Rethinking user journeys for Ultimate Library
Work
UX/UI + Branding
Year
2023
Overview
As the sole designer on this project I led all the design initiatives, conducted the user research, and delivered the end product to the client.
Role
Ultimate Library curates bespoke book collections for individuals and businesses amongst which you will find The Waldorf Astoria Seychelles, The Whitely Design Collection and Eden Rock St Barths.
Problem context
”The current website doesn’t represent us well and on top of that it is not performing the way we would like it to. We are seeing users spend very limited time on the website and it isn’t converting very well.”
-Philip Blackwell, owner of UL
Business goals
1
Decrease early user drop offs
Users were dropping off on the homepage before even clicking on to a second page.
2
Increase time spent on the website
The overall time spent on the website was low enough for the company to realise something wasn’t working.
3
Decrease early user drop offs
The company was getting little to no inquires through their website for new business, leading to a very low conversation rate.
My process
Double Diamond
I follow the classic UX method - the double diamond. However, I do find that it works best when you make it a tripple diamond, making space for validating my design decisions.
Research and user observation
UX audit
Along with resolving the business goals I also opted to conduct a UX audit to pinpoint any general issues with the website. My findings included issues with the visual hierarchy, user flows and action queues.
Hotjar data
To get further understanding of user behaviour, pain points and other issues I reviewed click analysis data from Hotjar which I collated in to a pain point chart.
User personas
I created two user personas to help guide me through the process.
Who: General Manager of a luxury hotel
Motive: On the hunt for a bespoke service to curate several spaces of the hotel
Who: Private individual
Motive: Looking to find a service to curate a space in her residential property where she lives
Main customer problems
Analysis
From my research I gathered that users were dropping off quite quickly from the website and weren’t clicking on to many other pages. The main pages users were clicking on to were the portfolio pages, which had beautiful imagery that wasn’t displayed well along with very little information about the projects.
From my UX audit and user research I concluded that:
The UI and UX of the website didn’t adhere to standard practices which might be confusing users
The most important information was not displayed front and centre hence missed by users, potentially resulting in drop offs
Iteration
User Flows
The start of my iteration process began with user flows. Keeping my two user personas in mind, I mapped out how they would get to where they needed to go. How many ways could they end up there and did they make sense?
Wireframes
Furthering my iterations I created wireframes to build on my user flows. This project called for an end-to-end process so I also created high-fidelity designs in accordance with the new brand identity I had created for the client.
Take aways
Re-analysing user data
To validate my design decisions I took another look at the click analysis data from Hotjar which clearly showed that users were more easily finding their way around the site.
110%
Time spent on website increased.
5%
Inquiry rate increased.
90%
Click rate increased by 90%.