House2Home
Designing a decor starter kit experience that helps people bring their ideal aesthetic to life.
The challenge
Decorating a new place can be exciting, but it can also feel stressful and overwhelming. With thousands of home decor options available online, many people struggle not only to find pieces that match the aesthetic they envision while staying within budget, but also to combine those pieces into a cohesive look.
House2Home is an e-commerce home decor brand exploring curated decor starter kits that are each designed around a specific aesthetic. Instead of selecting individual products and hoping that they work well together, users can discover bundles of coordinated items and styling guidance that help them confidently create the atmosphere they envision.
This project was completed as a modified version of Google Ventures 5-Day Design Sprint, a rapid design framework that is used to explore problems, ideate numerous solutions, prototype, and validate ideas with users.
Day 1: Problem Mapping
The first day of the design sprint focused on understanding the problem and mapping the user journey. Research revealed that many people already have a clear vision of the aesthetic they want for their home, but struggle to translate that vision into specific decor choices that work well together. The decorating process quickly becomes overwhelming due to the number of decor options available online, and budget constraints make it even harder to know where to begin.
To better understand the decorating experience, I created several end-to-end journey maps outlining how users might approach decorating their space and how decor kits could alleviate some of the stress that comes with that process. The maps highlight how users move from having inspiration for a certain aesthetic and various ways House2Home can help navigate users to ultimately selecting decor kits that help them achieve a cohesive atmosphere while staying within budget.
Map 1
Map 2
Map 3
Day 2: Sketching
The second day focused on generating potential layouts for the selected route identified on day 1. I reviewed home furnishing sites, such as Wayfair and IKEA, to get inspiration on different website formats that have the same users.
After gathering sufficient inspiration, I completed a Crazy 8s exercise to quickly explore multiple layout ideas for what would be the critical screen of the route. From these ideas, I selected the strongest layout concept and created a 3-panel storyboard. This illustrated the core user journey from discovering the starter kit, reviewing the kit details, and adding the kit to the shopping cart.
Day 3- Decide
Day 3 focused on deciding the type of flow to move forward with. I chose to move forward with an inspiration-based starter kit flow, as it best leveraged the user’s existing aesthetic while simplifying the process of choosing cohesive decor within a budget.
I expanded the selected concept from 3 panels to a full storyboard that mapped the core user journey from landing on the House2Home homepage, discovering what a decor kit is, browsing starter kits, reviewing the kit details, and completing the entire checkout process.
Day 4- Prototyping
On Day 4, I built a realistic prototype based on the storyboard created on Day 3. Using Figma, I designed a high-fidelity desktop experience of House2Home that simulated the key user journey.
The prototype included all core screens needed for testing: Homepage with a starter kit feature, collections page of starter kits, product page of a decor kit, cart, checkout, and order confirmation. The goal of this prototype was to evaluate whether the layout and curated UI elements of each screen helped users understand the starter kit concept and feel confident purchasing a decor kit.
Day 5- Test
On the final day of the design sprint, I conducted usability tests with 5 participants who regularly shop online and had experience decorating a new home or apartment within the last five years. Each participant was given the same scenario and asked to explore the House2Home prototype to browse decor starter kits in an attempt to purchase one.
Overall, participants found the concept and flow easy to understand. The “How to Style” and “In this Kit” were helpful to the majority of the participants, as they helped users visualize how the items could work together in different rooms, which increased confidence in the kit. Some users also mentioned that the “Complete this Look” section was appealing and stated that the options matched their desired aesthetic, making them want to purchase more items even if they were outside of their original budget.
However, these usability tests revealed a few areas of improvement. Multiple participants hesitated when trying to locate the “See More” button on the homepage to browse additional decor kits, suggesting the button was hard to find. Some users also suggested some improvements to the checkout flow, such as adding a second address line for apartments and suite numbers, and displaying an order number on the confirmation page.
Iteration
After conducting usability tests, I identified several opportunities to improve clarity and reduce friction within the user flow. Based on these insights, I refined several areas of the House2Home design.
The majority of participants hesitated or struggled to identify the “See More” button to browse additional decor kits. To improve discoverability, I made the button more visually prominent and repositioned it to a more intuitive location.
Participants had also suggested improvements to the checkout process. I added an additional address field and made a clear distinction between billing and shipping addresses. The confirmation screen was also updated, now displaying an order number and a message informing customers that a confirmation email has been sent to them.
Reflection
This design sprint demonstrated how quickly ideation, prototyping, and usability testing can validate important design decisions. Testing confirmed that users easily understood the concept of decor start kits and that features like “In This Kit” and “How To Style” helped users visualize how the items may come together in different rooms within their household.
Future improvements for this project would include adding a reviews section on the product page so users can view real feedback on the kits. As well as creating a “saved items” or “hearted” section on the main menu to help users revisit and compare options. These improvements would build trust and further reduce friction in the decision-making process.