Etsy describes itself as a global marketplace for unique and creative goods. For this case study I worked with two team members to create a new feature for Etsy called Custom Creations. The feature is a way for Etsy users to submit work proposals for custom products to multiple artists at once. Artists can then bid on the proposals allowing users to select which artist they'd like to work with and at what price point.
My Role
UX Designer, Project Manager
Time Frame
2 Weeks
Methodologies
Screeners, Surveys, User Interviews, Comparative Analysis, Personas, Feature Prioritization, User Flows, Hand Sketching, Wireframing (Sketch App), Prototyping (InVision)
Research
For this case study my teammates and I began by utilizing screeners, surveys and interviews around online shopping habits on websites similar to Etsy so that we could build a persona for a typical Etsy user. We discovered that users relied the most on product reviews when making purchasing decisions on sites like Etsy. We also discovered that many people that buy products on Etsy are more likely to become sellers on Etsy as well. When it came to functionality in requesting custom products from a seller or receiving one from a user we found that both groups felt like there was a lot of room for improvement to the process. We then moved on to a comparative analysis to see how other companies like Etsy handled custom proposals. Once we synthesized our data and created our personas we did a feature analysis so that we could focus in on what our MVP should include.
Findings & Solutions
We created three personas: a buyer, a seller and a hybrid buyer/seller. We chose to focus on the buyer first because we felt that they would be the focus of this new product. We felt that ultimately our solution needed to address these 5 core opportunities for making customizing products on Etsy easier.
Having a clear and concise proposal form.
Personal preference toggles to aid in communicating a buyer’s taste to the artist.
The ability to tag requests so that they go straight to multiple artists inbox at once.
A chat function to facilitate communication between the artists and sellers.
The ability to upload inspiration from a file, camera or social media such as pinterest.
Interface Design
My team began with hand sketches and then translated those sketches into high fidelity wireframes. Those wireframes were used to created an InVision prototype. Based on user testing done with the prototype we iterated on our original designs.
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