Amazing Comics
Interviews & Affinity Mapping
The first research method I employed was conducting interviews with four participants who have a strong interest in the literary and visual art world of comics. These participants, aged twenty-five to thirty, lead busy lives, making it inconvenient for them to visit physical stores for their purchases. Over four days, I conducted the interviews and subsequently created an affinity map to organize the findings. Initially, it was challenging to generate enough insights to build a comprehensive persona. However, I was able to categorize the participants’ thoughts and experiences with e-commerce comic sites, focusing on their current interactions, frustrations, and methods of discovering new comics.
Card Sort, Competitive Analysis, & Usability Testing
Instead of tree testing, I opted for a card sort, asking participants to categorize products from Amazing Comics using their own labels. Most participants organized the products by publishing house or type, while one categorized them by the respective superheroes’ eras. After completing the card sort, I conducted a competitive and comparative analysis with Marvel, DC, and Heroes vs. Villains to identify features these sites offered that Amazing Comics lacked. Two key insights from this analysis that greatly influenced Amazing Comics 2.0 were the use of banner images and improved categorization, particularly Heroes vs. Villains' 'shop by fandom' filtering page. Lastly, I conducted usability testing on the current Amazing Comics website to gather feedback on what participants liked and disliked.
While they appreciated the simplicity and straightforwardness of the information, they criticized the lack of product variety and the site's poor navigation, issues I addressed in the redesigned version. Another significant influence on the final design was League of Comic Geeks. By analyzing their user and site statistics, I gained a deeper understanding of the features that would best meet the needs and preferences of both Bernard and my participants.
Persona, Site Map, & User Flow
When creating my persona, Bernard, I found it challenging to shift my focus away from the website itself. Instead of concentrating on Bernard’s wants, needs, and goals, I often linked his challenges to his expectations of the website, which extended the persona development process to three days instead of the planned one. The site map, on the other hand, was the easiest to complete. I aimed for a simplified and minimalistic design, reflecting what my participants appreciated most about the current Amazing Comics website.
Similarly, the user flow was straightforward to design, focusing on key steps in Bernard’s journey: landing on the homepage, navigating to his specific PLP/PDP, and completing his purchase.
Prototyping
Having conducted a competitive and comparative analysis beforehand, I was able to complete my sketches for the new Amazing Comics website relatively quickly, knowing exactly how I wanted the redesign to look. The sketching process took only thirty minutes; however, wireframing was a more time-consuming task, taking about a week to complete. My biggest challenge during this phase was the effective user--or lack--of components, which often required me to repeat certain steps. Once the wireframes were finished, I moved on to high-fidelity mockups, which was my favorite part of the process.
I completed the hi-fidelity mockups in a day, primarily adding images to bring the design to life. This step was particularly enjoyable because it allowed me to visualize Amazing Comics 2.0 in its final form.
Click the Screen Above for an Interactive Prototype