The home design app that inspires users and connects them with specialist interior designers.
Connecting clients with the right interior designer is challenging as clients have different visions, personal styles, communication preferences, questions, and budgets.
My Role
Product Designer
Duration
August to October 2021 (3 months)
Overview
Lively is modernizing the traditional interior design experience with an application that inspires design ideas and connects users with the right designers.
Scope
Competitive analysis, UX research, user flows, information architecture, user personas, branding, logo design, wireframes, usability testing, A/B testing, prototypes and final mockups.
Design Thinking Process
The design thinking framework was used as a guideline to achieve a user-centered approach to design.
Discovering the Pain Points
To better understand user behavior when considering interior design solutions, steps were taken to list out user pain points with current interior design services. After performing this analysis, the target users were identified using surveys and live interviews.
Short video interviewing a potential user
- Many users were unhappy with the designer they found using existing interior design applications.
- Most individuals seeking help in interior design for the first time feel overwhelmed and stressed.
- Many homeowners don’t know how to communicate their needs to designers.
- The main pain point for homeowners isn’t a lack of resources, but rather a lack of trust and communication with the designer.
User Personas
Based on the user research, two types of personas were identified.
- Users who were not confident in interior design and needed more knowledge and support.
- Users who knew their style but still needed professional guidance about certain interior decisions and help with finalizing the design.
User Flows
Three user flows were created to show the most straightforward way Jenny and Anna could take a style quiz, create a home project, and connect with a specialist designer.
Flow 1 - Jenny is going to take the style quiz and find out her interior style.
Ideation and Wireframes
Wireframes are created from low-fidelity and mid-fidelity to high-fidelity.
Usability Testing
A click-through prototype was presented to 8 users for testing. The goal of usability testing was to evaluate whether the potential users were able to complete the core tasks and to observe the users’ interactions with the application. There were 6 tasks for each participant, and the “think aloud” method was encouraged to gauge participents’ immediate thoughts.
Short video of usability testing process
- The design quiz was not straightforward enough for some participants.
- A few participants were unsure how to contact the designer.
- Users were unsure how to create a new project.
Iteration
Outcome
Lively's mission is to improve the overall design inspiration process and experience. It makes it easy for users to connect with professional interior designers. Lively was presented to many potential users and interior designers using Figma Prototype and has received positive feedback.
Takeaways
1Adopting new perspectives
The ability to put ourselves in the users’ shoes and to look at situations from alternative perspectives provides us with the power to make better decisions and to be better adjusted to the reality we are dealing with.
2Iteration offers continual improvement
During the design process, each iteration allows the incorporation of any lessons learned from previous runs and continually improves the development process.
Next Steps
1Further usability testing
During the design process, each iteration allows the incorporation of any lessons learned from previous runs and continually improves the development process.
2Take personalization into consideration
Providing a more customized experience allows better engagement from users, which can make the interactive application more enjoyable.