Izzy Homestore
Designing Clear Paths to Perfect Products
Project overview
Industry
E-commerce
Retail and homeware
Tools
Figma
Maze
Timeline
2 week sprint
Role
UX Researcher
UX/UI Designer
Project Type
Solo concept project
End-to-end app
Challenge
Founded in 2015, Izzy Home Store is a local homeware retailer in Staines, offering a variety of stylish furniture, decor, and essential home products. Known for its focus on customer satisfaction, the store has become a trusted destination for affordable, quality home furnishings. Their website requires a visual design upgrade to make it more accessible, useable and in line with their business needs..
My task was to completely revamp their current website to enhance user experience, streamline navigation, and improve site performance, with the goal of boosting online sales and strengthening the brand’s online presence.
Outcomes
Improved User Engagement: customers can browse and purchase with fewer obstacles.
Streamlined Navigation and Checkout Process
Improved Brand Perception: brand was perceived as more professional and trustworthy
Final product
Watch the video to see the final product in action.
Discover
Research goals
In preparation to dive into my research, I first set some clear goals and created a research plan that would guide my process:
Understand market trends in the homeware retail industry
Identify Izzy Homestore’s target market
Identify Izzy Homestore’s competitors and evaluate strengths & weaknesses
Understand how people discover local homeware retailers
Analyse online and offline shopping experiences
Discover pain points that people encounter online and offline
Methodologies
Assumptions
Competitive and comparative analysis
Feature inventory
USP
Market research
I started with market research to understand the general market, consumer, and business trends in order to gain a fuller understanding of the market Izzy Homestore is part of.
-
Market trends
Affordable and Functional Products: High demand for cost-effective items like bedding and storage
Home Improvement Focus: Consumers are prioritising home renovations
Online Shopping Dominance: Increasing preference for online shopping, but with a continued desire for seamless and engaging digital experiences
-
Consumer trends
Budget-Conscious Purchasing: Financial pressures have made consumers more price-sensitive, focusing on value-driven, affordable products
Sustainability Focus: Growing demand for eco-friendly and sustainable homeware options
Home Comfort Investment: Post-pandemic, consumers are investing in home decor and furniture to enhance their living spaces
-
Local business discovery
Digital Discovery: Consumers increasingly rely on local search engines and social media platforms to find homeware stores
Importance of Reviews: Positive reviews and word-of-mouth significantly impact local brand trust
Local SEO & Visibility: Optimising for local search terms is essential for small businesses to attract nearby customers
What did I learn?
To kick off my competitive analysis, I explored Izzy Homestore’s main rivals, examining their strengths and weaknesses. These insights revealed opportunities to amplify our advantages and avoid common pitfalls. With Izzy Homestore’s goals in mind, this research set the stage for a user-focused website revamp.
What are users saying?
To understand customer needs, I conducted interviews with key users. Their insights on shopping habits and challenges shaped the direction of Izzy Home Store’s redesign.
There were 5 participants including recently purchased homeware online and frequent shoppers.
Four key themes emerged:
-
Visual design
Users value a clean and clear aesthetic. They want to view products in settings.
-
Product details
Want reviews for delivery and quality assurance and desire detailed product information.
-
Navigation
Users seek clear navigation and categories; they don’t want to feel overwhelmed.
-
Inspiration
Users desire inspiration from instagram, curated collections for a personalised experience.
Usability testing
We tested 5 users on the current website following task flow to identify specific usability issues and validate insights from our user interviews and measured:
Hesitations
Misclicks
Confidence scale
User feedback
Current metrics
14
Misclicks
70%
Success rate
Pain points
Messy website design
Outdated branding
Lack of product description
Unclear checkout
Poor navigation
“why has the logo suddenly changed? Is this a scam?”
“this website looks dodgy”
“wow there is a lot to look at, I’m overwhelmed”
Define
Meet Natasha
Goals
Stylish Comfort: Affordable, high-quality homeware to create a personalised, cosy space.
Authentic Trust: Unique products that reflect her style from reliable, trusted brands.
Needs
Engaging Experience: Visually appealing, intuitive shopping journey.
Trusted Brand: Modern design with contextual inspiration.
