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AR and customer experience: Warby Parker and Zenni Optical

by Amy King
Our final case study about how emerging augmented reality technologies affect the customer shopping experience focuses on eyeglass companies Warby Parker and Zenni Optical. Each retailer offers an option to virtually try on glasses. This helps shoppers determine which frames suit them without visiting a store.  Zenni Optical Zenni’s website displays a “Try On” option...
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AR and customer experience: CB2

by Amy King
Continuing our series on augmented reality and its impact on how people are shopping, we now look at CB2 furniture. CB2’s AR works on selected items in its inventory and allows the customer to preview a piece of furniture in their space, an ability that more than 57% of those who had experienced AR requested....
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AR and customer experience: Benjamin Moore

by Amy King
In a previous post, we discussed AR and its potential to create entirely new shopping habits. For our first case study, we will discuss how paint companies like Benjamin Moore have utilized AR so that customers can virtually test different colors of paint in their homes and offices, making endless trips to the store for...

“It is much more relaxing to flip through (color decks) this way than standing in the store.”

Customer experience So, how does the Color Portfolio app impact the customer experience? As one reviewer pointed out, it allows customers to test and match multiple colors in their spaces, leading to a more informed purchase decision: “It is a bit clunky to use at first but once you figure it out it’s a great...
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How AR is impacting consumer shopping habits

by Amy King
Reaching consumers wherever they happen to be has been more important than ever in recent years. While online shopping has grown exponentially over the past decade, returns and negative reviews have followed suit—presenting a product accurately online has its limitations. Enter Augmented Reality, a way to test how a product will work on your walls,...
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Gutenberg is ready for prime time!

by Eric Baldoni
When the Gutenberg editor was first released most developers (and users) reacted with confusion at how different the time tested familiar editor view had changed. The UI is definitely still not user friendly upon first contact, and can frustrate users who have spent years using the classic editor. However, now almost three years later it...
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The Issues With Instagram’s New User Interface

by Sara Hamidi
As technology advances and social media continues to evolve, platforms are constantly adding features and changing up their user interfaces to adhere to the needs and desires of their stakeholders. However, society tends to resist change, and Instagram’s new shopping feature has faced a lot of backlash from its users.  Prior to the addition of...
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Spotify Vs. Apple Music: Whose UI is Best?

by Sara Hamidi
The rivalry between Apple Music and Spotify is a battle that music-lovers fight about everyday, but what exactly makes these two music streaming platforms so powerful, yet so different?  One of the key differences between these two platforms is the music player interface itself. While Spotify utilizes a dark background, Apple music goes with an...
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Designing for Accessibility

by Sandhya Iyer
The Interaction Design Foundation succinctly summarizes the importance of accessible design: “A design is only useful if it’s accessible to the user: any user, anywhere, anytime.” People often think the need for accessibility is only targeted at people with disabilities, but really, it’s just about making sure that anyone can understand, interact with and contribute...
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5 Tips to Stand Out in the Competitive Online Shopping Sphere

by Sandhya Iyer
Due to lockdown restrictions, many people have shopped online more in the last few months than they have their whole lives. But even during non-pandemic times, the ease and convenience of online shopping is often just too good to give up — does anyone really like to scavenge through clothing racks or wait in line...
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The Complement of Repeat Business

by Khaiersta English
If you’re working as a designer, chances are you’re working for clients. Your clients may be in-house departments or different companies. Either way, the dynamics are largely the same. If you do a good job listening, creating, and delivering solutions for clients, they will pay you back with repeat business, testimonials, and referrals. If your...
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Five UX Design Books to Add to Your Reading List

by Khaiersta English
In the world of user experience design, there are many approaches to solving design problems. Depending on how you gained your education and experience in the field, you may prefer one approach or another. I find it is helpful to read about other people’s experiences and approaches to solving design problems. Often, opportunities present themselves...
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Designing Better Forms, A Top 10 Guide

by Khaiersta English
In digital product design, forms are a necessary evil. Whether you’re designing a registration flow, checkout experience or settings page, forms allow you to collect data from the end-user. There are fundamental best-practices you can use when putting forms together, which will help users process requests more quickly, increase data entry accuracy and increase your...
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SVGs: Vectors for the Web

by Khaiersta English
When working on visual design for the web, choosing the correct image format is essential.  The rise of responsive design, mobile devices, and high-pixel-density displays have made this process trickier than ever. When working with photography, and 3D imagery, JPGs and PNGs are still the best formats to use. Saving images up for 2x to...
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How to Quickly Evaluate Browser Compatibility for New Web Technologies

by Khaiersta English
When designing for the web, designers and developers are often tempted by new technologies. Recent advancements such as embedded fonts, parallax scrolling, JS animation, SVGs etc. have had varying levels of cross-platform support. Depending on the requirements of your website or application, browser support limitations may become a deal-breaker to including modern UI/UX advancements. Can...