Allen County Feed and Seed Lumber Supply Website
Chantal Livesay June 30th 2016
User-Experience Prototyping Professor David Edwin Meyers Master of Arts Degree Lindsey Wilson College
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
03
Hi-Fi Wireframes 21
Concept Brief 04
Hi-Fi Wireframes 22
Solution 05
Hi-Fi Wireframes 23
Hypothoses 06
Usability Testing 24
Project Overview 06
Research Outcomes 25
Research 07
Recommindations 26
Demographic & Behaviors
Conclusion 27
08
Competitive Analysis 09
User Centered Design Process
Personas 10
Conclusion 29
Personas 11 SWOT 12 Exploration 13 Concept Brief & Requirment Specification 14 Site Map 15 Task Analysis & Schedule
16
Sketches 17 Solution Design 18 Design Prinicples 19 Wireframes 20
28
Executive Summary
LWC Master’s candidate Chantal Livesay conducted an onsite usability test in her home in Scottsville, KY USA on June 26, 2016. The purpose of the test was to determine the usability of the navigation for the ACFS website, if the external links were functioning correctly and to determine the ease of use. Three participants were tested during the time period. Each was tested individually then brought back to give feedback together in a group. Each individual session lasted about 10 minutes with the feedback session lasting 30 minutes. In general, all participants found the ACFS website prototype to be clear, easy to use and easy to navigate. Most of my participants have used websites similar in the past, but one frequently uses a computer more than the other two. The test identified a few problems including: 1.Supplies list needs to be separated into categories. a.Lumber, Hardware, Building Supplies, ect. 2.Clickable product links to show information a.Such as size, in stock and special order. 3.Renaming the PARTNERS page to SUPPLIERS 4.Separate services offered. a.Delivery, rentals, ect. 5.Naming rentals. a.Sander, nail gun, ect. 6.Button size needs to be a little larger. 7.Facebook feed needs to be linked to the Facebook page. This document contains the participant’s feedback, task completion rate, time on task, and recommendations for improvements.
Concept Brief
Allen County Feed and Seed Lumber Supply (ACFS) is a small town lumber supply store. They usually rely on word of mouth and newspaper ads to spread the word about their business. This website will show customers what type of products the company offers, as well as services, partners, location and how to contact the company with any questions. It would also include a link to the companies Facebook page, which will allow visitors to learn more about what people think about the company. The goal of this project is to create a simple and easy to use website for customers and potential customers.
Solution
Lindsey Wilson College (LWC) Master’s candidate, Chantal Livesay proproses that to reach more customers, ACFS needs a simple, easy to use website.
Hypotheses & Project Overview
I am proposing a simple website to showcase ACFS’s products and services. Many business similar to ACFS have their own website. By having a website ACFS can reach more customers and potiential customers. The goal of this project is to create a simple, easy to use, easiliy navigated website that will show case ACFS products and services. Potiential customers also need to be able to locate ACFS and that is another aspect that will be presented in the website.
Research
Demographic & Behaviors Recruiting Criteria • Men or Women • Ages 18-65 • Contractor • Hobby wood worker • Employee’s of ACFS • Home internet access
Location • Scottsville • Bowling Green • Lafayette • Westmoreland
Who I will recruit for this test will be based on actual customers of ACFS. I need to test people who will actually be using the website. Ideally the participant’s that I’d like to test the website are contractors and hobby wood workers. Since they would be the most interested in the products that the company carries. Testing contractors and hobby wood workers will give me an idea how the site works and what things need to be changed. Age would also play a factor in my testing. Contractors and hobby wood workers range anywhere from 10-100. This would be too broad of a range to test. To narrow it down I would set my age range from 18-65. While this is still a broad range I would like the participants to be on different ends of the age range. Doing this would allow me to have participants from the age of 18 to 25 as well as older participants from the age range 35-60. Gender would also be used to narrow down my participants. Preferably I would like to test men because the majority of contractors and wood workers are usually men. If a woman did fit the criteria for participants, I would not disqualify them because they could offer me another a different insight into my design. Being able to access the internet from home or work would also be another criterion. I would like to have at least 3 users to test. Since this website is for a smaller company a lot of usability testing might not be required.
Competitive Analysis
Competitive Analysis- Allen County Feed & Seed Lumber Supply Overview No matter if your a big contractor or a hobby wood worker, at some point you'll need to visit a supply store to buy supplies or restock. Knowing who you can go to to buy your supplies is a big deal when your running low or ready to start a project. Below we have 3 different companies that are competitors for Allen County Feed & Seed Lumber Supply. 2 companies are bigger supply chains while the 3rd one is a local competitor. This Competitive Analysis is a quick overview of strengths and weaknesses that each company has, as well as a quick picture of a product that each company carries and is known for. For this Analysis the product that is focused on is lumber, since that is one of the big selling items at Allen County Feed & Seed Lumber Supply.
