Putting Feet on the Street
By: David Lee Lawrence Mcdonald
Tags: Design Thinking, Design Process, User Experience, Design, User Experience Design

Overview

In 2019, around 1.92 billion people purchased goods or services online. E-retail sales surpassed 3.5 trillion USD worldwide. In the same year, the United States imported 2.47 billion pairs of shoes. Less than 20% of U.S. consumers were shopping for footwear online. The marketplace has changed in many ways since the onset of the COVID pandemic. Still, these numbers tell a story of people’s attraction to brick and mortar sneaker stores. This curiosity is what I set out to address in this project.

Through initial research, I found many interesting things particular to the sneaker industry. One of the most fascinating ideas is the way sneakers trade as what some would call a commodity. Sneakers have moved out of the realm of normal footwear and into the domain of tradable goods. Armed with this information, I set out to create FeetStreet. This is an e-commerce site that would allow users to buy and sell sneakers in a virtual marketplace.

Project Details

I developed FeetStreet as my final project while studying UX Design at Devmountain. The timeline from start to finish covered four weeks. There were no restrictions on the tools available. Included in my arsenal: Figma, Sketch, Adobe, Google Forms, and Post-its for card-sorting.

As the sole designer on this project, I covered every role in each step of the process. I conducted all the research, from literature analysis to interviews and user testing. I also designed the project from paper wireframes to a final high fidelity prototype.

The Problem

In the current environment, there are vast opportunities to improve e-commerce systems. While online shopping is becoming the norm, people still distrust sharing their information. Their distrust is even deeper when using a new and untested platform. This was a big consideration when ideating towards a solution.

Research and analysis showed that many people talk about the stock market and sneakers in the same manner. Buyers and sellers track the highs and lows of the targeted product. They are not looking for the best deal but how to maximize their investments. This would be another guiding factor in the design of FeetStreet.

With this information in hand I was ready to start addressing the problem and forming a solution. I wanted to use design principles to create a trustworthy and functional site. My site would encourage sneaker fans to buy and sell online.

The Process

I kicked off the project by doing some research into the sneaker niche. During the literature review I discovered several interesting factors. Most articles showed that sneakers are no longer just a product but have become a commodity. The sneakerhead community have turned shoes into an investment. Athletes and celebrities have further perpetuated the trend. And with the wide variety of sneakers available there is an investment for everyone.

While browsing the literature, several well known sneaker sites kept coming up. I would use these sites in a competitive analysis. For the most part, each site followed the same basic design: products displayed in a grid pattern with filters to the left. Yet, there are many opportunities for improvement. How to display results and categories, and information architecture were among the top.

Considering my findings, I put pen to paper. I spent a great deal of time running through different iterations. While feeling out different design concepts, I decided to conduct some surveys and interviews. I wanted this data to solidify my ideas for what the product should be and how it should function. Some of the things I looked for: how do people shop for sneakers? what is most difficult about online shopping? and what makes a memorable shopping experience? A big concern was sizing for different brands. Physical stores give customers the capability to try before you buy. A comprehensive size guide would help encourage online purchases.

During the initial design phase, I started developing personas. Because the site would encourage buying and selling I decided to create two personas. Having a persona for each flow allowed me to focus my process. It was easier to make decisions about the buy flow when walking in the buyer’s shoes. The same goes for the sell flow. The two personas also guided the usability testing setup. This thought process uncovered the need to distinguish between new and used products.