The Great British Pop Up
empowering independent brands and makers
About the Great British Pop Up
The Great British Pop Up (Part of the Great British Exchange) is an initiative to join local UK independent brands with luxury retailers in a symbiotic relationship. With Covid reducing in-store sales, the G.B.E focuses on bringing in footfall to local stores, curating unique and specialized products weekly featuring start up brands.
Our focus was to help launch a quick and painless signup and pop-up management system for all parties involved: the independent brands, luxury retailers, and the GBE team coordinating all.
Team
My Role: UX/UI Designer (Team of 3 Designers)
Client: Great British Pop Up (2 Product Managers)
Timeline
August - September 2021
Total: 5 Weeks
Tools
Figma, Miro, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
The Problem
As the middle man, the Great British Exchange (GBE) managed all pop up requests manually via e-mails from both independent brands and luxury retailers. However, this is overwhelming and difficult for the team to manage.
For Retailers: The Retailer needed to set up how much space they had available to host weekly- approving brands matching their retail parameters.
For Brands: Each independent brand needed a way to apply to multiple locations and keep track of where/when they are approved. Brands needed to have a hub of paperwork, calendars, and training manuals.
The Goal
Our goal is to implement a signup user flow and improve the dashboard experience for both brands and retailers, alleviating pressure on the GBE and streamline communication for all parties.
“How might we streamline the application process for brands through the dashboard and streamline communication for GBE?”
”How might we help independent brands manage their listings and match to retails within their specified parameters?”
Process
Discovery
(Empathize + Define)
Stakeholder Interviews
Secondary Research
Competitive Analysis
Ideate
User Flows
User Journeys
Sketches
Prototype + Design
Wireframe
Low-Fidelity Prototype
High-Fidelity Prototype
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Test
User Testing
Collaboration
Iteration
Discovery
Stakeholder Interviews
We were able to speak to one of the GBE managers in charge of the current booking process, along with review the in-progress Dashboard with the Developer, playing around in a sandbox environment to experience.
User Priorities for Brands
Browse and book rentals with partner retailers.
Review their booking confirmations and ensure all paperwork is fill out paperwork accordingly
Manage inventory and sales reports from each Pop-up
User Pain Points
Sign Ups and Bookings are currently done manually with a a third party member from GBE communicating for Brands and Retailers. Sign Up and Management of each Pop-Up is dependent on the GBE’s Workload.
Brands do not have a quick way to browse openings or view eligibility for time slots or special events.
Brands are often unprepared as checklists and requirements may be different at each retailer. Forms and reminders are sent via GBE and can be missed if there are too many e-mails. There is no centralized place to manage all tasks.
Secondary Research/
Competitive Analysis
The team reviewed three different competitor platforms and focused in on each site’s strengths and weaknesses. We then reviewed the findings with our client to help focus in on our own project.
Ideate
User Flow + Site Map
After user interviews and competitive analysis, we used Miro to create user flows- To understand better how this site would work, I created a user flow of Airbnb, a site with a similar parallel system as Hosts and Guests needed to be able to review bookings.
After reviewing the Airbnb user flow with stakeholders, our team split up the wireframes. My focus was on the Brand Sign Up, Booking Process, and Dashboard overview. Team members worked on more In Depth Dashboard management and the Retailer sign up overview.
Independent Brand Sign Up User Flow
Great British Exchange Site Map
Airbnb User flow Study
Brand Booking confirmation and Dashboard Application Overview
Prototype + Design
Wireframes
To visualize the user flows, I then moved on to sketching wireframes. Due to time constraints of the project, I created wireframes by sketching digitally. The team started working on red routes of Brand Sign up, Dashboard, and Retailer Sign up. After quick review with our stakeholders, we conducted some guerrilla usability tests to quickly discover any pain points, inconsistencies, or confusion.
Sign Up + Booking Overview
Landing Page
Dashboard Version 2
Listings Page
Sign Up Accreditation
Booking Page
User Testing Wireframes of the booking process
Guerilla Usability Testing Findings with Wireframes:
Key Takeaways:
For Brands to upload documents, there should be individual upload buttons per document rather than a single upload button.
Add a finish sign-up screen-
Users were unsure if they had completed as there was no confirmation.
Be clear of what a provisional booking is versus final booking
GBE requests you to put a hold on a time slot, but Brands will not get charged until they are approved.
Dashboard- Add a “New User” tutorial as there are a lot of different sections.
Dashboard booking status bars are overwhelming with too much information-
With this main consensus with five users, we re-worked the screens to be more manageable below.
Style Guide
After discussing the feel of the site with the stakeholders, we were able to create a moodboard and style guide based on their thoughts. The main focus was to keep the Brands calm and looking forward to the next steps of their journey. We wanted to keep a playful attitude with the imagery chosen, and went with the mood of Tranquil Empowerment.
Testing
Hi-Fidelity Prototype
At the High Fidelity prototype stage, we were able to work on a first round iteration, test with users and stakeholders for feedback, and emerge with a design that resolved the frustrations Users faced. We were tasked to create a easy sign up, booking, and dashboard for Brands.
Check out some user testing videos fo the Brand Sign Up, Dashboard, and Booking!
Brand Sign Up Process
Hi-Fidelity Prototype Usability Testing Results and Key Takeaways
User Feedback
Users tested wanted to be able to sign up as quickly as possible- we were able to re-work the screens to be more visual and quicker to navigate.
Users now understood where to check their booking status- However, the dashboard at first glance was still very overwhelming to the user.
Brands are happy that they can browse and manage their own bookings from start to finish rather than contact a third party for each step.
Users thought it was easy to search and browse listings at their leisure
Due to the timing aspect of the project, we passed along to our stakeholders the following comments for future updates
Some dashboard wording was confusing- testers were not sure what to find under “documents”.
Due to the dashboard being overwhelming, an added tutorial will be great to showcase how to use it.
Add a “favorite” feature as brands are browsing for spaces to rent, along with a “recently viewed” feature.
Review the Forms and information architecture of the dashboard as the needs are still changing
Focus on the Retailer sign up and dashboards- We built the bones for this project, but did not focus on this for the MVP
Add SMS reminders for checklists and notifications
Project Improvements
To show the updates in visual design, comparisons of the original GBE site to the updated GBE site were made. A/B testing was done to see how users felt with each version, and to ensure our design choices improved the user experience.
Challenges and Learning Points
As this was the first time working with stakeholders through a five week period, making sure we had a realistic deliverable in the timeframe was difficult
In the future, I’d like to talk to stakeholders about user interviews earlier- Due to holiday period in the UK, we were unable to speak to a few brands. I would continue to iterate and go through feedback from a larger group of users.
As the entire system was currently done via e-mail, the existing Dashboard was just a work in progress that was only used as a sandbox. We had no data based off the original dashboard, and therefore built ours from scratch.
Working through several iterations of the landing page allowed the stakeholders to realize that they did not want a high-end website, but something fun and inviting instead. We would not have been able to land on the current design without working through the multiple different versions.
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