Weft — Luxury Rug E-commerce
Weft is an e-commerce platform designed for high-income, design-conscious consumers seeking luxury rugs. The project focuses on creating a refined and user-friendly shopping experience with intuitive navigation, robust filtering options, and rich product details, ensuring customers can confidently invest in statement pieces for their homes.
Role
User research, competitive analysis, prototyping, usability testing, UI/UX design, design system, art direction, brand design
Tools
Miro, Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator Duration
2 months
Problem
High-income, design-savvy consumers seeking luxury rugs face challenges in finding rugs that meet their aesthetic, high expectations in quality, and lifestyle. Existing e-commerce platforms often lack the sophistication, tailored browsing tools, and detailed product information needed to help these customers confidently invest in a statement piece for their homes. This project aims to address these gaps by designing a refined, user-centric platform that aligns with their values and expectations.
Solution
The solution is a thoughtfully designed e-commerce platform that combines a visually aesthetic interface with intuitive navigation, robust filtering options, and comprehensive product details to simplify the rug selection process. Weft emphasizes luxury while highlighting the importance of sustainability and customer values. The goal is to build trust and provide an engaging experience that allows users to feel confident in their purchase. Iterative usability testing ensured that the platform met user expectations while aligning with the brand’s artistic and sophisticated identity.
Users + Audience
Weft’s primary audience consists of high-income, design-conscious individuals aged 35–50, with a user base predominantly composed of women (72%). They are discerning shoppers who take interior design seriously and are willing to invest in high-quality rugs as a statement piece for their homes. These users value aesthetics, craftsmanship, sustainability, and an intuitive shopping experience that simplifies their decision-making process.
Discover
To better understand Weft’s target consumers, I employed a variety of research methodologies. A competitor analysis provided insights into industry strengths and weaknesses, highlighting opportunities for differentiation. User interviews helped uncover customer preferences, motivations, and decision-making processes when purchasing luxury rugs. Additionally, affinity mapping allowed me to visually organize and analyze qualitative data from these interviews, identifying key patterns and pain points that informed the design strategy.
Competitor Analysis
Through a competitor analysis of brands like Nordic Knots, The Rug Company, and Revival Rugs, I identified gaps in user experience, such as limited filtering options, insufficient product visuals, and lack of transparency around sustainability. These insights informed opportunities to differentiate the platform by emphasizing intuitive navigation, rich product storytelling, and a stronger alignment with the values of eco-conscious, design-savvy consumers.
User Interviews
I conducted four one-on-one user interviews with design-conscious individuals aged 35-50 to understand their needs, frustrations, and decision making process when purchasing rugs. Key insights revealed that the majority of users want to purchase from a company that aligns with their values, such as sustainability, traceable natural materials, and ethical labor. They also value good customer service and care about the reputation of a brand. When it comes to rugs specifically, users want a unique design that reflects the tone of their room. User pain points include not knowing what a rug will look like in their space, being unsure of the true color of the rug, and worrying about the durability of a product. The lack of transparency and detailed product descriptions or reviews often hinders their confidence in making a purchase.
Affinity Mapping
I used affinity mapping to synthesize insights from user interviews, grouping common themes such as preference for natural materials and the desire for sustainability information. This exercise helped prioritize key design opportunities and informed the creation of features that resonate with users' values and needs.
- What do they want? Users want a durable rug that reflects their ideologies and visually completes their space.
- What do they prioritize? They prioritize unique designs, quality and comfort and have a preference for natural materials.
- What do they think about sustainability? Consumers try to make the most informed decision they can while factoring in variables like carbon footprint, chemicals used, and fiber content.
- Where do they get their inspiration? Architects, design publications, instagram, interior designers.
- What does luxury mean to them? Sophisticated materials and patterns
- What are some of their pain points? Visualizing the rug in space, durability, size, and color accuracy.
- What makes a good company? Transparency, good customer service, a good reputation, and good return policies.
Define
At this stage, I synthesized user insights and refined the project’s scope to ensure a clear, user-centered direction. Empathy mapping helped visualize how users think, feel, and behave, providing a deeper understanding of their needs. I then developed a persona to represent a typical Weft customer, allowing me to design with a specific user in mind. Finally, user journey mapping identified key touchpoints, motivations, and pain points throughout the shopping experience, ensuring a seamless and intuitive path to purchase.
Empathy Mapping
I created an empathy map to deepen my understanding of the target audience; focusing on what users say, think, feel, and do during the rug shopping process.
Persona
I developed a persona based on user research to represent the target audience, focusing on a design-conscious, high-income woman in her early 40s who values quality and sustainability. This persona helped guide design decisions by keeping the user's motivations, frustrations, and preferences at the forefront of the design process.
User Journey Mapping
This activity allowed me to visualize multiple paths of the end-to-end experience of purchasing a rug. I created various user journeys imagining how different types of consumers would shop.
Ideate
During the ideation phase, I brainstormed and sketched multiple design concepts, exploring different ways to improve navigation, product presentation, and user interaction.
Initial Ideas
- Filtering and Sorting: Ability to sort by style, size, color, room, new products, or shop all.
- High Quality Images: Showing photos of the rug in space and also close ups of the rug texture.
- Sample Swatches: Option to order sample swatches of rugs to ensure color and texture.
