Role:
Information Architect
Tools:
Balsamiq
Optimal Sort
Slick Plan
Duration:
3 months
For a class on information architecture, we had to redesign
“Foodie Fanatic”, a new specialty cooking franchise which was launching its online store.
While Foodie Fanatic possesses great content it’s current information architecture strategies overwhelm users. In particular, Foodie Fanatic aims to address the following issues:
1. Navigation: Users experience difficulty navigating and accessing information which leads to attrition.
2. Content: Foodie Fanatic offers rich content; however it is not well structured and connected to other relevant content.
3. Engagement: Users desire immersive experiences where they can learn about and participate in events that match their interests.
We were provided with the user research findings which included - Customer Needs, Customer Profiles and Verbatims from User Interviews.
1. Product Research/Purchase:
This need involves seeking out particular products either for purchase or to research before purchasing. Customers may want to purchase the product via the website or in a Foodie Fanatic brick and mortar store.
2. Recipes and Instructional Content:
This need involves looking for instructional content to assist with food preparation and/or using food-related tools.
3. Local Events:
This need involves looking for events at a Foodie Fanatic store to learn about food preparation, taste new food, watch a celebrity chef cook, or meet others interested in food.
Via previous market and demographic research, Foodie Fanatic Market Research has identified four target customer profiles:
Based on the user interviews, most users:
After analyzing the customer profiles, we created 4 personas and identified their primary needs.
We used card sorting to understand how the users classify the existing content of the website to achieve the primary user goals.
Foodie Fanatic’s customers should be able to locate content online according to their specific and evolving interests. Improving information layout and navigation, and serving up related content according to customer interests will improve Foodie Fanatic’s online experience.
Using the feedback from card sorting and previous user testing, we redesigned the sitemap.
We designed wireframes for both the website and a mobile application. Given below is an annotated taxonomy for the Home Page and the Shop Page.
Taxonomies were designed to classify various items on the website & understand hierarchal relationships. For example, given below are the taxonomies for the cook, shop, learn and engage pages. A tagging taxonomy was also designed to make search more efficient.
Let us look at the new Foodie Fanatic website from Nichole’s point of view. Nicole is always on the move and wants recipes for quick and easy meals. She could navigate to the Cook section and then look for breakfast recipes. She could also search using tags like quick, easy, kid-friendly.
If Nicole wants to shop for a cookware set, she could navigate to the Shop section and then look for cookware sets under the cookware subsection. She could also search for the same using filters for materials, durability, etc.
