UI UX Case Study for Synergy

What is Synergy?

Synergy is an online renting, buying, and co-warehousing platform. It helps users find warehouses near them that can fit their storage requirements and budgets. While building this UI UX Case Study, it is important to first mention our problem statement.

Problem Statement

A lot of people in search of a warehouse find themselves at a dead-end while searching for a solution online. People often find places that are not reliable, have no proper registration/documentation or are not located close to them. Some users reported difficulties as the warehouse they liked did not have a flexible payment scheme, requiring them to pay the whole amount upfront with no option to co-warehouse it.

UI UX Case Study Solution

Synergy brings about the best of all features to enable users to find their ideal warehouse in their ideal budget without being worried about the legitimacy of the business or location. Want to buy a warehouse on flexible EMI? You got it. Don’t want to buy, but rent a warehouse? You got it. Have a budget crunch and don’t mind sharing the warehouse space with a monthly or annual payment option? You got it! All of this, with all documents of the warehouse seen upfront. We believe in total transparency.

My Role

Project Timelines

UI UX Case Study and Design Strategy

Synergy’s design strategy needs to showcase the value of our product and services and quantify this value to a goal. It also describes the steps we will take to achieve our goals.

Executive Intent

Creating an easy yet unique online platform for people who are searching for a warehouse to fulfill their business needs or to expand their needs is the direction provided by the executive team. The goal is to give users an opportunity to share a warehouse with other businesses so as to bring down costs.

Design Process

Discovery Phase

The discovery phase is a process to find out the user’s point of view, their frustrations, and their struggle so that we can fulfil their understanding. I have used two methods that contributed in addition to my own findings

Qualitative UI UX Case Study Research

I have interviewed 10-12 users in person to recognize their usage patterns and the process they follow in order to purchase/rent a warehouse. After analyzing the data from the qualitative research I was able to see an overview of problems that users have faced and what were their actual basic requirements. The questions that were asked included:

• What do you look for when you find a warehouse?
• Does location play a big role in your decision?
• Have you ever tried any online platform for purchasing/renting a warehouse?
• How was your experience on these platforms?
• Do you trust the authenticity of the warehouses that you see online?
• Have you had any troubles with payment options?

User Personas UI UX Case Study

A user persona is created to help understand things from the point of view of an actual user. Based on the above findings, I have created a user persona that is exclusive to Synergy and the business it offers.

Empathy Mapping

An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we know about a particular type of user. It helps us better improve our thinking to enable us to make better wireframes.

Journey Map

A customer journey map is a diagram made to demonstrate visually the user flow of an application. In the beginning, it is important to study multiple touch points and while we move forward, understand the complete process until payment is made. Feedback is also a vital role in a customer’s journey.

Ideate Phase for our UI UX Case Study

In the ideate phase, we will brainstorm and come up with the most number of ideas possible. The prime focus of this phase is the quantity and not the quality of the idea.

How Might We (HMW)

We will now focus on the HMW method. The HMW method or ‘How Might We’ process creates a case to arrive at innovative solutions by analysing existing challenges present in your product, service or initiative.

How might we make customers aware of our application?

By running a social media campaign or google ads on the same genre of applications.

How might we make warehouse searching easier?

We can add relevant filters for ease of search of warehouses as per a customer’s need.

How might we induce trust for online payment?

We can introduce trusted 3rd party payment options like GPay, BillDesk to reinforce trust for online payment.

How might we attract more customers?

• Give relevant search result which caters all kind of customers’ needs.
• Make the platform easy to use.
• Add documents that help verify the legitimacy of the warehouse.

How might we verify customers?

SMS OTP

How might we reduce the complexity of the app?.

We can make the design as simple as possible without creating clutter. This should persuade users into understanding that things are not as complicated as it is on other competitor platforms.

How might we add lower price options?

We can add monthly EMI payments & Co-Warehousing option.

How might we make our customer feel the least alienated on our platform?

We can add a ‘my profile’ section giving the customer access to all his details that he has added including enquires and transaction history.

How might we provide product information to the buyer?

• Add the exact location and area of the property and what is warehouse more suitable for.
• Give a description highlight the key features of the property and the location the property is situated at.
• Provide all the amenities present at the property.

How might we make the property more accessible to the interested buyer?

• We can provide a map integreation to locate the property.
• We can provide the phone number of the current owner of the property.

UI UX Case Study User Flow

A user flow is a representation of the path the user follows in a visual format, giving each and every step of the user from the entry point to the final ineraction made on the app.

Card Sorting & Information Architecture

Card sorting is a method used to understand and analyze the informational architecture of an application or a site. IA is visual representation for the users so that they know about all the features that can be explored within the platform so that they can find any of the useful feature with the utmost ease.

Design Phase

In the design phase, we use the knowledge collected so far to find as many possible solutions as we can find and also to find the most efficient, elegant and effective method to execute and bring in place those solutions.

Low Fidelity Wireframes

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High Fidelity Wireframes

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Test Phase

Usability Testing Usability testing is a method to evaluate the ease and user-friendliness of a design with the help of a set of representative user and their feedback. The application design evaluation was conducted with 3 users. Below are their effective feedback. Task provided: To book a warehouse through the app. Feedback Received is as follows :

• It’s very easy to use.
• l like the screen. It is very clean and has less clutter. Other apps are very confusing, but this I can use without any hiccups.
• The major cities shown upfront is a nice touch. I don’t have to go to settings or any place to change cities when browsing for multiple cities.
• l love the ease of use for this app. One suggestion, if there could be a filter for the area of the warehouse while searching, it would be a nice addition.
• The design is simple and very user friendly.
• Please make the whole property card tappable so that I don’t have to reach for the button every time.
• The payment options provided are so flexible and robust. It gives everyone what they want, be it rent, purchase, purchase with EMI or even co-warehousing. Co-warehousing supports a lot of small businesses like ours who can’t afford a full-fledged warehouse.
• Monthly payment for co-warehousing is like a boon, it gives a lot of flexibility to my business, where if I don’t like a place, I have the option to move out and find a new warehouse.

If you would like me to work on your UI UX Case Study, you can reach me on Twitter or LinkedIn. You can also find more information on my UX Tools here.