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Project overview
December 2019 – February 2019
Role
UX Research, UX Design, UI Design, Graphic Design
Tools
Sketch, Invision, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
Our team wanted to create a project designed for a real business. With this in mind we chose Mima Ice Cream, a dessert shop in Barcelona. We decided to focus on their star product, Macarons with Ice Cream, as it is an original and little known product.
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Brief
Before forming the team, the challenge set was:
Carry out a process of analysis, ideation, prototyping and layout of a responsive web project, specifically, an ecommerce.
To understand Mima, the users who frequent it and its products, we visited its stall in La Boqueria and its shop in Poble Sec. Here are some of the insights we gleaned:
At the moment, customers cannot choose the ice cream and create their own macaron, there is no customisation.
Field observations
Before we started thinking about our solution, we decided to benchmark direct and indirect competitors. We had the task of researching at least three competitors.
Benchmark
Jenis: It is an American ice cream shop that has an ecommerce to order ice cream. In addition to selling ice cream online, it also has a subscription club that delivers ice cream to your home every month. It is worth noting that their product page is very well designed.
Laduree: This is the French company that started the macarons. What caught our attention on their website is that they have a "Click & Collect" option. As Mima has physical shops, we considered the idea of incorporating this type of function into our ecommerce.
Holly's Ice Cream: This is an ice cream parlour and café in Barcelona, which has a product very similar to Mima's (instead of macarons, they are ice cream sandwiches with biscuits). They don't have a website, but promote themselves through Facebook.
We were interested in finding out users' reasons for ordering food at home, especially desserts. For this reason, the selected methodology was the interview.
It allowed us to have a conversation with the user and delve deeper into issues such as their online shopping habits, especially with food.
We interviewed a total of 4 users
- 34 year old man, single, doesn't like to buy food online and when he does buy, it is through the restaurant's official website.
- 33 year old female, single, prefers to cook at home or go directly to restaurants.
- Female, 25, single, orders food online at least once a month.
- Male, 30, single, has never used an app to order food.
Insights
- The user wants to feel secure when making a purchase. Features such as the security lock next to the URL let them know if the website they are visiting is secure.
- When checking out, they don't like to be bombarded with options. If they want something additional they prefer to go back to the product page.
- Our target is more likely to buy desserts online when there is an event (anniversary, birthday, party).
Interviews
The conversation started with When was the last time you bought something online? And it could cover the following questions: - How often do you shop online? - Have you ever ordered dessert online? - What is the longest you would wait to receive an ice cream at home
To arrive at a more representative sample, 64 people.
Insights
- The three features that make it easiest to buy are reviews, a search engine and having an account.
- 56% buy food online.
- People give sweets as gifts on birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.
- Things that prevent them from buying are shipping costs, security of payment and the product being different from what is described.
- 82% bring food to events
Survey
Personas
Features
Customisation: The user can choose the colour of the macaron, the ice cream flavour and toppings of their choice.
Recommendations: For each pack and default macaron, it will suggest other similar macarons that you may like.
Schedule a delivery: The user can schedule their order to arrive at an exact time.
Geolocation: When ordering home delivery, using geolocation, you can see where the delivery driver is with the delivery and follow him in real time.
Save favourites + purchase history: The user have the option to save their favourites in their personal area of their account and also view their purchase history to speed up your next purchase.
Leave comments: Each default pack and macaron has a reviews/comments section, where you can leave a comment or see the ones already written.
Share on social media: After creating a personalised macaron, selecting a pack or choosing a macaron, you can share on social media.
Strategy
Our research helped us create three provisional personas: Carlos, Jordi, and Emilia. We kept them in mind when we started creating our final solution.
MVP
Sketches and wireframes
Web architecture
Color and Typography
Formalisation
After we were done conducting research, it was time to start designing. Everyone was responsible for sketching several wireframes.
Identity Graphics
Logotipo + Variations
We wanted all the graphic elements to convey a message: eating a macaron ice cream sandwich is not a typical everyday experience, it's much more than that. It's about the emotions you feel when you're taking your first bite. In the end, we decided on bold colours and easy-to-read typography. To further appeal to the consumer, names were created for each product and accompanied with a humorous description.
Home
Menu
Product Grid
Product Card
Customisation
Purchase Process
Prototype
One of the biggest lessons we learned from this project was to "think outside the box". The initial ideas our group came up with were not original at all. However, after creating a basic proposal, we challenged ourselves to make a bolder design. What was the new challenge they set us? To design an e-commerce website without a scrollbar. After a couple more months of hard work, we arrived at the final result.
We believe in our solution, and we would like to expand the website to include more Mima products.