Nominated for UX Design Awards📣

〰️

Nominated for UX Design Awards📣 〰️

End to End App

Kilana: Connecting Online Shoppers & Sellers

Kilana is a comprehensive app designed to bridge the gap between shoppers and small local online businesses.

The platform helps shoppers discover and support these businesses through a social commerce experience that facilitates social engagement, promotional activities, and event notifications.

This design project has been nominated for the UX Design Awards! *The official public announcement is set for January 16th.

Team: Lead UX Designer (My Role) and UX designer.

Tools: Figma, Survey Monkey, Miro

A comprehensive app that bridges the gap between shoppers and sellers by creating a platform tailored to the needs of both.

For Shoppers: An intuitive app that allows users to discover and support small, local businesses.
For Sellers: An all-in-one solution to sell products, promote their brand, and connect with their community and customers seamlessly.

Design Outcome

Market RESEARCH & Survey

Target Audience: Small business owners (local artisans, food vendors, etc.) and primarily Millennials and Gen Z (users on Instagram, Etsy, etc.)

Our surveys included 15 participants.

Insight on Shoppers:

70% of shoppers (20- 40 yrs) prioritize local and sustainable shopping.
75% shopped and shared on social media.
Over 75% are willing to pay more for sustainable products.

Insight on Sellers:

Over 90% reported experiencing burnout, with 80% attributing it to the demands of keeping up with social media and algorithms.
Over 65% attended events to promote their work in person.
100% reported using Instagram or other platforms as a tool to promote and communicate with their customer base.

Problem Analysis

After conducting the research on the two target groups I learned that:

Shoppers want to shop sustainably and support local businesses but struggle to find them because there is no centralized way to discover local online sellers.

Small businesses struggle to connect with local communities due to limited resources and visibility, often facing burnout from juggling multiple platforms for sales and promotion

Key Design Solutions:

An all-in-one app that enables users to shop, sell, connect, and discover local events.
A proximity feature that enables users to discover small local businesses or markets within their vicinity.
An Eco-friendly badge for sellers who utilize sustainable products or packages.
An improved algorithm that prioritizes business owner needs rather than social engagement.

User Personas

ARCITECTURE & USER FLOW

After completing the research, my partner and I worked on brainstorming by exploring user flows, information architecture, and creating a feature roadmap. This helped us to identify key features necessary to create a successful product.

Final Design Decisions

Given the app's comprehensive nature, we carefully analyzed competitors, market research, and usability test results to inform our final design decisions.

Home Screen

Seller Stories- Enable users to be notified of events and updates.
Events Near You- Displays a list of events and markets occurring within the user’s vicinity.
Posts/Feed- Enables sellers to promote, communicate, and share new products to their followers.

Seller Profile

The profile is organized into four categories for easy navigation:

Posts: Showcases all the posts shared by the seller with their followers.
Shop: Lists all currently available products for purchase.
Events: Highlights upcoming events the seller is participating in.
About: Provides details about the seller’s background, additional social links, and any key information they wish to share.

**Note: “Shop” and “Events” will be hidden if the seller doesn’t have a product to sell or events to attend.

Explore

The explore screen enables users to discover businesses using a variety of filters:

Proximity Feature: Users can set their location and range to find businesses nearby or in distant areas.
Visual Content: Engaging videos and images of posts and products helps users discover exciting new businesses.
Tags: Useful tags streamline shopping and browsing, making it easier for users to find exactly what they’re looking for.

I genuinely enjoyed working on this project and I’ve gained valuable insights into the challenges faced by both sellers and shoppers. These learnings have inspired me to design solutions that could help alleviate their struggles and bring more balance to their lives.

Future Plans for the Project

Kilana is a project I believe has significant potential to bring value to users. My partner and I are committed to continuing our research and refining the concept. We aim to eventually build the platform with the help of a development team.

In the short term, we plan to conduct additional usability tests to gain deeper insights into user needs. Our future vision includes expanding the platform's capabilities, particularly around event exploration, to create a more robust and user-focused solution.

REFLECTION

NExt Project

App Feature Integration

Venmo: Adding a Group savings Feature.

Redefining savings by utilizing community interactions to foster better savings habits.

Case Study