Minerva - Shuruthi's Portfolio

Category: Web design

Team count: 5

Year: 2020

Roles: Research, analysis, ideation, wireframing, design and testing

Duration: 1 month

Minerva is an inclusive digital marketplace for students to sell their art, give more purpose to their creative abilities, display their proficiency, and share experiences. The aim was to help our users produce creative work that can be recognized, sold, and give their customers assurance of quality.

Problems

Our team of five came together to solve the following problems: 1) Students have platforms to showcase their hobbies but are unable to earn. 2) They lack marketing and logistic skills but have an audience on social media. 3) Students cannot consistently produce work to sell because of other commitments.

Research

This phase was about discovering the problems, circumstances, and opinions of our target audience.

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As part of the research, a survey with 101 student responses, 5 focus groups, 9 personal interviews and 4 expert reviews were conducted. Apart from that secondary research to get a better understanding of the topic.

Surveys

Students can benefit from working part-time and are shown to have better grades.

Many people were willing to buy student-made products if the quality was assured.

Students want to get good constructive feedback for encouragement.

The story of the work is important as it helps people connect with the product.

The monetary angle has been a driving force for students wanting to improve.

Quality, price and need were the three main things that the buyers sought.

Focus group

Students who spend valuable time on non-academic projects want to get good constructive feedback for encouragement.

Most students who want to sell intend to set a price for their work that's very affordable yet compensates them for their effort.

Many claims that earning money is not the first priority. Acknowledgement, support and appreciation is.

Some students tend to hesitate when putting their work out for others to see, as they worry about how good the quality is.

If buying from a student, the product should have aesthetic appeal and be useful.

Interviews

Students believe people around them will have positive reception for their artworks when sold. Emotional support motivates.

Most believed that competition will help them improve their skills, experience and other things.

People don't want to spend so much. Some were willing to spend around Rs.500- Rs.1000.

If products are intriguing enough, buyers would like to be involved in the process of promoting that student’s product.

Expert review

There was a scope for merchandise around digital illustrations.

A hobby-based platform requires an aspect of community as learning cannot take place in silos.

Students put in a lot of hard work in what they do. Credits and recognition for great work are something that they deserve.

Ideation

Insights from all the research methods that we undertook for our project have to turn into ideas. Ideas can come out of a simple spark but that spark might not fly high if it has no backing. All out insights and ideas were categorised as follows:

USP

Cheap prices and affordability

Gamification of selling

Knowledge-driven e-commerce platform

Student-driven commerce

Priorities

The ideal price range of Rs100-500.

A clear talk with the seller for onboarding.

Merchandising for proven sellers.

Quality, price and need should be focused.’

Experience

Exploration should seem like an exhibition.

Tags awarded to buyers for their support.

Students can collaborate with experts.

Commission-based work for flexibility.

Marketing and Business

Testimonials by relevant people.

Put relevant infotainment content.

Referral system to bring people on board.

Small businesses can also be buyers.

Business Model Canvas

The work we had done so far had some merit to them but they were all in theory. We made this canvas to get an idea about how this app will work out if it is out there in the market.

Site map

Based on the various ideas that we had on the basis of insights, we conceptualised various web pages different pages that can embody the purpose of buy, selling and learning.

Design

The team started drawing out the ideas for different screens and layouts on paper, followed by the digital output of the same. This also gave clarity to the comprehension of each member since we were connected online.

First paper and low-fidelity wireframes were made to get a broader picture and quickly iterate on the features and screens. Then further refinements took place to build the visual design of the platform.

Home Page: We have designed the homepage in a way that it gives the visitors an idea about all the different facets of the website. — **Home Page:** We have designed the homepage in a way that it gives the visitors an idea about all the different facets of the website.

New Arrivals: A moving sideways carousel that showcases all the new arrivals on the platform like it is a launch of a museum. — **New Arrivals:** A moving sideways carousel that showcases all the new arrivals on the platform like it is a launch of a museum.

Product Listing Page: Have a look at all the artwork presented to give the feel of an exhibit. — **Product Listing Page:** Have a look at all the artwork presented to give the feel of an exhibit.

Product Page: All the important information about the product shown in a glance. — **Product Page:** All the important information about the product shown in a glance.

Shipping: The user flow for the selection of the delivery speed for the user as per their convenience. — **Shipping:** The user flow for the selection of the delivery speed for the user as per their convenience.

Knowledge Center: For the sellers, this page provides them with scope for learning as they improve their hobby. — **Knowledge Center:** For the sellers, this page provides them with scope for learning as they improve their hobby.

Artist Page: Get to know about an artist and their work to commission to connect with them. — **Artist Page:** Get to know about an artist and their work to commission to connect with them.

Shopping Cart: Add items that you want to buy and you can make customization to your order. — **Shopping Cart:** Add items that you want to buy and you can make customization to your order.

Commission Listing: Look at the list of artists who are available for commission-based work for interested buyers. — **Commission Listing:** Look at the list of artists who are available for commission-based work for interested buyers.

Merchandise: Choose a digital illustration from the product listing and have it printed on a medium of your choice. — **Merchandise:** Choose a digital illustration from the product listing and have it printed on a medium of your choice.

Testing

For the usability testing, we gave our testers a scenario that could help them get into the scenario for the user for a real interaction and outcome. We planned tasks for the testers. The following are some of the tasks we gave them

Tasks

Gifting an ocean painting

Buying a cat-themed illustration T-shirt

Show your love with the Lord of the Rings Bookmark

Photograph for the chai lover

For each task, we built a scenario for the user to get into. The following is an example for the task “Gifting an ocean painting”:

“You forgot all about your friend’s birthday in two days, you were panicking thinking about a gift, then you remembered she just moved into a new apartment and was searching for small canvas-wrapped paintings to decorate her new place. She loves the sea as a theme. Order her a gift from Minerva. Remember buying through UPI gives you a discount.”

Insights

Some of the insights were as follows:

The layout of the product page is different from a normal e-commerce website product page which is breaking the flow of information in the linear manner of size, medium, buy now and add to cart.

The same chai photograph was found on different screens- offers and photography. The participant who reached through offers attained success while the ones who came through photography ended up with an unclickable chai image.

More emphasis on the view favourites button-through size or colour, as the pop-up is small and on the corner.

“Commission Order” - some participants included the merchandise part under this category, whereas, in reality, it comes under “print it”. Changing the wording to “connect with artist” might help.

Users clicked on the print it option even after coming to the illustration product page. So, basically, it confused the user and dragged the attention to print it rather than buy. Solution - print it option can be inactive after coming to the illustration product page, that option can come right next to the illustration option, and the wordings of print it can be changed.

Key Takeaways

In this project, we explored and tried out many different ideas. This project helped us understand that improvements are possible at every stage. We learnt through our mistakes in the project but at the same time, the explorations helped us widen our horizons. I personally explored UI and the trends during the time(over the lockdown), and enjoyed trying to make an exhibition come to life on a screen.