Currys AR Point & Place
An augmented reality shopping experience that users can visualize the latest tech at their own space.
Company
Currys
Year
2017 - 2018
Role
Senior UI/UX Designer
Website
www.curryspcworld.com
The opportunity
AR technology should make large household items purchase a fun task with boosting user confidence.
This UX case study has the timeline of introducing AR technology to help users conveniently select tech through visualization.
I have to prioritize the most important and relevant paint points. The three selections are essential to the app core function that can greatly impact both the users and the business.
The challenge
The existing website way of showing dimensions and the no existence of tools on how to do it, can frustrate the latest tech discovery experience, wasting user’s time and debasing Currys; value.
In addition to that colleagues in warehouses would be asked to load and unload when customers return the items due to wrong dimensions.
Business goals
Find a way for our customers online to have more confidence of making a decision for the right fit/colour of big box items.
Solution
Through usability testing in the Currys store, I identified 3 main frustrations amongst the website. I redesigned the user flow and introduced an AR tool with the latest tech as an addition to visualise the item in their place.
The process
Empathize
"Tech-driven millennials love quick and easy solutions to find latest tech trends"
Use of the “Jobs to be done” framework:
When do customers purchasing big box items?
They want to accurately measure to fit?
So they can make more informed decisions.
I created the following provisional persona below to build user empathy and understand their behavior, goals, and needs furthermore.
Demographic
Name: Jack
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Occupation: Young professional- Behaviors
Love tech trends
Latest iOS operating system
Picky on brand and style of tech to make sure it fits and matches to his place- Needs & Goals
A convenient way of measuring right
Use of latest trends to visualise it
Define
Wrong way of measuring right for a distressed purchase frustrates customers when shopping and will not checkout online.
Guerrilla Usability Testing: real user stories in a physical Currys store.
- To uncover pain points, I conducted 5 guerrilla usability tests in store. They are Currys customers and two of them have previous experience with AR technology. I gave each user three scenario-based tasks to complete.
Scenario example: “You are planning to buy a tv for the new living room in a flat you just bought and moved into. Open up the Currys website on your phone, try to find the tv you like and find the dimensions."
- Insights from the testing were clustered to identify relationships and reveal main frustrations users had used the website. These clusters were mapped in a diagram to display their importance in relation to the users and business and to prioritize design direction.
- Insights from the testing were clustered to identify relationships and reveal main frustrations users had used the website. These clusters were mapped in a diagram to display their importance in relation to the users and business and to prioritize design direction.
By observing users completing the test, I created a task flow detailing the steps they went through. Based on the results, I highlighted three areas where user showed most frustrations and summarized three high priority pain points.
Main pain points:
1. Low confidence if its the right fit
2. Not sure if it suits the rest of the interior
3. What if it's delivered and need to be returned
2. Not sure if it suits the rest of the interior
3. What if it's delivered and need to be returned
Ideate
Experimenting different approaches to discover a simple, elegant solution.
Low - fi sketches
I brainstormed multiple options to address established pain points. Through iterations of testing and optimization, I redesigned the user flow with minimal changes and incorporated an advance positioning feature to enhance functionality and user experience. My redesign aligned with the business branding, value and mission.
Prototype
Making tech discovery more accurate and flexible.
Moving forward with the process, I turned my Lo-Fi sketches into Hi-Fi prototypes to further illustrate and visualize my approaches.
I listed three paint points in their sequential order. For each pain point, I included both task flows as well as detailed comparisons of the user interfaces before and after my redesign.
Final Designs
A fun and intuitive way of discovering tech.
Fun and with confidence purchase of latest tech.
Users can now smoothly scan the room and tap to place the item at the desired location. “Help” button provides scanning instruction and the “Exit” button can leave the scanning process, so users can improve the physical conditions and rescan.
Takeaway
AR technology should make purchases easier, but the bad design won’t.
This UX case study has a very aggressive timeline and I took on an app by a well-known company. AR technology supposedly to help users conveniently select furniture through visualization. However, cumbersome user flow frustrates the user and hinders online purchase.
To improve the app, I have identified more than 10 user pain points through the usability test. Under the time constraints, I have to prioritize the most important and relevant paint points. The three selections are essential to the app core function that can greatly impact both the users and the business.