Overview:
Role:
OjaExpress began Redesigning its version 3 of the website during early July 2020. My goal as a product designer was to redesign the entire OjaExpress Homepage and make it more culturally inclusive and forward to make it presentable enough to pitch it to investors.
The Redesign for the mobile App began during September 2020. To look at my whole redesign process for the mobile app kindly click the button below.
Product Designer
Product Strategy, User Research, Visual Design,Prototyping and Testing
March 2020 - Present
I joined OjaExpress as a Product Design Intern in March 2020. We are a small and a growing team and I'm the primary product designer at OjaExpress.
Background
OjaExpress is an online ethnic grocery delivery service designed specifically for 1st and 2nd generation immigrants. At OjaExpress we aim to bring families, communities and generations together. As an international student myself, I could relate better to the users of the platform which gave me an obvious edge.
Our team for the website redesign project consisted of Arynn Nease who's also a designer and Basmala Ahmad who's the developer and Mr Fola Dada who's the CTO.
I joined OjaExpress as a product design intern as a part of a highly diverse team. Learn more about OjaExpress and our Team.
I mainly work alongside and under my supervisor Mr Fola Dada, who's also the CTO and Co-Founder of OjaExpress. I also work under Mr Boyede Sobitan who's the CEO and founder of OjaExpress for a different project.
Needless to say, my growth has been exponential the past few months, I've learned and achieved tremendously, some of my key achievements are:
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Implemented a Design Process
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Improved Usability across the platform
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Established a standardised Design Kit
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Established a standardised Design System
The goal of the redesign was to design a website that includes design aspects from various different cultures. We had to keep in mind that people with extremely different ethnicity, values and principles visit the website on a daily basis. I had to make sure that all of these people feel included. We wanted to incorporate culture and ethnic-specific aspects to the designs as much as possible.
"We wanted to design a platform that promotes cross-cultural experiences through food."
Onto the Redesign Process:
We started out by defining a style guide that represents OjaExpress, a lot of research went into the font, colour and element design.
Key Points from the competitive Analysis:
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Identified the competitors whose design systems place culture as the forefront of their product.
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Identified competitors in the online grocery delivery market, who successfully support and guide users through their platform
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Using this analysis, I hoped to learn which design practices can be best adopted.
Goals set for the Redesign
Culture Forward:
The design should highlight and celebrate the richness, uniqueness and complexity of each culture and cuisines.
Visually Engaging:
The designs should captivate the user and catch their attention. Pictures transcend language, I made use of maximum imagery to engage, inform and capture the user.
White-Glove:
The customers should have a personalised experience, catered to their needs. The design should also maximise ease of use and provide optimal support.
Understanding the users:
User groups:
1. 1st and 2nd Gen immigrants
2. International Students
3. "Foodies"/Food Bloggers
4. Professional Chefs
5. Anyone who has a penchant for cooking and food.
Statistics from preliminary research:
Over 60% of the users were above the age of 35. Many of them were not tech savvy, using modern or aesthetic elements to the website would just confuse them. I kept the design system simple and easy enough to understand using bold colors.
I also had to keep in mind that many of the users are first and 2nd gen immigrants which means English might not be their first language. I used simple language and avoided long paragraphs where it was unnecessary.
I also made sure a pictorial representation as well as a brief description of the item they were ordering was available. Many people who try different groceries from other cuisines might not exactly know what they're looking for. Understanding the ingredients would help them make an informed decision.
Onto the redesign
Experience 1: The Homepage
A simple clean design that highlights various cultures. The header image was chosen specifically to portray ingredients so that users are made aware immediately that this is a grocery delivery platform and not a meal delivery service.
Experience 2: Shop Popup
A popup that gets the details of the user's zip code, shipping method and their preferred shop. This page pops up as soon as the user begins their shopping .
Experience 3: Product Browsing
Once the user enters the details in the shopping popup they see the available products of that store. The product browsing grid had to be clean and not appear too cluttered. It is also vital to make the user aware of the cart minimum immediately.
Experience 4: Product Detail
Once the user clicks on a product, they're taken to the product detail page which displays all the necessary information of that product with clear visible CTA's
Experience 5: Cart Drawer
Once the user has added their item to the cart, the cart drawer is used for a quick skim through of their shopping experience. It shows all the necessary information such as the shop they're shopping with if they'd reached the minimum amount required, and all the products they've added.
Experience 6: Full Cart
A simple clean look for the full cart, that displays all the necessary information in a brief and succinct manner so that its easier for the user to go over their shopping, finalise and place the order. The user here is presented with 2 options, to checkout or to continue shopping.
Experience 7: Checkout
The checkout process has been made really simple, and the users also have the option to schedule their delivery.
Experience 8: FAQ
A frequently asked questions page.
Experience 9: Contact Page
A contact us page to reach the management quickly.
Experience 10: User Account
An account page for the user to view their account, payment and order details.
Experience 11: No Delivery
Unfortunately, we're not yet delivering to some of the areas yet...
Conclusion
Designing an e-commerce website really put things into perspective for me. It wasn't a simple task, simply because I was designing for entire communities that were so different from each other. I also had to keep in mind about the demographic of my users, most of them will not be technically sound.
I relaxed and enjoyed myself every step of the way. With the help of my supervisor Mr Fola Dada, who always pushes me forward and challenges me on a daily basis, I can definitely say that I've come a pretty long way.
I'd really like to extend my thanks and gratitude to both Mr Fola Dada as well as Mr Boyede Sobitan for providing me with guidance and courage and also for believing in me.
Thank you for taking out the time to read this, I really appreciate it!
To go through my redesign work on the OjaExpress Mobile APP, click the button below.
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