LISA ZANGERL
PRODUCT DESIGNER & MANAGER
Wayfair Registry
In 2016, Wayfair, an e-commerce company selling furniture and home goods, wanted to expand its product to include a registry site. The goal was to create a unique experience for users to create and manage a registry of Wayfair products. This new product would need to be built for all platforms including desktop web, mobile web, tablet as well as the iPhone and Android apps. We started by focusing on desktop/mobile web.
Platform: Web, Tablet, and Native Apps
Role: UX Designer, part of a team of 3 UX designers and 4 visual designers
Skills: Competitive analysis, user flows, information architecture, collaboration, wireframing, user testing and prototyping
Visual Design by Saige Cavayero & Adam
Web Design Process
Starting with competitive research, I looked at several online registry websites to better understand the registry landscape. This research was then provided to the team to use in our joint application design (JAD) sessions.
These JAD sessions, involved all stakeholders, UX designers, visual designers, developers, and engineers getting together to define the key features of the registry experience. I led three of the JAD sessions and white-boarded all our ideas which were then translated into hi-fidelity wireframes for user testing.
Registry Web Design
Along with three other UX designers, we created wireframes for the key pages in the registry experience. I participated in the mobile web and desktop designs from January to March before moving on to the app registry designs. The Wayfair Registry officially launched in August 2016.
Registry on App
The Wayfair registry experience on the app was going to be an integrated experience on the current Wayfair app instead of a separate stand-alone registry app. Working with another UX designer, we were tasked with defining the access point for the registry experience and providing navigation for 40+ pages which included a quick way for users to navigate back to the regular Wayfair app.
App Process
Using the designs from mobile web, I created a sitemap for the app experience to define the overall structure of the experience. I then worked with the other UX designer to identify the areas where the app experience would differ from the mobile web experience. We created multiple wireframes for each registry feature to align with the mobile web design as closely as possible. Next, we conducted research and competitive analysis to determine where to add the registry access point and how to add new registry specific navigation to the current Wayfair app.
Screenshot from the Wayfair App
Visual Design by Stephanie Sohn
Final Direction on the App
After multiple design explorations and iterations, we decided the registry navigation would be a tab on the Wayfair app homepage. We also created a unique navigation menu for the registry experience. The menu includes "Registry Management", "Browse Gifts" and the Wayfair icon, which would take the user back to the Wayfair app.