Concept
Home Depot has become a go-to part of the average homeowner’s life, as well as DIY enthusiasts, artists, gardeners, and anyone else who wants to try their hands at the means of production. Not only does their store have just about everything, so does their app - it’s surprisingly robust features include store maps, computer-vision scanners that can identify parts, and augmented reality space-planning tools.
Team:
Maggie Brzezinski, Graden Sikes,
Spencer Dickson
Tools:
Sketch, Whimsical, InVision
My Role:
UX Designer
Time:
2 Weeks
Challenge
Home Depot has made many significant improvements to its smartphone app recently, and the next step falls into the nebulous category of “DIY project planner.” User research suggests that shoppers want a tool to help them brainstorm, plan, track, and even document their DIY projects. Our team was in charge of integrating the DIY platform into the app.
Discover
We started our Discover phase with the interviews and surveys around the "Do It Yourself" process. We wanted to learn how people find projects, where they look for the materials they need, and what possible frustration could appear during the process. While Graden and Spencer interviewed few Home Depot regular shoppers, Maggie and I created and sent around surveys to reach a bigger crowd. As expected, people look for projects on Pinterest, Youtube, and Google. When it comes to materials, people just Google, the web might lead them to a different store, and we don't want that to happen. The research also showed that as a barrier to persuading with the project is the absence of required tools, designing on the go, excess of materials and multiple store trips. Meanwhile, I looked into competitors and did an inventory of the offered features across their mobile platforms; The Home Depot offers the most features, as shown in the table below. All the collected data helped us put together the Affinity map for more straightforward analysis.
Define
Affinity map helped us differentiate two personas that would describe The Home Depot's shoppers. Once my team put together Ben's and Ron's Journey Maps, I identified and wrote the problem and solution statements.
Design
The Home Depot app has The DIY feature built in the menu bar. At this time, they have available only digital workshops. As our research showed, some people haven't noticed the DIY feature in the menu bar, so we decided to change the app's map and move the DIY element to the bottom navigation bar. Moreover, we linked the existing workshops with the list of items needed to finish the project. This way, customers will be able to check what materials they have, what else they need, and make a quick checkout.
With personas in mind we put together their task flows and user flows considering the new site map. Ben's task flow it's a little longer because he wants to start a new project and buy the materials that he doese't have using the new feature built in, material list used in the project.
Ben's Task Flow
Ron's app interaction is shorter, because he is more interested in finding new projects, check if he has all the materials(in this case he has everything is needed for the project) and follow the instructions.
Ron's Task Flow
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
Each one of us came with ideas and sketches for the new user flow, and the best details were combined into the first Low-Fi wireframes. Usability test showed that users would want to see the Dificulty level of a project, completed steps and existing Tool Rental feature handy.
In our Mid-Fi were incorporated the suggestion we got from the users, included the brand style guide, and did more usability tests.
1. Users had trouble finding the
DIY home screen from the main menu
2. Users had difficulty understanding the content of the DIY home screen, which frequently interrupted their task flow.
3. Users wanted more visual confirmation when an item is added to their cart.
4. The double checkout buttons on the cart page made users feel confused and slightly nervous (this is how the Home Depot app is currently set up)
5. Users confused about what category
"587" represented
6. Users are confused about the difference between clicking on the heart icon and adding a project to their favourites.
Usability Testing Feedback
Deliver
Next Steps
-Further testing is needed to validate the Hi-Fi prototype and ensure usability.
-Develop and test sharing features further.
-Research personas further to ensure that they reflect the target audience.
-Conduct contextual inquiries to see how our target audience is using the app in their everyday life.
-Refine designs to bring them closer to brand guidelines.