Southern Scholar is a start-up turned leading e-commerce men’s dress sock company, operating on a subscription box business model. I had the opportunity to run usability testing on their existing website. Based off of my findings, I then led the redesign of their website.
Website usability issues were leading to frustration, confusion and dissatisfaction among users.
Uncover and address usability issues on the website.
I ran usability testing with five users, gaining valuable insights into where the user experience of the current website could be improved. Leveraging those insights, I then redesigned the company website and created a more seamless user experience.
UX Designer
Project Manager
Founder
Research
Heuristic Evaluation
Discovery
Usability Testing
Strategy
Iteration
Wireframing & Prototyping
I followed a modified version of the design thinking process. The framework relied on iteration, allowing me to define specific usability issues, then create solutions to solve the issues that I uncovered.
Empathy is crucial for creating meaningful designs, so I sought to deepen my understanding of the typical Southern Scholar user. I spoke with the founder to learn more about their demographics.
Males 25-45 years old.
Middle to upper-middle class individuals, with disposable income for subscription services.
Professionals in corporate environments, including business, finance, law, and creative industries.
Urban and suburban areas in the U.S. where fashion and convenience are prioritized.
Individuals who appreciate fashion, care about appearance, and prefer hassle-free shopping experiences.
Tech-savvy consumers comfortable with online shopping and subscription models.
I researched various box subscription services, focusing on sock subscription companies to understand their user experiences. Analyzing competitors helped inform design decisions that would deliver solutions to improve the Southern Scholar website.
Southern Scholar is an online retailer with no physical stores, meaning all business occurs through their website. Its primary purpose is to serve as an e-commerce platform for customers to purchase dress socks.
I defined the usability issues to address on the Southern Scholar website by evaluating it using Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics, applying a 5-point severity rating scale. This helped me document and prioritize the most critical pain points.
I created specific scenarios and tasks based on the pain points identified in the heuristic evaluation. Then, I conducted usability testing on the Southern Scholar website to analyze these issues, aiming to uncover opportunities for improvement and to understand the target users' behaviors and preferences.
Five participants were identified and asked to participate in the usability testing of the Southern Scholar website. The testing was done remotely, and each session lasted roughly 30 minutes. Zoom was used to record each participant as well as their computer screen while they completed the testing.
Task 1: In the shop, locate the Oatmeal Solid – An Oatmeal Sock | NMP. For size, choose Over-The-Calf. Add this item to your shopping cart.
Task 2: Write a review for a previous purchase that you have made.
Task 3: Locate the Rewards & Loyalty page. From here, follow Southern Scholar on Instagram to earn 5 rewards points.
After user testing, I analyzed the recordings to understand the findings better. I identified usability issues and user complaints, then organized them into categories for clearer insights into the user experience.
1: Users struggled to locate a specific item in the shop without a search bar and the ability to filter by certain colors. All five users were only able to locate the item by scrolling from top to bottom through the shop items until they found the one that they were looking for.
2: Users had a very difficult time leaving a review for a previous purchase. All five users experienced frustrations when trying to complete this task. Three out of five users failed to complete the task entirely. None of the participants initially recognized that the "Write a Review" icon was actually clickable, because it does not have a hover state.
One participant even helped me to discover something that I first overlooked. Once you click on any of the items in the shop, there is a "Write a Review" Button on the page for that item. I noticed that the user can actually leave a review, for an item that they have never even purchased before.
3: Users struggled to locate the "Rewards & Loyalty" page, since in the main navigation it is located under the "Write A Review" link. All of the icons in the "Ways to Earn Points" section do not have hover states, making it difficult for users to understand how they were supposed to earn points. Without the appropriate feedback, users were forced to think about how they were supposed to interact with the system.
Once I organized the key findings, I created a list of recommendations to improve the user experience on the Southern Scholar website. These recommendations guided my decisions during the redesign process.
Remove individual reviews for each sock, as they are repetitive since all socks are the same. Display reviews elsewhere on the site to build user trust. When users click "Write A Review," direct them to the review submission process instead of the Rewards & Loyalty page. Users should only be able to leave reviews for products they've purchased.
Four out of the five participants from the user interviews stated that they prefer shopping from their computer. Southern Scholar does not have a mobile application either, so I took a desktop first approach when redesigning this website.
A reimagined e-commerce website that offers a smoother and more enjoyable online shopping experience.
On this project, I worked without the benefit of collaboration with other designers, which can lead to tunnel vision and make it difficult to see the bigger picture. The lack of feedback limited my ability to identify flaws in my designs. Collaboration always leads to more innovative solutions, as team members challenge and build on each other's ideas. I'm confident that I would've been able to come up with even more well-rounded solutions if given the opportunity to work alongside other designers.
Companies that adopt a user-centered design approach see a positive impact on their overall business by creating more value for their users. By addressing usability issues on the Southern Scholar website, I built a more user-friendly and intuitive website.
Overall this project has allowed me to better understand how I think and communicate as a designer. As a result I have learned a great deal about working to satisfy both business objectives and users needs simultaneously. I know that design is a powerful tool when used thoughtfully, that we can leverage to solve a wide range of problems for people. Getting to work on a project like this only reaffirms that for me.
This project received 1st place in the Spring 2023 GIT Awards for the User Experience category. The GIT Awards is a bi-annual event at Arizona State University. Awards are voted on by leaders in the design industry.
Outside of the UX work I performed for Southern Scholar, I also led the rebrand of their visual identity, redesigned their packaging system and designed new dress socks. Some of the graphic design work I did can be viewed below.
