Problem

Lack of hijab shops can’t keep up with the high demand

The demand for hijab is very high, women are always going outside to work, doing groceries or taking kids to school. Lack of hijab stores in general creates a challenge for a large population of women.

•  Limited Variety- Regular clothing stores sell few summer or winter scarves.

• Store Closed- The Covid-19 pandemic prevented women from going to the store to buy hijab. 

• Few Web shop- There are few online hijab stores available. 

 Discovery

Validate the problem, end users and project goals

Research- Empathize and understand the user’s problem

In order to confirm that women face challenges when shopping online, I conducted research by performing surveys and interviewing women who wear hijabs.

Recruiting Participants

I performed a survey to assess demographics of the user. I sent the survey through social media. I asked if the participants are interested in an interview on the survey. I chose participants based on the following criteria,

• Users aged 20-60, female, wears Hijab

• Use web and mobile services regularly (3+ times a week)

• Own a smartphone

• Have at least one credit card (financial independence) 

Interview

I have 8 participants who were interested in being interviewed for the project. I chose 5 participants, and I scheduled the interview invitation through Calendly. I conducted a direct one-on-one interview with 5 participants to understand their pain points and behaviors toward buying hijab from online to confirm my hypothesis and to proceed with the UX process to create the app.

 Who are the users?

Presentation of the persona

I felt it was important to create a persona to showcase the end user because this app is targeting a unique demographic who might be unfamiliar to some people. Hence, I present my persona:

• Mrs. Nur Jahan is a working mom who likes to wear pretty hijabs that empowers her and boosts her confidence.

• She is always looking for new hijabs to match her outfits.

• During the pandemic she needs more hijab as she washes them more frequently for safety.

• She struggles to find good online hijab stores where she can find varieties of fashionable and comfortable hijab.

 Wireframe

I developed wireframes using Figma. I conducted Usability Testing and based on the feedback, I added the quiz page on the wireframe. Listing below features of the wireframe:

• Quiz- Simple and easy to understand the questions and the answers to help users find the exact hijab that they prefer.

• Search & Filter Flow- Capability to filter or search any specific hijab that the users want.

• Dashboard & Product page- Grid style dashboard page and thoroughly detailed product page to give users a clear idea about the product.

• Register & Checkout-Quick check out process with guest checkout option.

 Validation

Solution Scalability

In this step, I performed the usability testing and integrated the users comments into the design. These steps were very beneficial to make the app user friendly.

Usability Testing

I interviewed 5 participants by asking them to try using the prototype of the designed app. I asked them to take the quiz and to purchase a hijab. I addressed the issue and integrated them into the app design. 

Feedback Integration

• I thought that having categories in the dashboard will solve the problem of finding hijab quickly. After the test, I realized that was still one of the main concerns. Users may take a long time to browse through categories from the dashboard to find the right hijab. Sometimes that may lead them to become indecisive, and in some cases they may end up not buying any hijab. So, I created a simple quiz page that asks users some basic questions and that recommends some hijabs that they may be interested in. 

• The users were unable to read text that was on a dark background. This is a minor issue that can have a major negative impact on the usability of the app. If users cannot read text on the app, they will be discouraged from using them. I fixed the issue by adding a layer behind the text that makes the text easy to read.

• The users did not like the fact that they could choose only one answer from the quiz when they preferred both. So, I added the “both” button in the suitable answers giving users the freedom to choose more than one option.

 Conclusion

What's the Next Step?

It was interesting to see that the users' feedback was mostly pandemic centric, and women needed more hijab during this crisis. So, the design emphasized on coming up with a solution in the dark time that addressed the users problem. 

I wish to email a couple of brands the prototype to see if they are interested. I have confidence that the brands will like my design because I have prioritized the user in every step of the design process.

Reflection

This Springboard capstone project helped me to build an app that targets a unique group of people. Being a woman who wears a hijab and struggles to find the right hijab, I really enjoyed building the app. 

Going through the journey of the UI/UX process, from the research to usability testing, every step was very valuable to create an app for the user. I really enjoyed creating the app and I am happy with the result.