5 Minute Blinds is an Australian ecommerce website that sells custom-made blinds and curtains. The website was founded by James, who had a simple idea to create a marketplace that helps potential customers find blinds and curtains that meet their needs.

I was involved in this project as a UI/UX designer. I helped James design the ecommerce platform from start to finish, from the initial brief to high fidelity. I enjoyed working with James because he has a deep knowledge of his products and cares about the needs of users.

With a user-centered design approach, I designed the 5 Minute Blinds e-commerce platform to meet the needs of customers. As a result, potential customers can easily find blinds that meet their needs, in terms of size, color, material, and features.

I also designed various features that make it easy for users, such as customization features, visualization, personalization, and easy guidance.

With a user-centered design approach, I am committed to providing a pleasant and satisfying user experience.

The initial failure to understand the brief and user problems is the main cause of product failure. Therefore, I conducted a deep understanding process of the brief and user problems. In addition, I also conducted discussions with stakeholders to gain a broader perspective.

Based on the project brief and discussions with stakeholders, I found some key things to consider in designing the 5 Minute Blinds ecommerce platform.

User Problems

• Difficulty in finding the right blinds
• Confusion with the wide variety of product and brand options
• Difficulty in imagining the blinds that will be installed
• Doubts about the quality of the product and the ability to install
• Difficulty in placing an order

Business Problems

• Many competitive competitors in the market
• Difficulty in attracting attention and building customer trust
• Not yet able to convince customers of the quality and specifications of the product
• Difficulty in measuring and interpreting demand preferences

To align the fundamental understanding and process data, I made a user journey map to see the critical points of the user and consider the business decision-making of 5 Minute Blinds.

In ecommerce design, it is important to pay attention to the right strategy in order to meet business goals. One strategy that can be applied is to prioritize the ease, speed, and confidence of 5 Minute Blinds customers.

By continuing to take a UCD approach in determining solutions, several key solutions were agreed upon through lengthy discussions with James, namely:

• Providing customization capabilities to align preferences with interpretations through product visualization.
• Offering easy product search
• Facilitating customers to compare prices with other brands
• Providing a complete and clear product catalog
• Making product personalization
• Providing product warranty to prove quality
• Providing complete and clear installation instructions

Ideas without action will have no impact. Therefore, it is important to design effective solutions that meet the needs of 5 Minute Blinds users and businesses.

In designing the solution, I followed the following steps:

• Analyze and evaluate the problems faced by users and businesses.
• Design a solution framework.
• Create low-fidelity designs to test concepts and ideas.
• Create high-fidelity designs.
• Conduct A/B testing to compare different versions of the high-fidelity designs.

In the A/B testing:

• I considered using illustrations or images to display product specifications when users customize and also in the guide section.
• I created two different versions of the high-fidelity designs to test both options.
• The results of the A/B testing showed that the version with illustrations was more effective.

After designing the solution, I conducted testing to ensure that the solution was effective and met the needs of users.

The first test was conducted using heuristic evaluation. The results of the heuristic evaluation showed that the design of the 5 Minute Blinds e-commerce platform had several problems, such as:

• Product information on the product category page was too minimal.
• Product filters were still incomplete.
• The feature to see product texture was not clear.
• Users were not sure when the product would be shipped.
• Color variants with more than 6 options looked cluttered.

Based on the results of the heuristic evaluation, I iterated on the design of the 5 Minute Blinds e-commerce platform. The changes I made include:

• Adding product specifications and characteristics information.
• Adding manufacturer filter parameters.
• Adding action instructions for using the texture detail feature.
• Adding product shipping estimate information.
• Adding the “more” color variant with a three-dot icon.

The second test was conducted using usability testing and design testing. The results of the usability testing and design testing showed that the iterations made on the design of the 5 Minute Blinds e-commerce platform had successfully addressed the existing problems.

5 Minute Blinds, an online business of curtains and blinds, has skyrocketed in 6 months since its launch. Thanks to the good cooperation, 5 Minute Blinds has achieved all the targets.

Here are some of 5 Minute Blinds’ achievements in the past 6 months:

• 5 Minute Blinds received 5-star ratings on Google, Facebook, and Trustpilot.
• 5 Minute Blinds was featured by media outlet AB Newswire as an innovative blinds brand in Australia.
• 5 Minute Blinds has become a new and competitive competitor in the Australian blinds product area.
• 5 Minute Blinds exceeded the initial sales target of 350 transactions.
• 5 Minute Blinds’ brand awareness has increased among customers who want quality curtains and blinds with a pleasant shopping experience.

I am happy and proud to be able to collaborate with James on the 5 Minute Blinds project. The good cooperation between us has proven to be able to produce impressive innovative products.

I believe that this collaboration will continue and will achieve even greater achievements in the future.