As a product design leader, my contributions led to a significant improvement in the customer journey. We reduced the time for customers to receive a flooring price estimate from 2 weeks to 5 minutes. The success of our initial launch contributed to Streem and Lowe's Innovation Labs renewing their $5 million partnership agreement for another year.
Industry
Retail
Client
Lowe's
Platform
Mobile
Year
2021
Define
Problem
The quoting process for flooring purchases is cumbersome. Before a customer can replace their floors, they need to know how much material they will need. Currently, their only options for getting the dimensions of their space are to schedule an in-home consultation or measure the space themselves. The time between initial interest and receiving an estimate can be several days, sometimes weeks, and taking measurements yourself can be difficult.
Solution
An innovative AR Measurement tool that helps customers purchase materials for home improvement projects. By giving customers the ability to measure their homes on their own we have reduced the time it takes to get an estimate from weeks down to minutes. We are excited to expand this solution from a simple quoting tool to an immersive shopping experience by adding photorealistic 3D models in a future iteration.
Discovery
Competitive Analysis
When entering a new space it is important to understand the landscape of existing solutions. By testing competitor apps we identified strengths and missed opportunities. The feature analysis I completed helped us scope the initial release and communicate priorities to the client.
User Flow
By designing a user flow diagram I was able to give the team a shared understanding of the entire process. This document helped us drive towards the desired outcome while reminding us of areas where users were likely to experience difficulties.
Validate
User Testing
In the first phase of the project, we decided to test several different methods for room scanning. I outlined a research plan to ensure each participant had a consistent experience. We presented them with a scenario, had them scan their room, and then conducted a short interview.
Iteration
After we completed all of the sessions my UX teammate and I reviewed the session recordings and identified trends. I compiled the top insights into a research report. We provided recommendations for ways to address each problem area. We choose to move forward with a hybrid approach that combined the best aspects of each scanning method.
Design
Initial Mocks
As a team, we narrowed down the sketches to a few promising directions. I used the sketches as a reference to create mock-ups in Figma. Creating Ul for augmented reality can be challenging because you need to ensure the interface elements are visible on a variety of backgrounds. As a part of my 2D mock-up process, I also created 3D assets for use inside the scene. During this phase, the goal was to get something in front of users as quickly as possible.
High Fidelity Mocks
Through iterative design and user testing, I refined the Measure your space experience based on valuable feedback from customers, making targeted adjustments to streamline the workflow and enhance overall usability. By incorporating UI polish and visual design elements, I further elevated the experience, creating an intuitive and engaging interface that effectively guided users through the space measurement process.
Floor Plan
Once a customer had scanned their room our app would present them with a floor plan. Inspired by traditional architecture drawings I created an interactive visual aid that would give users confidence that they had successfully scanned their room. The customer could use the square footage estimate to calculate the amount of material needed for their home improvement project. Our SDK was seamlessly integrated into Lowe's app allowing customers to add products to their cart and check out the way they normally would.
Results
Launch
On March 10th, 2022 the Measure Your Space feature launched inside Lowe's iOS mobile application. It was incredible to see my work featured prominently in the app of a Fortune 50 company. This was an enormous step forward toward the long term vision of spatial commerce. The gamified experience not only made scanning fun but was also a practical application of augmented reality. I am very proud of this project and was grateful to get the chance to work on the innovation team.
Awards
The Measure Your Space experience won Best Consumer App at the 2022 Auggie Awards. We also won the innovation award at the Lowe's Tech Vendor Summit.
Reflect
Collaboration
The team structure at Streem fostered healthy cross-disciplinary collaboration. Leaders from Engineering, Product, and Design were involved in every phase of the decision-making process. Our engineering manager provided guidance on what was feasible while outlining the strategy for building a scalable solution. Our product owner established a clear vision and prioritized work that would result in business value. My UX teammate and I advocated for the user to ensure what we were building was intuitive and solved a customer problem. It truly was a team effort and this launch would not have been possible without the talented individuals who made up the Streem and Lowe's team.
