Sunset Manor
OVERVIEW
Improve the wedding venue selection process
Sunset Manor is a wedding venue that offers price transparency. The typical users are new engaged couples, who are busy professionals or young adults. Sunset Manor’s goal is provide couples with all the information upfront such as pricing, photos, and availability to allow users to save time touring venues they can’t afford.
PROJECT TYPE
Conceptual
ROLE
UX Researcher and Designer, designing from conception to delivery
PROJECT DURATION
August 2023 - September 2023
RESPONSIBILITIES
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, iterating on designs, determining information architecture, responsive design
THE PROBLEM
Most wedding venues don’t have a great web presence. Wedding venue websites are either hard to navigate or don’t offer enough information such as pricing transparency, cancellation policy, and availability.
THE GOAL
Design an easy-to-navigate wedding venue website that offers transparent information to save couples time from visiting venues that they can’t afford.
For this project I used the Design Thinking Process, which is a user-centered approach to problem-solving.
01. EMPATHIZE
Initial user research
To begin this project, I conducted user interviews, which I then turned into empathy maps to better understand the target users and their needs. I discovered that many target users found looking for a wedding venue stressful. Most wedding venue websites offered little information or didn’t offer additional touring options to accommodate the user’s schedule. This left the target users with lots of questions and forced them to either visit the venue or contact the venue for additional information.
User pain points
Competitive analysis
I conducted a competitive analysis of both direct and indirect competitors which were wedding venues and wedding planning websites. My focus was to identify where users need were met and common problems I could address with my wedding venue website.
02. DEFINE
User personas
Based on the data from the user research, I created two personas whose needs, goals, and frustrations represent the potential users of the website.
User journey map
To understand my users better, I created a user journey map of Morgan's experience searching the internet for a wedding venue to help identify possible pain points and improvement opportunities.
03. IDEATE
Site map
With website navigation being a primary user pain point, I used this knowledge to create a sitemap. My focus was to create a sitemap with universal labels that all users could understand and group information in a logical way.
Paper wireframes
Next, I sketched out paper wireframes for each screen of my website. For the homepage paper wireframe variations, I focused on finding the right balance of creating an engaging landing page and giving enough information to draw in users to explore other site pages. Because Sunset Manor’s customers have the ability to access the site from a variety of different devices, I started to work on designs for additional screen sizes to make sure the site would be fully responsive.
Digital wireframes
Moving from paper to digital wireframes allowed me to figure out whether the layout I chose for each page improved the user experience. I wanted to ensure information was displayed in a concise and skimmable way. For the Pricing & Packages page, I showcased package details and seasonal pricing by using cards. This allows users to jump to the information they need quickly. Below are the desktop and mobile versions of the Pricing and Packages page:
04. PROTOTYPE & 05. TEST
Low-fidelity prototype
To create a low-fidelity prototype, I connected all of the screens involved in the user flow of booking a tour, reserving a wedding date, and contacting the wedding venue. At this point, I made sure all connections worked as far as navigating between pages using the navigation bar or buttons as well as pop up confirmation messages. View the Sunset Manor’s low-fidelity prototype here.
Usability studies
I conducted an unmoderated usability study with the mobile and desktop low-fidelity prototypes. The focus of this study was to get feedback about the structure of the site as well as pinpoint any information participants felt the site lacked. The feedback from the usability study inspired the transition from wireframes to mockups. Here are the revisions from the study:
Findings
1. Users found the verbiage on the call to action button on the Homepage confusing or misleading. To address this concern, I changed a few things. First, I changed the verbiage of the “Booking & Inquires” button on the homepage to “Check Availability”. I then went on to redirect the click of the new “Check Availability” button to the Availability page instead of the Contact Us page. This allowed users the freedom to keep browsing the site for information rather than being forced to contact the venue for answers.
2. Users expected to be prompted for a time slot to book a tour or reserve a wedding date. For this valid concern, I incorporated time slots as users suggested. It gives users the ability to pick a time that works with their schedule. Times slots were also added to the Availability page where users can reserve a wedding date. Since this was a small change, I also decided to make the tour booking process better by changing the “In-person” filter button to “Guided” to help users understand the tour options available as this also caused confusion among a few users.
3. Users felt the mobile navigation menu was lengthy due to the submenu of Pricing and Information being visible. To resolve this issue, I nested the Pricing and Information submenu until users click on the option.
THE RESULT
A wedding venue website that answers all questions
Final designs
The final high fidelity prototype included design changes suggested by participants in the usability study and followed the same user flow as the low-fidelity prototype. Check out Sunset Manor’s high fidelity prototype here.
Accessibility considerations
Takeaways
Sunset Manor offers an array of information to users upfront and allows them to book a tour or reserve a wedding date on their own time. Our target users shared how easy the website was to navigate and digest information. They enjoyed the ability to book tours around their busy schedules.
When designing the Sunset Manor website, I discovered how important scalability was from one device to another. A layout that works for a desktop may not work for a mobile device due to limited screen space. It is up to us, the designer, to find a layout that is scalable and able to present information on each screen size without sacrificing important details.
Moving forward, I plan to conduct another usability study to validate that all user pain points’ were addressed. I also plan to identify new user needs and implement new features.