Cole Hardware

Cole Hardware is chain of hardware stores in San Francisco and their website services their valued customers for all their home improvement needs. This project was developed for educational purposes at Arizona State University with the primary goal to redesign their website to reflect their online identity while implementing modern web practices to improve overall usability.

my roles

User interviews • Competitive analysis • Information architecture • User flows • Personas • Wireframes • Visual design • Prototypes • Usability testing

who they are

Selection of a persona provided necessary guidance for which I would begin my research. User interviews with people of similar interests were helpful to gain a deeper understanding of online behaviors and influence on consumer confidence.

break it down

A deeper dive into the existing website was necessary to understand any usability issues or pain points. My heuristic evaluation exposed the following:

Insufficient content to fully engage the customer. There were few articles and no product reviews.
Overall navigation of the website was confusing and this made searching for content very challenging.
Some main features were links to external websites that creates a disjointed user experience.

The original website was very content-heavy and card sorting allowed me to refine the architecture strategy that would make it easier for users to find pertinent information. This was followed by creation of a user flow to determine task hierarchy and establish a scenario for task completion.

lay it out

The next step of the process was to translate insight from user research into meaningful actions through development of wireframes. Low fidelity prototypes allowed for quick brainstorming and rapid iterations.

REvise and devise

Usability testing exposed issues in the user flow and a desire for more content in the product description page. Changes to the prototype with additional testing provided necessary validation to advance to higher resolution mockups.

An updated user experience

Cole Hardware’s brand identity is one that is reliable and established within the communities they serve. It was my goal to ensure that the touchpoints of their online presence was consistent with their brand through an easy to understand layout, a welcoming design, and trustworthy information for their valued customers.