Anamoul Rouf, Product Designer, UX Designer, User Centered Product Designer, User Experience Designer, Human Experience Designer, Problem Solver, Researcher, AR & VR Enthusiast, Dhaka, Bangladesh

The UX Process

The Lean UX process to move forward

When we have minimal time and resources, selecting an efficient, sustainable, and flexible design process is always challenging. I have chosen the approach to the Lean UX process. It is an iterative process with three simple steps.

• Think

• Make

• Check

...and keep repeating the steaps.

The Discovery

The discovery phase was a quick, high‐intensity effort

The discovery phase was a quick, high‐intensity effort that allowed us to -

Interest in AI:

• Users see value in AI for tasks like automating mundane processes (e.g., generating product descriptions or price recommendations) and for improving efficiency.

• The curiosity stems from AI’s ability to save time and potentially increase profitability.

Target Users:

• Small to medium-sized businesses, individual sellers, and buyers who also dabble in selling.

• These users often manage dual roles, requiring a platform that caters seamlessly to both buying and selling activities.

Non-Intimidating Features:

• The success of these tools depends on creating a user-friendly interface where AI feels like a helpful assistant rather than a daunting system.

Adoption Hinges on Simplicity:

• Despite the interest, there’s hesitation or reluctance if the AI tools feel too complex or technical.

• Many users, especially individual sellers or SMBs, may not have advanced tech expertise. Overcomplicating AI features could alienate this audience.

The Findings

We visited Our Targeted Users

We have sessions with 20 targeted users. We also had brainstorming discussion sessions with our internal cross-functional team members. So what we found-

Simplified Product Management for Sellers:

• Sellers often struggle with manually creating product descriptions, tags, and pricing. The platform's AI aims to alleviate this by automating these tasks, saving time and reducing errors.

• This simplification not only increases efficiency but also encourages more sellers to actively use the platform.

Personalised Experiences for Buyers:

• Buyers prefer platforms that provide tailored recommendations and anticipate their needs.

• AI's ability to analyse preferences and past behaviours helps reduce decision fatigue, leading to faster and more satisfying purchases.

Enhanced Communication:

• Communication between buyers and sellers is often treated as secondary but is crucial for building trust and resolving issues.

• By incorporating a robust messaging feature, the platform ensures smoother transactions and fosters user satisfaction.

Effective Notifications:

• Notifications need to strike a balance being timely and relevant without overwhelming the user. Thoughtful design of this system keeps users engaged and informed without causing frustration.

These findings provide a foundation for addressing user needs while leveraging AI to deliver a seamless and intuitive experience for both buyers and sellers.

Research

The Competitive Analysis

AliExpress:

Popular for its global reach and affordability, but its interface can be overwhelming for new users, and it doesn't cater well to dual-role functionality or personalized recommendations.

Shopify:

Excellent tools for sellers but lacks robust AI product suggestions. The platform is easy to use for storefront creation but doesn't address the buyer-seller hybrid needs directly.

Amazon Marketplace:

Strong recommendation engine with a vast marketplace, but its complexity and lack of flexibility for individual sellers to switch between buyer and seller roles make it less appealing for small businesses.

Etsy:

Great for niche markets with unique products, but it offers limited advanced reporting and lacks strong AI-powered tools for search or product management.

Idation & Testing

Sketchs, Wireframing and Testing

The following steps were to sketch wireframes based on the user flow maps and built the flow and low-fidelity prototype for a series of testing sessions.

• Creating wireframes helped me to visualize the ideas and gave us the basic structure for how users would use the app.

• When creating these wireframes, we kept the user needs from the earlier findings and research in mind.

• I have done several testing sessions with a close group of users.

UI Design

Design Guideline & Design System

Initially, we built basic style guidelines. Afterward, we built a highly customisable design system to create a design language

UI Design

User Interface Design

Before starting the UI design process, I always built a highly customizable design style guideline and reusable components.

• I have designed a design style guideline and reusable components.

Exprience the UI Design Screens

Explore the UI Screens

Testing & Validation

Usability Testing

The goal was to assess the app's overall usability and identify areas for improvements that could facilitate the completion of the tasks. The participants were given the same set of jobs.

Due to the NDA issue, I've only shared the information authorized by the authority.

Refine & Deploy

We refined and updated the design & deploy for development

Based on the usability testing sessions, we refined and updated the design. Then, we created deliverables for development handover. I maintained continuous communication with the developers during the development period.

After the successful deployment, it is time to collect feedback from the user.

Results & Future Iteration

It is an One-time Project

As it was an one-time client project, I don’t have the opportunity to messure the results.

Although, I always prefer to follow mixed approach of Design Thinking and the Lean UX design process for continuous product development.

Thank you :)