IKEA Store App (Redesign)
A graduate course project to redesign the UX/UI of a chosen product. Our team choose the IKEA Store Mobile Application.
Disclaimer: This redesign concept was created only as a educational exercise and is not an official redesign of the IKEA Store application.
Graduate Student Group Project
Role(s):
Team Lead, UX Designer and Researcher
Class:
Human-Computer Interaction for UI and UX Design
Winter Semester 2020
What is the IKEA Store App?
The IKEA store app acts as an in-store shopping companion. It allows users to browse products, find a nearby store, create a shopping list, discover deals and more.
The idea for this app is incredibly helpful, as an IKEA store can be overwhelming and a companion app makes for a valuable tool.
However, at the time of the project, review scores for the app were mixed. Reviews complained of bugs, limited functionality and overall confusion using the app. My team wanted to understand what issues users were having in more depth and what we could do about them.
The original IKEA store app as of Feb 2020
Exploring the issues
To understand the major issues, my team performed usability testing on the main functions of the app. These functions were broken down into three tasks.
1. Check the hours for your IKEA store
2. Create a shopping list with candles, a chair, and a table
3. Check if there are any deals on kids beds
Five testers, who all had visted an IKEA store in the past, performed these tasks and were rated on their success on a scale of 1 to 4 (1 being complete success, 4 being complete failure). After their tasks were completed, they also provided a short interview to give their general thoughts on the app.
Findings from testing
Check the hours for your IKEA store
We discovered issues with
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Predictability
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Observability
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Visibility
Average Difficulty Score: 2/4
A common issue was that users had problems initially discovering that they could tap the store button to get more information.
Create a shopping list with candles, a chair, and a table
We discovered issues with
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Understandability
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Error Prevention
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Multithreading
Average Difficulty Score: 1.8/4
Users felt the amount of information on the list screen was overwhelming.
The app lacks a shopping cart feature but many confused the list function for a shopping cart.
Many were also confused by the meaning of the iconography on the bottom before they tapped it.
Check if there are any deals on kids beds
We discovered issues with
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Predictability
-
Error Prevention
Average Difficulty Score: 3.2/4
Filter/Sort options were limited.
Offers on homepage were few and sale prices were unclear.
Ideation and Sketches
Our testing data gave us a solid foundation to address the observed issues with the original app. My team met multiple times to showcase our sketches for ideas on how to improve the design.
Prototype version 1
Made using Adobe XD, the initial version of the prototype addresses the issues found during usability testing. These include, but are not limited to:
Increased interactivity indicators for the store button
Simplifying the list screen information
Adding more clarity and options to the filter/sort function
Including labels to bottom bar navigation icons
Testing our design
To understand the current state of usability for our redesign, our team used three methods.
Think-Aloud Task Testing
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3 Participants
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Completed tasks in both the original app and the redesign
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Thoughts are spoken aloud throughout testing.
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Survey is given afterward
Remote Task Testing
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3 Participants
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Completed tasks using the original app and the redesign
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Survey is given afterward asking for encountered issues and usability rating
Heuristic Evaluation
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4 UX experts recruited
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Completed tasks using the redesign prototype
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Provided feedback on if our design followed usability heuristics
Final Design Changes
Feedback from all of our tests was very positive, but there were still many areas that needed improvement.
Some changes were minor, such as improving touch target sizes for buttons. However, two major changes were made to the prototype for the final iteration.
Multiple paths to achieve tasks
One significant alteration to the prototype was retooling it to account for the user’s need to complete a singular task multiple ways. For example, users wanted to have access to the “Deals & Steals” page from both the home screen and the product categories screen.
Onboarding to reduce confusion
Lastly, a prevalent piece of feedback found across all of our test types was the need for the app itself to provide clearer information on intended functionality. Specifically that the app was meant to create lists of items but not to directly purchase those items. To solve for this, we created a simple onboarding process to briefly highlight that intention.
Results and reflections
After users finished their task walkthroughs of our prototype, we had them complete a System Usability Scale (SUS) survey. A SUS score above 68 indicates an above-average usability rating. The average score for our redesign was 90. I feel this demonstrates that we completed our initial goal of solving for the usability issues the original application faced.
While I was not the UI designer on this project, many of my design concepts from the planning/ideation phase made it into the final version. I was also proud to contribute by gathering research data and by leading the team throughout the semester. Our team coordinated very well, and I believe it was a significant reason for the project’s success.