Acfs design doc

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.