Overview
This project is a redesign of Lumenite, a small electronic string light company. The end goal of this redesign was a modern overhaul and rebranding to attract more user traffic to the main webpage and relaunch in the near future.
Lumenite is a locally owned specialty shop founded in November 2021 in Boston, MA. Their main products are custom light panels centered around electronic music and artists. They focus particularly on light panels of artist logos and take custom orders.
Problem
The current Lumenite website is not effectively attracting customers. Lumenite offers its products on its main page and Etsy, where the majority of its sales occur. They aim to increase sales through their official website and believe that a redesign and rebranding are necessary to achieve this goal.
Solution
We redesigned and simplified the homepage to help users find products more efficiently. This was achieved by including helpful features, simplifying the product checkout process, and optimizing functionality, all of which enhanced the overall user experience.
My Design Process
Understanding the User:
Goals
Objectives
Key Features
Competitive Analysis
We can note Lumenite’s key strength: being very a niche product with no direct competitors in its market. Considering this, we can analyze other ecommerce websites such as GloFX and iEDM as indirect competitors.
Strengths
Made to order products
Good quality
Large variety
Weaknesses
New business
Niche market and product
Requires users to already have a bag.
Opportunities
Niche product
Opportunity to be large in its own market.
Ideation
To visualize how to layout the webpage, we created user flows and a sitemap. With emphasis on simplicity, pages such as the FAQs and About page were removed, with the idea to include those sections on the home page to reduce the number of pages users needed to navigate through.
Personas
The Solution
I spoke with the client about the visuals, features and overall user pathways on what they would like to have worked on. Some highlights of the new design include the following changes:
Prior to this redesign payments were processed, and will continue to be processed through third-party payment application: Square.
Old Lumenite Design
New Lumenite Design
Home Page
FAQs page
About Us page
Shopping Page
Home page
Shopping Page
Brand Identity
With the relaunch and redesign of Lumenite, we stuck with a neon-themed color palette and a tech/futuristic feel. With a darker base theme, the more vibrant colors were allowed to stand out, similar to how the light panels stand out in a festival crowd.
Usability Testing
I created a single round usability test using Maze.co for users to test two prototype pathways: item checkout/payment and submitting a contact form.
Users completed the tests and provided their thoughts and suggestions on what they would like to see added. While 93% of users found no issues and had no suggestions, 56% of users could not complete the first test due to desktop-to-mobile incompatibilities when taking the test.
Iterations
Based on the usability testing, users found it would be helpful to have buttons for the 'About' and 'FAQs' that would bring them to the section without having to scroll down too far. Currently, payments are processed via Square, a third party payment company. The Square purchase confirmation was added in the prototyping to show how the purchase is processed, after which the user will be redirected to the home page.
Final Product
Key Learnings
First time working with clients has been an insightful experience as it gave me a higher sense of urgency and had me focus more on time management and clear communication. On the user side of communication, I gained a better understanding of user testing methods and how to better communicate my intentions to obtain better and more accurate data for iterations and improvements. Next time, I would specify with users whether the tests are for desktop or mobile.
Next Steps
With the main design changes made, hand-off to a developer is the next stage to complete the redesign. Further iterations and changes can also be added with time. I am still in contact with Lumenite owners to discuss any further iterations they would like and proceeding with the handoff when a developer is contacted.
Currently, Lumenite has temporarily made changes to their site until a developer is in contact for the design hand-off.
