Elevating an Experience: Introducing the Design Studio
Homemakers Furniture is known for having the lowest price and largest selection in Iowa, but many customers were unaware that Homemakers also carried higher-end products which led to missed conversion opportunities and losing out on potential customers who would otherwise shop somewhere else for premium customizable furniture. Our team would end up creating a unique and personalized experience that clearly communicated the value of this new service working alongside an expert design team and converted more sales in the higher-end target audience.
Company
Homemakers Furniture
Role
UX Designer
Employment
Full-time
Timeframe
May 2024 – October 2024
Key Focus Areas
Interaction Design, Web Design, UX Thinking, Frontend (HTML/CSS)
The Problem
Customers who seek personalized design guidance and a premium shopping experience often struggled with frustration and uncertainty about whether Homemakers could meet their needs. This meant the business was missing engagement with a valuable audience.
The Result?
Limited revenue growth & weaker brand presence
Discovery & Strategy
What Research Revealed the Problem?
Method #1: Customer Service Feedback
Direct input from customer service teams revealed consistent themes among customers seeking premium options and feeling overlooked. Their questions and concerns pointed to missing personalization and an elevated experience in our offerings.
Method #2: Deep Dive into Analytics
Our team analyzed KPIs across product categories, revenue, and user behavior. The data showed that high-spending customers had shorter session durations, lower engagement with standard promotions, and low conversion rates.
Understanding Business Opportunities & Goals
- Increase engagement and conversion rate
- Attract and retain affluent customers with a premium, sophisticated experience
- Opportunity to market an improved Room Planner to support high traffic on our website
How Did the Research Help Shape the Solution?
My Hypothesis
If our team provides an elevated experience for a design consultation service, then users who seek personalized design guidance will engage more with the brand which directly impacts revenue growth and the brand’s presence in the market.
Define
Whose Problem Am I Solving?
Competitor Analysis
Design Goals
Users need a sophisticated, premium experience for the Design Studio
Room Planner
Users need an upgrade free room planner to visualize their furniture and rooms
Marketing Campaign
The business needs an increase in marketing materials and advertising for new initiative
Ideate
Early Design Stages
Information Architecture
Feature Prioritization
Design Decisions & Refinement
Brand Design
Separating Design Studio styles from the standard Homemakers styles is meant to elevate the premium experience for our higher-end audience. With Design Studio and Room Planner, the imagery included arches to add a more premium feeling to the experience.
Wireframes, Sketches & Design Concepts
I did not actively work on the wireframes, sketches and design concepts portion of this project since my primary role was as the web designer and frontend developer for these landing pages. However, I took part in the design critiquing process and ultimately developed the finished frontend for the landing page of the final product. Shared below is a screenshot of the final few mockups before my implementation.
Development
Based on our team’s collective research and findings and initial style guides, I was able to proceed with visualizing the landing page experience on our website. I also had to setup and configure our Salesforce website to prepare for the Design Studio and Room Planner launch.
Challenges During My Implementation
While developing the Design Studio and Room Planner landing pages, I encountered unique challenges while developing the landing page that branched from our current website design style system. A completely new system was created for this sub-brand to help test a future style system. Fonts, colors and spacing were amongst the many things that were experimented with in this project. This resulted in duplicated code and styles in order to overwrite global styles.
I also ran into issues with browser compatibilities and limitations while developing these landing pages. Because of some of these, I had to change my approach for some of the animations and designs presented on the page with additional media queries to ensure complete compatibility. It is crucial that you test any completed landing pages on multiple devices and browsers for optimal compatibility for our end users.
Testing
Validating the Design
Due to time and resource constraints, I wasn’t able to conduct formal usability testing. However, I maximized available opportunities to test the landing page with stakeholders and designers within the community who took part in the initial discovery phase. The response was overwhelmingly positive with minimal revisions needed (copy tweaks and subtle design changes to the landing page).
Looking Ahead: Online Appointments
Currently, the service is only offered as an in-store only experience. The next best opportunity for iteration of this initiative is introducing the ability to schedule online appointments. Customers can’t always make time for in-store visits. By opening the availability online, we could gain many new customers, especially those who are outside the state of Iowa.
Design & Implementation
Design in Action
Results & Impact
Overall Results and Impact
I thoroughly enjoyed bringing this initiative to life on the website with the use of animations and custom design styles for the Design Studio. The development of this project in Homemakers Furniture marked a pivotal step, expanding the brand’s reach to a more affluent audience.
Key Results
that supports the design service and users
230+ Bookings
scheduled for in-store appointments
Business Impact
- Strengthened brand perception among affluent customers, increasing trust
- Reduced friction in the design consultation funnel, reduced confusion about our design services
