Overview
Client
Oh So Simple Weddings
My Role
Project Manager
Researcher
Design Ideation
Tools
Figma
Miro
Google Suite
Oh So Simple Weddings (OSSW) is a coaching platform that connects you with professional planners on-demand for coaching, completing important tasks and wedding day management.
Planners Matter
212,613
The total number of weddings that utilized A La Carte planner services in 2019
10,652
The total number of planner/consultant businesses that served 21 weddings each on average in 2019
People want help with their weddings but they want it their way.
How can OSSW create a product that best caters to the needs of their clients?
The Challenge
Create a mobile-first website design that would make it easy for clients to find quick and affordable wedding planner services for whatever tasks they may need help with.
Provide a means by which clients can access personal service and recommendations based their input through an onboarding quiz.
In Essence
Wedding couples need easy and affordable access to tailored planning for their wedding so that they can feel supported and confident at any step in the planning process.
The Research
Competitive/Comparative Analysis
By conducting these analyses, we were able to highlight key features that we would like to focus on for the MVP.
Our competitive analyses helped highlight the importance of having features such as vendor ratings, suggested services, and a gallery of previous work for each planner.
Our comparative analysis led us to see the value in having an intuitive onboarding experience, recommended support for a given service, and overall project organization functionality for a seamless user experience.
User Flow
I created two different user flows to help visualize the onboarding process as well as the process of clients meeting with planners through the OSSW website. These flows helped create the framework that would determine the structure of the client’s journey through the website.
We also conducted user interviews with 6 users to understand their practices and pain points as they go through the wedding process. Then we did an Affinity Mapping exercise to identify key insights.
Suffice to say, we gained many insights from going through this exercise. To highlight a few:
— Clients would like better mediums of communication with vendors.
— Planning is an emotional process. Clients would like to have support during the process.
— Clients don’t always need help with everything. Sometimes they just want quick tips on certain aspects.
— Clients don’t like following up with vendors. They would prefer help with that if it’s available.
— Clients like the idea of having a wedding planner but they assume it will be expensive.
Sarah & Jordan
Needs and Goals
— A 3rd party to bounce ideas off of
— Custom recommendations that fit within budget
— Easy access and communication with planner
Behaviors
— Organized but they need help understanding where to begin planning
— Have an idea of what they want but they don’t know how to execute their vision
— Very mindful of their expenses and don’t like the idea of exceeding their budget
Frustrations
— Don’t have the time or interest to do in-depth research themselves
— Communicating clearly to vendors/venues can be difficult
— They only want help with certain aspects but planners usually only offer package deals
At this point we had a good understanding of user values and pain points. How might we approach a solution that would address those?
Help couples find planners that can address their specific needs
Make it easy for couples to schedule meetings with planners
Provide easy channel of communication between couples and planners
Allow couples to customize their planning packages to fit their needs
The Designs
Paper Prototype
We began the design process by conducting a design studio in which our whole team provided ideas for different screen layouts. We then came together and decided which screens best achieved the goals of the website experience. From our usability testing on this prototype we highlighted a couple takeaways to keep in mind when designing the mid-fidelity prototype:
Users had difficulty visualizing how their interactions would be shown while doing the onboarding quiz.
Users liked the number of onboarding questions in the quiz. They felt it was an appropriate amount.
Mid-Fidelity Prototype
After conducting usability tests on the paper prototype, we moved on to designing and conducting usability tests on our mid-fidelity. When designing this prototype we wanted to make sure we addressed the pain points from our earlier iteration while also providing higher quality visuals and interactions for the user. We also came away with a few useful insights from the usability tests on this iteration:
Users had some confusion navigating the hamburger menu options.
Users liked the presentation of planner “best matches” but they wanted to be reassured that they could meet a planner without necessarily committing to them first.
The Iterations
After multiple tests, we were able to narrow down the final necessary edits that would be implemented in our final product
Edited menu for ease of access to user profile features
Changed language and imagery in onboarding quiz to emphasize inclusivity
Updated designs to include action states
The Final Product
The Next Steps
— Include extra section for quizzes so couples can add more customized information
— Creating a desktop version of the website
— Build out remaining pages of the website (i.e. About page, Profile page, etc.)
— Build out the planner side to accommodate seamless connection between couples and planners