Crafting a More Enjoyable Painting Experience.
Client
Partnership with Behr
Focus
UX/UI Design
Role
Collaboration with 1 designer
Timeline
10 weeks
Overview
Home painting projects can feel exciting and rewarding when they're complete, but more often than not the process can be incredibly overwhelming and cumbersome. Partnering with BEHR and a student research team, the goal of this project was to create a more intuitive and user-friendly painting experience through a solution concept that would integrate seamlessly into BEHR's existing company structure.
Outcome
A redesigned mobile application concept for BEHR, positioned as a personalized guide to accommodate for different users with unique goals and skills. The app concept highlighted key new features based on user research, including methods for inspiration saving, color selection assistance, and supply estimations.
My Process
Research & Discovery
Define & Synthesize
Ideate & Validate
Design & Refine
Research & Discovery
What are the challenges and unmet needs for users who paint?
We partnered with a research team who collected qualitative research data through both primary and secondary research methods.
Raw data from the research team was then presented to our design team for analysis and synthesis.
Research Methods:
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Qualitative 1-on-1 Interviews
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In-Home Observations
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Secondary Desk Research
Addressing the Gaps
While the needs-based qualitative research was thorough and insightful, we felt we were still missing a solid understanding of current solutions on the market to address home painting challenges.
We conducted a competitive analysis of existing digital and physical solutions, focusing on features and functionality of leading paint brand mobile applications.
Define & Synthesize
Where in the journey are the biggest pain points & how can we address them?
Understanding user emotions associated with painting-related tasks.
Journey Mapping
Understanding the Workflow
What are the chronological steps a user takes throughout the painting process? By mapping out the step-by-step workflow, we were able to pinpoint where key decision moments and pain points happen throughout the journey.
Defining Key Needs
Based on analysis of the home painting experience, we identified 3 opportunity areas to directly address challenges and pain points users are experiencing:
Why an App?
While we explored physical solutions as well, we ultimately decided that a mobile-focused app would be best suited to address the opportunities outlined above. Users working on painting projects are constantly on the move, and need a guide through various phases of the process.
Because Behr already has an app infrastructure in place, building upon an existing platform would have the opportunity to create more impact with a lower initial lift.
Ideate & Validate
Translating Ideas & Opportunities into Concepts
Initial concept generation for UI design based on four major identified steps in user workflow.
Concept Ideation
Concept Refinement
We established 3 overall design directions to uniquely address user needs.
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A scoring matrix was used in order to quantitatively compare the three proposed concepts. Selection criteria was chosen based on established user needs extracted from research.
Which Direction?
Concept Ideation
Initial concept generation for UI design based on four major identified steps in user workflow.
Concept Refinement
We established 3 overall design directions to uniquely address user needs.
Which Direction?
A scoring matrix was used in order to quantitatively compare the three proposed concepts. Selection criteria was chosen based on established user needs extracted from research.
Design & Refine
Designing a Compelling & Creativity-Inspiring Interface
User Interface Overview
This UI kit was designed to be engaging and creatively inspiring while maintaining a clean simplicity for users.
Feature Breakdowns
Reflection
Key Takeaways...
The Outcome
Overall, this app concept addressed the major challenges users face when it comes to tackling a home painting project.
By positioning the Behr app as a personalized guide throughout the entire process, we were able to incorporate key features including inspiration saving, tools for color selection, and supply estimators to accommodate unique user needs for guidance and advice throughout the process.
The customized setup during login allowed for a tailored app experience for each individual user based on unique experience levels and goals.
What I Might Do Differently...
A few things that I learned from this project or would keep in mind for the next time around...
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Establish more defined user personas early in research synthesis to identify groupings of user motivations and goals.
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Test design concepts with end users to get feedback before moving forward with refinement.
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Develop a clear information architecture and workflow for final concept.
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Create mockup prototypes to develop interactions and test functionality of the concept.
