Context

So, back in July 2021, I applied for a UX/UI design internship position at marketing agency. The test they gave me was, to put it nicely, very short: “Create an e-commerce for dogs and cats products. Identify the category and subcategory products. Audience: Pet owners What to design? You need to design the home screen, categories screen and product screen. Touch points: Design for desktop and mobile Focus: Put your focus on the UI design, amaze us with your visual skills for digital products”.

After three long days, I had handed in my test. Two weeks later, I was joining as a UX/UI design intern. I was pretty happy. But I was constantly thinking about specific parts of my test, things I felt I could have done better, as we are all guilty of feeling about one’s work. I decided to challenge myself and put in to practice what I had learnt so far on the job. So here it is.

The original project

I will quickly go through the first part of the test, which really involved setting up the foundation of my actual design: research, testing, and information architecture.

Brief and client

I personally needed to have a “face” for this project. We don’t design in isolation, so I wanted to make this project as real as possible. So I picked a local non-profit organisation in Barcelona that helps dogs and cats get adopted or who are in need of a foster home. So, The Paw Portal became my client. As a non-profit organisation, they wanted to start a business in which they can sell locally-made, sustainable, and cruelty-free products for pets. Their aim is to make a profit that will help them keep running the organisation.

Research

Benchmark. I wanted to know how other companies with e-commerce websites go about sustainability, as well as, how they structure their websites.

Personas. Since I had very limited resources, I based my persona on friends and acquaintances.

Information architecture. To address the categories for the e-commerce, I started by selecting the products that were going to be included, and came up with the categories. I tested this structure and then iterated based on feedback.

Wireframes

One thing I didn’t have time to do properly were low fidelity wireframes. I had sketched my ideas on paper and then jumped to the actual design. This time, I wanted to be more thorough and define key user flows, like adding products to the cart and the checkout.

Visual design

I decided to keep the playful theme of my previous UI. I put my illustration skills to good use and tried to make this website have a more unique personality. The colour palette also helps emphasise the playful theme.

Iconography & illustration

As part of its unique UI, I also created icons and assets for this website to use in their category sections. I even went as far as turning these illustrations into components in Figma and made it accessible to the community.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for reaching the end. I truly enjoyed going back and see how much I have learnt in these few months. And in the end, it’s what it supposed to be about: learning, improving, and iterating. And repeat.