Main Design Marketplace Case Study

Jude Shi
Jul 22, 2021
3 min read

BACKGROUND

Year: 2014-2015

Company: Studio Waffles

Project: A make over of the existing feature

What is Main Design

Social Media Photo Editing E-commerce

Main Design is a picture sharing social media mobile app, which helps designers who want to showcase their design works to gain recognition, as well as for the design enthusiasts to explore for design inspirations. With a print-on-demand service, Main Design also helps designers to make a profit from their design works by making them into tangible products and sell in Main Design Store.

Context

Main Design was launched in early 2015, it got a healthy and steady traffic growth ever since. As the main income source of the company, Main Design Store plays an extremely important role in the business model.

Problem

Despite its high daily visit and steady user growth, the abandonment rate was extremely high in Main Design Store.

Goal

Improve user experience in order to attract new customers and increase the conversion rate.

Users

WHO ARE THEY?

Age: 17 - 32

Gender: Male and female

Education: Studying, Degree

Hobby: Design, photography, fashion, meme, music, comic, travel, online shopping

WHAT DO TEHY WANT?

Unique Design

Good Products

Profit

Showcase Creativty

Design Inspirations

Gain Followings

Two-Sided Online Marketplace Platform

Sellers

Artists

Graphic designers

Photographers

Celebrities/KOLs

Agencies/Brands

Buyers

Experimenters

Enthusiasts

Printers

Fans

Advocates

Role & Responsibilities

I was the UI/UX Designer at Studio Waffles, where I was responsible for the design of Main Design, to incorporate interaction design and to bring more users to the app.

Setting goals and objectives
Creating scenarios
Creating user journeys and stories
Creating information architecture
Conducting UX research
Conducting competitive research
Low-fidelity prototypes
High fidelity prototypes
Creating wireframes
High-fidelity design
Usability testing

Process

01 Learn. Gain knowledge of users, context, technologies, gather user data,

research competitive products, conduct interviews and filed studies.

02 Explore. Build user profiles on gathered data, produce materials that will aid the outlining

of the project, task flows, user journeys, scenarios.

03 Select. Evaluate, test, and select wireframe concepts for prototype development.

04 Develop. Create design specifications and evolve concept/ wireframes into full design solution.

05 Refine. Evaluate design with stakeholders to obtain feedback and conduct usability testing.

06 Deliver. Complete design and produce deliverables.

Watching users try to accomplish tasks on our product is the most effective and efficient way to uncover usability problems.

In order to be competitive, we need to know what’s out there and what has worked

and has not worked. To connect the dots, you first need to collect the dots. Doing solid

investigative market research is essential for building a successful product.

I synthesized my personas from observations, research and stakeholder interviews.

To create a thorough persona I normally include social and demographic characteristics,

needs, desires, goals, habits, expertise, cultural background and motivations.

User journeys are useful in demonstrating the way users could interact with the

product, in this particular case I illustrated the series of steps necessary

for the user to take in order to collect different types of data.

In order to make good decision about both design and implementation I need

data about how people use designs, and the only way of gathering this data is

through usability testing.

Once I’ve completed the personas and user journeys, I’ll create the IA. It visualises

what I’ve have learnt about how users navigate the product, what sort of content they will

need to support them in their goals and what sort of language they use to identify things

I built high fidelity wireframes and fully annotated diagrams, having a basis to begin

creating screens; I also use them for user testing and as a reference point for functional

specifications and communicating the functionality I am going to build with stakeholders.

A wireframe specifically focuses on space allocation and prioritization of content, functionalities available, and intended behaviors, it allows you to determine the information hierarchy of the design while making it easier to plan out the content and user experience.

I made use of user testing to explore potential solutions during the design process

or test the waters during the product design cycle.

Having a background in design I love getting my hands dirty and producing the final high quality visual designs as well as the guidelines and specification. I’m allways up-to-date

with the latest industry trends and I also have a passion for design innovation.

Visual design maximizes the aesthetic, information-conveying capabilities of graphics and text. It’s actually a sub-discipline within the UX process, contributing to UI Design, information design, and graphic design.

OUTCOME

Abandonment rate was decreased to under 70%
NPS score was increased
The satisfaction rate was significantly increased
With the new design, Main Design was able to secure some major collaborations with some world-class brands, like Beats and Pepsi
A great number showed brand engagement and loyalty on social media