It's time to Bloom!
May 2023 - June 2023
An app for a trendy florist - Bloom
The objective here was how to improve business by incorporating a mobile app for Bloom that consumers can use, without it discouraging users or hurting the business.
In order to successfully create this app to attract more customers and keep returning ones, the main feature needed to be placing an order, hassle free. Target users in this case are people aged 24+, full-time workers, living in the suburbs, and also including all genders and all disabilities.
My role as the Lead UX Designer for this project included user research, wireframing, and prototyping.
An example of one of Bloom's users is Ashton.
A user's journey for Bloom is placing a floral arrangement through the app instead of ordering in person. Having to drive to Bloom's nearest location, wait in line, place an order, then drive back home can be inconvenient for a lot of users. By creating an app for Bloom, these pain points were addressed and improved!
From paper wireframes to digital wireframes, the home screen for Bloom ended up being the image on the right. My thought process was focused on simplicity and the main goal for users being to place an order for a floral arrangement of their liking.
The low-fidelity prototype was completed and thus the first usability study was conducted!
The first usability study was moderated using five participants. Findings include: additional visuals needed, some buttons added confusion or were unnecessary, and placing a custom order was deemed more complicated than placing a pre-made order.
As the mockups were being designed, adjustments were made based off of findings.
"popular arrangements" was added for clarity
"Place an Order" button was not necessary; other buttons were used for the same purpose
Price per floral arrangement was also added to help users complete a real-life order
Finally, the high-fidelity prototype was complete and another usability study was done.
The second usability study was moderated and used the same five participants. Findings included: participants chose images over buttons instead of the text buttons, date & time section seemed complicated, and more labels for each page may be necessary.
This app makes customizing your own floral arrangement easy and hassle free. With the options of custom and pre-made arrangements, users agree this app is helpful!
I had no idea usability studies would make such an impact. During the stages of building wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes, I learned there is still more work and innovation to be done to the designs! Even after two usability studies, there is always room for improvement.
Accessibility Considerations
Considerate contrast and choice of colors, as well as bold text was added to ensure visibility of design
Alternative text was added to all images needing description
Gesture annotations were also added to beginning screens of design where hold and drag is necessary
Moving Forward
Next steps:
Adjust and make improvements to the app based on second round findings
Conduct a third round of usability studies
Update and refine high-fidelity prototype
Prepare for send off