Amanda Parkhurst

Overview

In this example, you can see multiple stages of the project from the initial research plan to workshops, wireframes, usability testing and focus groups and ending in final client deliverables. 

The client wanted to launch a new app to alert their loyal customers when new shipments arrived at their stores matching the customers style preferences.  

Process

I began with a research plan outlining the steps I'd take to build this new experience.  The major components included a workshop with the main stakeholders, where we created key customer journeys, captured all of the desired features and then ranked them.  

Following the workshop, I outlined the results from the workshop and then began working on wireframes.  Once I had refined the wireframes through 2 rounds of review, I wanted to test the designs with users.  

I proposed a hybrid approach where I created paper prototypes and showed them to 2 groups of 10 users in a focus group setting.  I put the groups through a series of activities to find out order preference for screens, where there were problems with the design, and user needs that hadn't been previously discovered.

Featured App

The week the app launched it was featured in the app store as one of the Best New Apps.

Overview

Our site needed to display all hotels within an area, but give more prominance to hotels that were within the network.  

Process

I did a competitive and comparative audit to find the best examples of the elements present in typical search results featuring maps and lists.  I presented my findings and recommendations to the main stakeholders and we collectively decided on the scope of this project. 

I held a brainstorm session with the lead designer and developer on the project, so that we could talk through initial ideas and constraints.  From these sessions, I created wireframes that I presented to our stakeholders.

Gather Hoteliers Feedback

I wanted to get the reaction of our hoteliers on this new search functionality, so I created a high fidelity wireframe to determine if this met their needs and if they had any concerns.  We had hotels that were part of the Stash collection that needed to be featured more prominently than all other hotels.  I also wanted to make sure the best user experience was also achieved since if we missed the mark, then users would be less likely to return to the site.  

Overview

The Seattle Times wanted to redesign their home page since they felt it was outdated and didn't reflect the variety of news that was present on the site.

Process

To determine what areas should be present on the home page, I did a competitive audit of other major news sites in the US, England and Australia.  I then began to present each section to the stakeholders in the format of competitive audit findings and recommendations and wireframes showing how the Times content could be presented in each module.

After several months of going through this process, we had 5 different versions of the home page that we wanted to test with users.  I created a test plan and we brought in users to evaluate which design resonated with them and to uncover any usability issues.  

From the usability tests, we were able to recommend a final design and then worked with design and dev to bring it to life.  Much of the design featured in my wireframes is still present on the current Seattle Times home page.

Overview

The client wanted to redesign their career site since it had a very outdated look to it.  They felt it did not represent their current employees and would not be attractive to job seekers.

Process

After an initial meeting with the stakeholders, I created a research plan so uncover what the user needs were for the site and what features might be needed.  

I interviewed stakeholders and newly hired employees since they could tell me about their experience on the current site and also give me insight into other companies they had researched.  I then created a findings and recommendations report that I presented to EA and discussed next steps.

The next step was to bring the recommendations to life.   I met with the designer and developer that were working on this with me and we sketched out some screens and flows that would solve the problems that job seekers had on the EA site.  

Next, I created a series of annotated wireframes that covered the key areas of the career site and presented it to the stakeholders.  After 3 rounds of review, we had a set of wireframes the client was happy with and ready to move to design.  I continued to work with dev and design to provide guidance as they worked on the site. 

Overview

Target’s corporate site had a dated look and was not optimized for mobile.  They came to us to help them redesign their massive site into a responsive, user friendly experience. 

Process

Due to the amount of work that needed to be done, I was on a team of UX designers and we split the work up according to the site sections.  One of the sections I took responsibility for was the About section.  To ensure we were consistent with our designs, we established a template of common elements on pages, and a method for how the site would collapse at specific breakpoints.

 We presented to Target’s major stakeholders on a weekly basis for 6 months to gain feedback and to understand constraints on the finer details.  We had weekly internal meetings with design and dev to critique the work as well as to receive input/give input on the designs.

Once the site launched, we received positive feedback from the CEO of Target praising the work we had done.  It was also one of my more satisfying projects due to the trust Target placed in us to create the best experience for their users.  

Overview

Sephora had an outdated iPad and iPhone app that they wanted to add new functionality and create a more modern look. 

Process

Due to the large amount of work, we had a team of UX Designers working on the apps.  We split the work into sections and held daily sessions to work through design challenges and to ensure we had cohesive design patterns.

As I worked through each section, I would do a competitive audit of other ios apps to understand the conventions specific to other apps, and to also see where there were opportunities.

One of the interesting asks from Sephora was to create a unique way for their customers to search for new products.  Instead of the user searching on a specific item, I wanted to allow them to discover products they may not be aware of and be inspired to try something new.  The idea that I presented was to have a standard search for the user that knows what they want and to have creative search for the user that is browsing or wants to find product in a more creative way.  Creative search allows the user to search based on mood, occasion, or color palette.    The search results would then update as each selection is made to show a range of products that have been tagged with items such as party, red, and/or flirty, for example.

One of the other sections I focused on was the checkout experience.  I wanted to make sure this was smooth and intuitive so that we didn’t drop any users, but to also create areas where the user was delighted with the experience.  I recommended language and micro interactions that allowed the user to checkout easily, but also share their recent purchase with other like minded friends.  We had learned from the Sephora staff in their retail stores that customers would often want to share their latest purchase, so this is the reason this action was incorporated into the designs.

Overview

After watching the analytics for Stash users begin switching from desktop use to mobile use, I recommended we pursue a responsive site redesign.  Once we had the majority of the main screens completed, I ran 2 rounds of usability test.

Process

Since this project was on a tight timeline, we had not been able to do any user interviews prior to designing the site, so usability testing was key to determine where we had made incorrect assumptions and find any usability issues.

To begin, I created a research plan that outlined the scope of the usability test so all were clear on the type of data we planned to collect and to give development priority on which screens to have completed.  I then created a discussion guide for me to use as I moderated the test, and for the note taker to follow the flow of the test.

The first round of tests were on desktop only, which yielded a list of bugs and usability errors for us to correct.  After these were completed, I conducted a second round of test that were completed on the user’s mobile phone.  I wanted to see what issues might be unique to the mobile experience.

Following both tests, I created 2 findings and recommendations reports.  One report was sent to the stakeholders on the project to give them insight into what I discovered.  The second report was in spreadsheet format and was given to design and dev for them to fix bugs that were uncovered.