Welcome to TheCozyKiln! A responsive website for a fictional pottery studio.

User Research

Affinity mapping

Empathy Map

Emma needs a way to easily compare pottery classes, instructors, schedules, and pricing because she wants to feel confident in her decision before investing time and money in a new hobby.

Competitive Audit

Identify industry standards, usability patterns, and opportunities for improving class discovery, booking, and beginner accessibility within pottery studio websites.

• Users want pricing and schedules to be immediately visible before committing to a class.

• Instructor profiles are critical because users want to know who they are learning from.

• Student galleries help build confidence and demonstrate potential outcomes.

• ‍ ‍None of the competitors fully combines transparent pricing, instructor transparency, student success stories, and simple booking

The competitive audit revealed an opportunity to create a pottery website that prioritizes clear pricing, accessible schedules, detailed instructor profiles, and student success stories while maintaining a simple booking experience. By combining the online learning platforms, the website can better support users throughout their decision-making process.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A3addXuWe2Pktl5UpkRqrtiVbMtUiTkpdyyosFBj1I0/edit?usp=sharing

How might we help users quickly compare classes?

Wireframes

I created various paper wireframes for both desktop and mobile applications. I starred the best features of the wireframes to create the most accessible screens

Moblie Lo-fi Prototype link

Desktop Lo-fi Prototype link

I conducted a moderated usability study on both prototypes. I had three participants follow an array of tasks and gathered insights based on their ease of completing tasks.

Insights showed:

• Navigation labels were intuitive, it allowed users to quickly browse class offerings.

• Instructor profiles increased confidence and helped users feel more comfortable.

• Users need clear indicators of skill level.

After the usability study, I concluded that users want as much customization as possible. To accomplish this, I added a section to the private lesson page so that users can explain exactly what they want to learn and what they’re looking for.

It was made clear that users like having plenty of information before booking a class; to help with this, on the review page, I added what class each reviewer took.

DESKTOP PROTOTYPE LINK

I conducted a moderated usability study with three participants. Each participant was asked to complete a set of prompt tasks while going through the hi-fi prototype and was then asked questions about that task (e.g., how easy was it to complete?). Technical issues were discovered and quickly fixed.

Insights show:

• Users quickly identified the primary call-to-action.

• Transparent pricing increased confidence.

• Users appreciate customization.

• The booking flow felt straightforward.

Final Thoughts

Every design decision -from simplifying navigation to highlighting instructor profiles and student galleries-was informed by user research.

Through designing TheCozyKiln, I learned that successful service websites are built on trust as much as functionality- through research it shows users want to know exactly what to expect before booking a class.

If I were to continue developing this project, I would expand the screen size variations for more devices as well as adding waitlist notifications and user account for managing upcoming classes.