Basheer Graphic Books
Bridging physical and digital browsing experience
Client: Basheer Graphic Books (General Assembly Project) Platform: Mobile Duration: 2 weeks (April 2022) Role: Sole UX Designer
Brief
Basheer Graphic Books is a specialised bookstore with more than 30 years history in the local landscape. It is a haven for local creative community for its exhaustive range of niche, rare and exclusive design-related publications. With changing times with e-commerce trending, Basheer needs to innovate and pivote to meet the needs of their customers.
The goal of this project is to improve its ecommerce experience via:
The goal of this project is to improve its ecommerce experience via:
- Improve information architecture (IA) to faciliate users to discover and purchase easily
- Enhance e-commerce experience for customer engagement to increase value for both physical and digital channel
“E-commerce now outranks gaming as one of the top activities consumers do online, possibly because it is solving to blend entertainment with shopping… Online channels have become more prevalent, from discovery to purchase.”
- Mr Benjamin Joe, vice-president of South-has Asia andtemerging markets at Facebook, 2021
- Mr Benjamin Joe, vice-president of South-has Asia andtemerging markets at Facebook, 2021
Approach
To discover the appeal of bookshop experience with creatives, I conducted extensive user research into art and graphics publishers, user interviews with the creative community and usability testings on current and prospective website.
Using insights drawn from our user research, I focused on re-strategising content and IA to create an organic and visually appealing experience that bridges the physical and digital experience.
Insights
User interviews with 10 creative students and practitioners led to these 3 key insights:
- Sensitive creatives who enjoy being in the moment with the physical books
- Dedicated creatives invested in their fields of works
- Rational and information driven when buying
I translated these insights into the following “How might we..?” to reframe the problem and guide ideation:
- HMW make browsing more enticing and engaging?
- HMW empower user to make informed decision efficiently?
Design Strategy
As creatives who are visually and sensory inclined, our users enjoy the organic discovery of experiences but they also require more visual information than generic book buyers due to the nature of their fields.
With a user-centric approach, I formulated these key principles to guide my design process:
- Visually inviting experience
- Bridge physical and online browsing experience
- Bridge visual content gap
- Make decision-making efficient and informed
Results
The result is a platform that understood the needs of our sophisticated visual and sensory users by bringing the physicality of in-person browsing experience online.
The redesigned website is expected to have higher user engagement and checkout rate.
Next Step
Basheer has a rich history within the local bookshop landscape and amongst the creative community. Going forward, more can be explored into communicating Basheer’ rich history and personality into the site with the visual style.
Takeaway
The importance of getting research right
This project made me understand the importance of recruiting the right people for user interviews even though it can be challenging especially under tight schedule. With the right scope and users, I was able to get deep and consistent insights from my research. This was something that did not come as easily in my first project.
Managing input and output
With only 1 person, there is only so much one can do in a limited time. There was no time to fool around but pre-empt contingencies and learn how to set realistic milestones to achieve within the project timeline.
At the end of the day, I was really proud of myself for challenging my own boundaries.
