INTRODUCTION

What is Cotarde?

In a UX design case for a job interview back in 2020, I created an E-shop mobile app concept for Cotarde, an imagined profitable online cosmetics retailer. The objective was to design a simple checkout flow, providing an intuitive customer experience.

Scope

The scope of the project was originally to create a checkout flow for a fictional retailer in the cosmetics industry called Cotarde.

In order to take relevant design decisions I decided to expand the context with a more fleshed out background to the scenario and outline the different aspects that I felt were relevant to the task.

Deliverables

The main deliverable was:

Checkout Flow (UX/UI)

Checkout Flow

Preview

Method

To approach this, I first devised a comprehensive fictional background for the case, encompassing aspects like the company's history, industry, niche, future strategies and goals:

I then went on to explore a new quick visual identity for the brand. I wanted to capture the essence of mysticism and wonder. The colors are majestic, exclusive and mysterious. The logo gives associations to a rising fragrance.

The tagline "Which is your scent?" is intriguing and catches the core principle of the app, which is to identify and match the user's fragrance profile with suitable products. The typography aims to be modern, clear elegant and minimalistic.

The illustration with the woman and a box is a depiction of the customer experience I wanted to convey - receiving a magical box that knows your taste and passion better than you do.

This extensive groundwork provided a realistic foundation to guide key design decisions, ensuring the app's appearance and functionality were tailored to fit the constructed context.

I continued by outlining a basic wireframe flow for the checkout sequence that I wanted to highlight.

After that I had enough to start working with shaping the high fidelity UI, piecing together an aesthetic I think matched the brand well and that was intuitive and airy. I linked together and animated screens to form an interactive prototype.

CHALLENGES AND LEARNINGS

LEARNINGS

This project turned out to be a great case for developing my methodology when tackling a design task. I immediately recognized that I found it very difficult to tackle the task without knowing more about the context. I think that design decisions with a good UX should be based on more factors than just making something that looks good.

That is why I the initial scenario that I drafted was so important, becuase it helped me make conclusions regarding how the user experience should look, work and feel.

There are details that I notice now in hindsight and that I would have done in a different way. Such as some margins and paddings (in particular the tab bar) and increasing contrast in some parts or sizing elements differently. But overall I'm content with the results considering it was a 3 day task.