective, Phoenix Palladium, Mumbai
Days visited: Friday and Saturday
Observation Themes: Footfall, aesthetics, customer services, popular brands, purchase patterns, etc.
Stakeholders Involved:
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Interviewed Store associate representatives
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Observed walk in visitors
Creative Discovery Workshop
To gain deep understanding of The Collective’s vision and mission for the App, target audiences and user journeys.
Activities:
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Vision and Mission
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Target Audience
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Proto Persona
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User flows
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How might we
Stakeholders Involved:
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The Collective Team
UX Strategy
To Create Strategy for design, Personas, Empathy Maps, User Journeys, Information Architecture, Template List and Recommendations for the App.
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Processed all the research activities and summarized the findings
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Created personas, empathy maps and user journeys
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Outlined the strategy for the design phase and also listed the Key recommendations for the App.
Heuristic Evaluation
To detect Flaws and violations in The Collective responsive website with recommendations and best practices to enhance the experience of it.
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Audited the responsive website against heuristic principles
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Made recommendations for the errors identified
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Benchmarked key feature recommendations from competitors
Website evaluated
Competitive Benchmarking
To identify features, functionality and pain points of various competitors on the luxury segment along with identification of opportunity areas for The Collective.
Competitors Identified
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3 Indian direct competitors - Ajio luxe, TataCliq luxury and Darveys
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5 global competitors
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Multiple indirect competitors
Benchmarking themes
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Brand USP and Identity
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Features and Functionality
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Information hierarchy
Understanding the Luxury Market
User Research
Based on our understanding of The Collective and it’s brands, we conducted an internal brainstorming session to list down all the possible user groups which can be associated with and who can shop from The Collective.
We also performed desk research about the attributes, character traits and behavioural patterns of these user groups to get a thorough understanding of their lifestyle, needs, motivations and frustrations.
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High Net Worth Individuals
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Window Shoppers
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Celebrities and Influencers
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Price/ Brand Awareness
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Rich Young Individuals
High Net Worth Individuals
Window Shoppers
Price / Brand Aware Individuals
Celebrities & Influencers
Rich Young Individuals
Website Analytics
The team gathered insights of The Collective Website using Adobe Analytics for which the credentials were provided by the Client. Here is a snapshot of the Website Analytics
Store Visit
The Collective arranged a Store Visit to record observations and get insights about the users, their behaviours, various products available in the store, staff, checkout process, Personal Relationship Managers, etc. as part of the discovery phase.
Competitor Benchmarking
As a first step to understand the luxury market, and specifically the department store ecosystem, we have observed what is the maturity of the digital development of direct and indirect competitors.
Personas, Empathy Maps and User Journeys
The personas cover a wide range of users who would have various workflows and functions on the app
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Proto Persona 1: A style conscious customer who is a trend-setter and is always looking to stay on top of fashion trends
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Proto Persona 2: A premium customer looking to showcase a touch of luxury through his clothing and styles
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Proto Persona 3: A loyal customer of the brand who often appears in media and is interested in unique and trendy styles for high profile events
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Proto Persona 4: A window shopper who is looking to browse and get inspiration and may intend to purchase in the future
Strategic Pillars & Recommendations
After an extensive research and discovery phase, the team curated 5 strategic focuses for The Collective which included UX Pillars like Personalisation & Customisation, Interactive Experience, Omnichannel Experience, Customer Loyalty and Brand Identity. Each of these pillars were thoroughly elaborated in terms of descriptions and features which will bridge the gap between the current channels.
We have looked at macro-level dimensions where The Collective can achieve excellence via the app - the next step in its digital journey. We will cover the following chapters on what the world is doing in this ecosystem and what our recommendations for The collective are.
UX Wireframes
Current State
The Project's Strategy and Design Deliverables have been presented and submitted and are under Client Review. Post this, the Client's Development team will start developing the Shopping App while BORN team will help in fixing bugs and collaborate with the development team.
Design Impact
Based on the client's vision, stakeholders' requirements and business analysis, the creative team was able to find out opportunities for bridging the gap between The Collective's Online and Offline Channels. Through the extensive research and discovery phases, the team was able to come up with a flawless strategy for the app and point out the flaws in the current channels which can be improved to provide an Omnichannel Experience
Some of the impact points are:
1. Bridging the Online and Offline Channels
2. Better Workflows
3. Scaling Opportunities
4. App features for Specific Brands
5. Better Concierge Services Provision
Learnings
This Project taught me a lot about how to research about all the aspects of a brand including the market, competition, users, behaviours, Staff, etc. Behind every design decision that the team took, there was a thorough research done and the analysis was presented to the client. Convincing the client throughout the project was challenging as the client stakeholders knew what design means and how to ask the right kind of questions.
To name a few learnings:
1. Research
2. Discovery
3. Strategy Curation
4. Data Analysis
5. Recommendations based on Data
6. Designing for an App
Outcomes
The biggest outcome of this project is clearly the App but more than that the Curated Strategy is the highlight of the project. After launching the App, it is going to be an amazing shopping experience for all kinds of users, with features that are going to accentuate the user experience.
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Moreover, it is suggested to the client that a proper user testing of the app needs to be done post the design phase which will help all the stakeholders and teams to understand whether there needs to be any changes made to the app before it goes ahead for development.
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All of my work done for the project is under an NDA, so please reach out to me personally if you have any questions regarding my work or the project.
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