shoose!
An all-in-one shoe buying app, designed to help you find the right shoe you’re looking for.
Shoose! - Mobile App UI/UX Design
Mar - May 2021
"An all-in-one
shoe buying app."
About
For my spring 2021 UI/UX class, we were given the project of creating and conceptualizing an app with a topic of our own choosing. As a former sneakerhead, I chose to create a mobile app in the realm of shoes.
The idea for this app came to me when a friend asked me for suggestions on what running shoe to buy. Unlike me, they were not very knowledgeable about shoes in general and didn’t know where to start.
Role
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Research
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Problem Validation
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Ideation
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Wireframing
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User Testing
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Visual Design
Goals
1/How Might We:
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Streamline the shoe-buying process?
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Give the user personalized shoe options based on their needs and wants?
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Eliminate any uncertainties in choosing and purchasing a pair of shoes?
2 /The Problem:
Shoes are one of the most important pieces of clothing that we wear. There are many different kinds of shoes; ranging from sneakers and sport shoes, to more formal shoes and boots.
However, sometimes when buying a pair of shoes it could be quite hard to figure out exactly which pair will suit your specific needs due to the large number of factors present in the shoe-buying process.
Design Process
Research
Wireframing & Prototyping
Synthesis & Analysis
User & Task Testing
Problem Validation
Learnings & Findings
Ideation & Concepting
Visual Design
Research
User Interviews
I conducted several user interviews with some people that fit within the target audience I was aiming for in order to get a better understanding of the issues of the shoe-buying process. Some of the main issues I wanted to understand better were:
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Pain points and difficulties in the shoe-buying process
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Most important factors in choosing a new pair of shoes
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Their thought process in selecting and narrowing down their options
User Quotes from Interview:
“It’s hard, because I’m always wondering if there's something better, there are always too many options.”
“I take a lot of time and consideration due to indecision as there are a lot of selections, too many options, and sometimes size availability.”
“I look through the different factors and compare each shoe on them, and pick the ones I like the most. It's hard because many factors are taken into account.”
"Sizing is a big concern because different brands have different sizing and it is confusing at times."
Learnings
& Findings
For the average person, the shoe-buying process often takes longer than needed and fraught with numerous issues that hamper this process. These issues and frustrations are:
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Too many options, which makes it hard to narrow down
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Sizing varies between brands, could lead to shoes not fitting well
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Hard to compare all the factors in a shoe against each other efficiently
Knowing this, my app would need features necessary to allow users to be able to go from:
the start of the process (e.g. “I need a new running shoe!”),
to the end (e.g. purchasing the shoe and being satisfied with it.),
without users having to run into the aforementioned issues, thus keeping the shoe-buying process as efficient and hassle-free as possible.
Lindsay
Age: 24
Occupation: Marketing Coordinator
Location: San Francisco, CA
Bio
Lindsay is a young professional who loves to exercises and has a multitude of hobbies, such as running, tennis, and golf. Because of her busy lifestyle, she usually buys her shoes online as she doesn’t have the time to go out to physical stores.
Preferences & Traits
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prefers to buy purpose built shoes
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usually buys shoes online
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buys around 2-4 shoes a year
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somewhat into trends
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comfort is number 1
Pain Points
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hard to decide on a shoe to buy
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sizing between brands are confusing
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buying online leads to unsatisfactory purchases
Wants
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be able to compare her options more effectively
to have more confidence in online purchasing
Michael
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Location: Austin, TX
Bio
Michael is a junior studying in Austin, Texas. He loves to watch basketball and plays a lot in his spare time. His favorite shoe brand is Nike and he often buys basketball shoes from the local Foot Locker. While he is knowledgeable about basketball shoes, he is quite clueless about casual shoes and shoes for other purposes.
Preferences & Traits
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logical buyer
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usually buys shoes in-store
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buys around 1-3 shoes a year
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not into trends
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brand loyal to nike
Pain Points
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difficult to narrow down options for non-basketball shoes
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hard to find all the information on the shoe to compare, which means more time spent on the shoe buying process
Wants
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needs some assistance in narrowing down options
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need more info available to compare for each shoe option
Ideation & Concepting
Next, I did a sketching exercise in order to help brainstorm some ideas for the features of the app. I narrowed these ideas down to 3 distinct ones that I will focus on with my task flows:
Wireframes
Shoe Comparer
True Shoe Size
Shoe Finder
Digitized Wireframes
Final Screens