- Sustainability Focus: Highlighting eco-friendly materials and production processes prominently on the product page to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.
- Room Visualization Tool: Allowing users to virtually place rugs in a room using augmented reality (AR) or a room layout tool to visualize how the rug will look in their space.
- Customer Reviews and Ratings: Showcasing user-submitted reviews to help build trust and authenticity around product quality.
- Personalized Recommendations: Using AI to suggest rugs based on previous browsing behavior, helping customers find products that match their taste and style preferences.
Site Mapping
Design
Wireframes
In the wireframing process, I created low-fidelity prototypes to map out the website’s core structure, focusing on intuitive navigation and streamlined user flows. This allowed me to experiment with layout options and gather early feedback to refine the design before progressing to higher fidelity stages.
Wireflow
Brand Identity
App Name
I chose the name ‘Weft’ for my site because it reflects the artistry and craftsmanship inherent in rug making. A “weft” is the horizontally running yarn on a loom. The name evokes a sense of tradition and quality and hints at the creative process behind every rug.
Vision / Mission
Weft’s mission is to provide luxurious, sustainably crafted rugs that elevate interior spaces with artistry and craftsmanship. By blending timeless design with eco-conscious materials, Weft aims to create pieces that not only enhance homes but also contribute positively to the environment
Brand Attributes
Creative, artistic, sophisticated, sustainable, conscientious, comfortable, and luxurious
Style Guide
Color Palette
The color palette was chosen to reflect sophistication, elegance, and timeless luxury while ensuring that the rugs remain the star of the show. The neutral shades of soft grays, deep charcoal, and crisp white create a refined and modern aesthetic, providing a clean backdrop that allows the rich textures and intricate designs of the rugs to stand out. This minimalist approach reinforces Weft’s commitment to quality and craftsmanship.
Typography
Roboto was chosen for its modern, versatile, and highly legible design, ensuring a seamless and accessible user experience. Its clean lines and balanced proportions provide a contemporary yet timeless feel, complementing Weft’s sophisticated brand identity while keeping the focus on the rugs.
High Fidelity Designs
Test
Usability Tests
Two rounds of usability testing were carried out, with each round consisting of four distinct tasks. These tasks were crafted to evaluate the user-friendliness of essential functions, including ease of browsing, effectiveness of filters, and value of trust building features.
Findings
Input gathered from the tests led to several design iterations. Each round of testing uncovered crucial design insights.
- Users wanted more responsiveness from the site upon hovering over images and navigation bar. Resolved by dimming images upon hovering and adding a line under the headers in the navigation bar.
- Users noticed a “dead end” on the product page. Resolved by adding a “load more” or suggesting other products.
- Users wish for product reviews on page. Resolved by adding product reviews.
- Users wish home page was more dynamic. Resolved by adding slideshow on home page.
- Users thinks contrast could be higher for some text. Resolved by dimming background further or placing solid background behind text.
Iterations
Home Page
Users felt the homepage lacked dynamism, so I implemented a slideshow to create a more engaging and visually compelling first impression.
Navigation Bar
I added a subtle underline effect on the navigation bar upon hovering, providing users with clear visual feedback and enhancing navigation intuitiveness.
User Responsive Design
I implemented a hover effect that dims images while increasing text and background contrast, improving readability and ensuring a more accessible, user-responsive design.
User Reviews
I incorporated user reviews to enhance credibility and build trust, providing potential buyers with firsthand insights into product quality and customer satisfaction.
Avoiding Dead Ends
To ensure a seamless browsing experience and prevent users from reaching a dead end, I added a "Load More" button at the bottom of the page, allowing for continuous exploration without overwhelming them with too many products at once.
Conclusion + Takeaways
Challenges
During this project, I encountered several challenges, including balancing luxury with usability to create an aesthetically pleasing yet intuitive shopping experience. I wanted to communicate Weft’s commitment to sustainability in a way that also highlighted the quality and craftsmanship of rugs without taking the focus away from the rug. Iterating on design elements based on user feedback while maintaining the brand’s identity was a constant balancing act that was rewarding once accomplished.
Lessons Learned
- The importance of user-centered design: Listening to user feedback early on and often helped guide design decisions and ensured that the platform met user needs. Especially when it came to ease of navigation and clarity of product details.
- Effective communication of brand values: Successfully conveying the brand’s commitment to sustainability and craftsmanship required concise messaging that aligned with the consumer’s values.
- Iterative design is key: The iterative process of wireframing, prototyping, and testing revealed that user preferences and pain points could evolve over time. Users think they know what they want, but it could change when they’re actually going through the online experience. Being flexible with my design allowed me to continuously refine and improve the product.
- Visual presentation is critical for e-commerce: Consistent high-quality imagery was appreciated. As were multiple views of the product from far away and close up. This helped users feel confident in their purchasing decisions.
Next Steps
Moving forward, I would continue refining the website based on insights from the second round of usability testing, ensuring a seamless and intuitive shopping experience. Enhancing product visualization tools, such as interactive room previews or augmented reality features, would help users confidently make purchasing decisions. Additionally, I would explore strategies to further communicate Weft’s sustainability efforts, such as storytelling through blog content or highlighting artisan craftsmanship. Finally, I would test and optimize the checkout process to reduce friction and improve conversion rates, ensuring a smooth end-to-end experience for customers.