Wren in the Forest Website Case Study
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Role:
UX researcher and designer from conception to presentation delivery. The Wren in the Forest website was a exploratory case study and audit to help determine if the current business needs were met to move forward with a new site design. A high level UX audit was performed and is presented below.
Responsibilities:
Conducting user interviews, competitor analysis, paper wireframing, low and mid-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies and testing, developing marketing visuals with UI enhancements, and iterating concepts to move forward to producing and launching a new website.
Project Duration:
September to November 2021
The Product:
Wren in the Forest is an organic bird seed company that offers high quality bird seed, bird feeders and information to customers between the ages of 18-75. Most users are bird watchers and enjoy learning more about Ornithology, migration and bird habits. Wren in the Forest’s goal is to provide quality service, consistent reliable products and the latest bird information to customers.
Branding for this website was really exciting to research, design and build for customers and use my own artwork. I am an avid bird watcher and love seeing birds in my yard and have had a great experience with feeding them year round. I have seen so many varieties of birds in our yard but my favorite is the House Wren. We have a family of Wrens and they frequent our back patio...very noisy little birds but so inquisitive to the world around them. The opportunity to complete a creative project that merged my personal illustration into the website design was very exciting. Hope you enjoy!
Case Study Slide Deck
“I want to spend time with my family looking at the birds on my feeders,
not trying to locate seed for hours online or in local stores. ”
-Robert, 42 Houston
Problem:
Customers requested a more enjoyable website experience to engage not only in buying seed, supplies or products but also learn about bird habits, migration and proper ways to help our birds have clean environments that are resistant to bird illnesses.
Design Focus:
Design a user friendly website that has clear navigation, concise and consistent design that appeals to all ages and offers an easy checkout process. The exploration of low to mid fidelity designs help give flexibility so that change could occur before the final product launch.
Site Map
Paper Wireframes
I conducted user interviews which gave insights to what issues or pain points occurred while navigating the current site. This directed my focus on creating empathy maps to better understand the target user and their needs that would guide my design process. I discovered that many target users wanted to learn and having the opportunity to learn more about what types of birds that frequented their yards or nature trails gave perspective on how the user needed easy access to bird identification.
However many shoppers were frustrated by the overwhelming and confusing navigation tools on the current website and just wanted a simple way to order bird seed and products. The complete user experience from selection to ordering was most important to users. Most shoppers visited the site once a month or set up auto payment. The check out process needed to be as simple as possible and accommodate different ages.
Lo Fidelity Wireframe
Keeping a concise and consistant theme across all pages was important. The same feel and genuine care put into designing the white space, typography and images were very important.
Keeping the overall tones, values and design simple and clean helps the customer locate and find products quickly with the intent to return and revisit the website.
The low fidelity designs were apart of the user testing process to determine how users navigate each step and that showed what specific areas should be adjusted or updated before mid fidelity design were begun.
View: LoFi wireframe link
As each step of the design process developed, customizing each image into round icons helped keep the consistent look across all pages. With the mid fidelity wireframes users had a better visual of the seed types on the 2nd round of user testing. Users felt more confident they were buying the correct type for their specific birds.
Users Tested: Three groups of five users walked through the design and identified easily the seed they needed purely by the image first then the title so users really utilized the image more in this case than titles in each card.
Also noted was the description in each seed card. This gave more confidence to the buying process.
When users experienced the learning section on the website they showed more interest in returning more frequently to engage with the product and felt they were acquiring more knowledge in understanding bird behavior. Specific types of information that users requested were reflected in the design and this helped prepare content for readers.
Key User Insights:
Users felt the clear larger images helped them pin point what they needed faster without searching by reading each caption.
Users had an open discussion on the user testing session about how other bird sites didn't accommodate the older customers need to see items easier so accessibility was discussed on what accommodations where best for each age group that explore the site.
The layout and color scheme was also reviewed so that I knew if the overall mute scheme direction was best for this particular website design. It was noted that users preferred the more muted colors so that all the birds stood out and was easier to locate on the page faster. Also it was brought up that the images gave a clear depiction of what they were buying. One user pointed out that it would be nice to have several photos of the product either by hovering over or a new pop up box would show multiple angles to really see the product. Noted that users really wanted to see the mechanics of the product before buying.
Users liked that the price was easy to locate on each product card and there was no hidden cost or surprises as they choose each product.
Also noted was the header and footer, it was easy to find the same information on each page as they navigated the site. Less clicks or navigation the better.
Lastly it was mentioned several times that this website design was really helpful due to the simplified clean white space and users preferred no animations or interactions which was helpful to know before the hand off occurred for the final UI for high fidelity designs.
These particular insights saved money, time and effort to focus on what the customers expectations were and how to better serve the purpose of the website for all ages. Sometimes the simplest designs give users a calm and relaxing experience and can be best for products longevity and knowing the user intentions prevents frustrations or pain points for designers as well.
During the check out process users noted during the three user sessions that it would be best to show the final order in both an image and text so they could double check all products being bought one last time before ordering. Also a larger cancel button along with order number should be the focus on this page so that users felt they had a choice to cancel without issues.
In the below wireframes, delivery and tracking pages were very important to users to see this within the site and not have to go outside to a third party. Users asked for this specifically and include a map along side making comments so that the delivery service could see if changes to the drop off location needed to happen after the order was placed.
This particular UX audit and case study project really showed the importance of understanding the customer. Knowing their exact needs gave direct insight to what this produced needed in order to be successful for the company but also how the website should engage the users not only for buying products but it turned out the real value was giving users the opportunity to learn about the the birds they love.
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