Information Architecture • UX Design • Pattern Development
The Big Picture
Volusion provides SaaS ecommerce platforms and web design services for SMBs. The senior leadership team saw an opportunity to provide the same services to the enterprise market. Starting from scratch, product design, product management, engineering, and the marketing organization worked to build a state-of-the-art experience.
Design Process
Requirements gathering and co-creation
Information architecture, sketching, wireframing and pattern development
Prototyping and internal testing
Interaction design and documentation
The Challenge
Most enterprise ecommerce platforms were old and outdated, with antiquated technology stacks. A handful of large companies dominated the market, so there was not much competition or incentive to innovate. Their user experiences were clunky, complex, and lacked elegance. Volusion’s product leadership saw this as an opportunity to transform the enterprise ecommerce space.
Collaborative Ideation
Aggressive timelines led us to work collaboratively with product managers and engineering teams from the start. Gathered together in a large room, the product managers provided business requirements. Collectively, we sketched out rough ideas guided by our engineering teams’ input on technical opportunities and constraints. The design team would then iterate through concepts and bring them back to the cross-functional team for review. We iterated quickly using this approach.
Information Architecture & Pattern Development
Context Switching Framework
Mozu enabled customers to manage multiple sites and product catalogs under one account, which required a complex state management architecture. I worked collaboratively with another designer on the architecture.
Patterns & Behaviors
We quickly recognized the need for a design system to help us build quickly and meet our aggressive timeline. The work was divided among our small team. I was responsible for data grids, product forms, product images and a handful of other patterns.
Wireframes
Developer Center Framework + API Documentation
A key part of the Mozu platform was the app marketplace. The Developer Center was critical, exposing our API documentation and providing tips, tutorials and quick starts for third-party developers. I designed the framework, Information Architecture and the user experience of the developer center, working closely with the engineering team and product managers to understand features and constraints.
User Management + Store Management
Mozu allowed customers to manage multiple sites and users. Managing roles and permissions across sites and users required handling some complex scenarios. I was the sole UX designer responsible for user and store management platforms.
Theme Management + Theme Editing
Mozu supported ecommerce website themes. Users could purchase themes or create their own. They could also modify colors, images, layout and typography.
The Outcome
When the product finally launched, we had 9 large customers and a number of partnerships with third-party platforms to develop apps to integrate into Mozu. Ultimately, the platform was purchased by Kibo Software.