Company Info
Description
NAME: Lowes
NAME: The Home Depot
NAME: Johnson's Lumber Company
LOCATION: Mooresville, NC
LOCATION: Atlanta, GA
LOCATION: Scottsville, KY
COMPANY SIZE: 100+
COMPANY SIZE: 100+
COMPANY SIZE: 25+
Competitor 1 is a Fortune 50 company with many stores and employees across the country. They carry many house hold items as well as lumber.
Competitor 2 is a Fortune 50 company as well. They also have many stores and employees across the country. They carry lumber and house hold items.
Competitor 3 is a local competitor. They carry lumber as well as house hold items. They have been in busy in a small town for many years.
On the web
No matter if your a big contractor or a hobby wood worker, at some point you’ll need to visit a supply store to buy supplies or restock. Knowing who you can go to to buy your supplies is a big deal when your running low or ready to start a project. Below we have 3 different companies that are competitors for Allen County Feed & Seed Lumber Supply. 2 companies are bigger supply chains while the 3rd one is a local competitor.
Product
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
Strengths
Strengths
Larger Selection.
Larger Selection.
Access to more vendors.
Access to more vendors.
Store Hours
Bigger delivery capabilities.
Weaknesses
Different products in stock. Main street location. Larger displays.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses
Website is hard to navigate.
Lumber is stored off site.
Products similar to competitors.
No personal connection with potential clients.
Website is similar to competitors.
Hard to find merchandise.
Larger store, less connection.
Market Breakdown
Competitor 1 Budget Retail Local Products
Not as much lumber in stock. Smaller delivery capabilities.
Competitor 2 Premium
Budget
Ecommerce
Retail
Global
Local
Services
Products
Competitor 3 Premium
Budget
Ecommerce
Retail
Global
Local
Services
Products
Premium Ecommerce Global Services
This Competitive Analysis is a quick overview of strengths and weaknesses that each company has, as well as a quick picture of a product that each company carries and is known for. For this Analysis the product that is focused on is lumber, since that is one of the big selling items at Allen County Feed & Seed Lumber Supply.
Persona
Persona
SWOT
Exploration
Concept Brief & Requirment Specifications Concept Brief I plan to design a simple, easy to use website for customers to be able to find out what prodcuts and services ACFS offers.
Requirement Specifications I plan for the wesbite to have at least 5 screens. The Home, About Us, Services, Partners, and a link to the comapny’s Facebook page.
Site Map
Task Analysis & Schedule
Sketches
Solution Design
Design Princliples
Some the design principles I tried to keep in mind while designing this website were: 1 Ease of use 2. Frequency of use 3. Difficulty of keeping track of where they were in the site 4. How quickly most people would learn to use the site 5. Getting information quickly 6. Homepage’s content facilities exploration 7. Relevancy of site content 8. Site organization Being able to follow these guidlines while designing the websitewill help me to design a siimple, easy to use website for ACFS.
Wireframes
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Hi-Fi Wireframes
Usability Testing
Likes, Dislikes, Participant Recommendations Upon completion of the tasks, participants provided feedback for what they liked most and least about the website, and recommendations for improving the website.
Liked Most The following comments capture what the participants liked most: “Very simple to use.”
Liked Least The following comments capture what the participants liked the least: “The Facebook feed and the Facebook button are confusing. I wasn’t sure which one to click.” Recommendations for Improvement Following comments were the most recommended improvement. “Divide the supply list into categories so people don’t have to look through all types of lumber just to find nails.” “Under services distinguish rentals from any other services ACFS offers.”
Research Outcomes
Recommendations The recommendations section provides recommended changes and justifications driven by the participant success rate, behaviors, and comments. Each recommendation includes a severity rating. The following recommendations will improve the overall ease of use and address the areas where participants experienced problems or found the interface/information architecture unclear. Task 1- find a product on the ACFS website. Task 3- find out about rentals on the ACFS website. Task 2- find a partner website. Task 5- Find and check out the Facebook page.
Conclusion
User Centered Design
1. Ideation 2. Reaserch 3. Persona & Task Analysis 4. Competitive Analysis 5. Site Map 6. Design Evolution 7. User Testing 8. Hi-Fi Design 9. Hi- Fi Validation
Conclusion
The primary goal of the website is to provide ACFS customers with a simple and easy website to navigate to find out more about the company and its products. Implementing the participant’s recommendations and continuing to work with users will help make the website easier to navigate. The test results indicated that while its already easy to use, the website had some problems in finding products and services. Adding categories to each section will easily correct this issue. By generating categories, users can search more easily for what they need. In general, all of the participants found the ACFS prototype to be easy to use, organized, and easily navigated. For a company with no prior internet presence, other than a Facebook page, this website will serve as an excellent tool for customers and potential customers.