Behaviours
Informed Choices: Prefers online shopping and relies heavily on customer reviews.
Curated Finds: Values unique, curated collections that reflect personal style.
Frustrations
Poor Aesthetic: Poor visuals and overwhelming product displays hinder browsing.
Navigation Issues: Unclear checkout and limited payment options waste users' time.
Open card sort
To tackle pain points like messy design, poor navigation, and unclear checkout, I conducted an open card sort. This method was perfect at this stage because it helped me to see how users naturally group content; my competitive research had shown a wide variety of categorisation and I didn't want to follow my own assumptions. By understanding their mental model, I could redesign the site to be more intuitive and easier to navigate. This way, users could find what they needed more quickly and have a smoother experience overall. I discovered that the majority of users categorised items by room.
Insights to HMW’s
Insight
Natasha wants to avoid feeling overwhelmed and easily find what she’s looking for.
HMW
Create a positive experience when browsing for multiple products?
Insight
Natasha wants a visually appealing and trustworthy website to make purchases.
HMW
Build Natasha’s trust and engagement?
Insight
Natasha wants to feel inspired when purchasing homeware.
HMW
Provide Natasha with an inspiring experience so that she can visualise the products she wants in her home?
Develop
Design studio
Trust, find-ability and inspiration were the key themes that had stood out throughout the research phases; therefore the design studio reflected this with the following concepts:
Augmented Reality (AR) preview to place virtual furniture in to real-world space
Singular item to setting pictures for inspiration
Instagram posts for customers to post how they have styled their purchases
Customer reviews to build trust
Designing the Solution
Lo-Fi prototype
I asked users to find and purchase a double bed.
Hesitations
Misclicks
User feedback
2x
Rounds of user testing
6
Users per test
3
Iterations
Product filtering
Iteration 1
Iteration 3
Problem 1
Users found the lack of back button frustrating when navigating between pages.
Problem 2
Filtering categories resulted in misclicks and confusion from the majority of users; all users looked to filter beds by price and many did not see the price category, going straight to ‘Sort By’ instead looking for price filtering there.
Solution 1
The addition of the back button and breadcrumbs for the page helped users move seamlessly between pages and have a more positive browsing experience.
Solution 2
Updated ‘Sort By’ button with the addition for users to filter price, resulting in no misclicks or hesitation.
Add to cart
Iteration 1
Iteration 3
Problem
All users missed the ‘Go To Cart’ button as it involved scrolling down the screen; their feedback suggested the box was unnecessarily large and they found the process unintuitive and frustrating.
Solution
Updated ‘My Cart’ box with smaller design and clear buttons for users to follow. All users located this and followed instruction with no hesitation or misclicks. Blurred product background ensured the cart is clear for users to read.
Results
0
misclicks
80%
less hesitation
100%
Success rate
Iteration 3
Theme and mood exploration
Reflecting on user interviews and competitive market analysis, it became clear that users highly value a clean and clear aesthetic. This approach not only provides a calming and enjoyable shopping experience but also aligns with their expectations. During the high-fidelity design stages, I aimed to incorporate this insight by maintaining a minimalistic look, while strategically using small bursts of color to keep users engaged and visually stimulated. This balance ensures that the interface remains both inviting and functional, enhancing the overall user experience.
Accessibility: small tweaks for big differences
A perfect example that sometimes you don’t need to compromise on your colour palette to make it accessible- changing from a black typeface to white and a slight change in the hue ensured the design went from a fail across the board to passing with flying colours (pardon the pun).
Deliver
Final product
Watch the video to see the final product in action.
Key takeaways
Designing for visual balance matters
Users expressed a desire for a "clean and clear" aesthetic. While it might sound simple, achieving this required careful balance—especially when incorporating coloUr. Too much coloUr overwhelmed users; too little made the design feel sterile. Finding that "small bursts of coloUr" sweet spot taught me the power of subtlety in visual engagement.
Iteration feels like growth
Moving from low to high-fidelity prototypes was a transformative process. Early sketches felt raw and uncertain, but each iteration brought clarity. After usability testing, seeing small changes (like tweaking a drop down) resolve real user frustrations felt incredibly rewarding. I learned to embrace imperfection as a step toward refinement.