Contribution

Team

3 designers & 1 PM

Duration

2021.9 - 2022.3

Find us in IG

There are the trends that people are spending more time at home, so why not sell the products that could be used at home?

So I decided on the product direction:

The products can help people feel at ease at home.

We brainstormed a lot of ideas, but we narrowed them down to 4 candidates:
Considering the international shipment, storage, market size, and margin profit, we finally decided to sell cute plush.

Pajama

Slipper

Onepiece

Cute plush

part 2

Cuteness is very popular in Asia, especially in Japan. So is cuteness only popular for Asians?
In order to better define our target users, I conducted research to help me better understand the cuteness in the American market.

1. A touchstone for many Asian- America

2. Americans are Influenced by Japanese cute (Kawaii) culture

3. The Kidult market

The definition of Kidult in Cambridge dictionary:
An adult who likes doing or buying things that are intended for children

Hello Kitty has been popular in the world. Americans are also influenced by the cute (kawaii in Japanese) culture. (Pink globalization, 2013)

During the past two years, there’s a growth that adults are buying toys for themselves, and the industry has dubbed the “kidult” category. (Raju Mudhar, 2021)
Millennials with the age of 18 - 34 years old take up more than half of the kidult market. (Fiona Pavely, 2020)

By reading a lot of articles, I got to know that there were couple of deep reasons that drove users to buy cute plush.

The cute design provides warm, cheer-me-up atomosphere, and it helps people to calm down the nerves and comfort the feelings (Sharon)

When lacking social connection with other humans, people need objects to communicate. People can feel a bond with cute plush. (Nicola, 2022)

“I like teddy bear because it’s always there for me to lean on or cry to or to cuddle with, and he never leaves me. ”

“I like Hello Kitty because I can project my feelings onto her, imaging she is happy or sad when I’m happy or sad.” (Oliva, 2014)

Adults play with the toys by giving them personalities. The toys come alive as emotions are projected on them. (Toy story, 2010)

Cute design can bring back memories of childhood. (A brand made of cuteness)
They want to continue to feel youthful.

People like to show their their inner “beings” or style through interior decoration. (Toy stories, 2010)

From my research, most of users passively shop cute plush which are not famous brand. If they notice the plush catches their eyes they when they are buying something, they will probably buy it.
This also alines with our marketing strategy, which is to promote my brand in Instagram.
So the journey looks like:

Users are easy to get interested in cute images. They only want to go further if the plush looks cute for them.

we should create visually appealing graphics to attract users

Design for visual impression

After getting the samples, we tried different ways to take photos to make them look attractive.

It looks like this in the very beginning:

And then we explored various visual design concept to make it look better

Concept 2 - Abstract background + 3D product

We chose Concept 2 because users like it more.

After being attracted by the look, users want to know about the product details, such as material, texture, and quality. They evaluate the product rationally in this stage.

we should show the material, texture quality, and reviews to persuade users rationally.

Design for rational decision

From the user interview, users have the following pain points when they are making the rational decision:

I browsed dozens of e-commerce websites, and I found that the images and descriptions are separated. This leads to more efforts for users to digest the information.

V1: the background is too strong
V2, V3, V4: the layout is boring - we want to deliver interesting experience

People buy feelings, and they make decisions with their subconscious. Connecting with users emotionally can help users make a quick decision (comfort, companionship, the feeling of belonging, youth).

Use storytelling to connect with users and persuade them to make a purchase

DESIRE

There are a few goals for the homepage:

From the research, we know that there are a few deep reasons that drive users to buy cute plush:

We create storytelling to deliver these 4 points and connect with users emotionally.

I explored different solutions by using pen and paper to quickly sketch my ideas.

Our users say: "They're so cute! I really enjoy shopping on the website"

Contribution

Led the project from ambiguity to certainty, from 0 to 1

Created UX Strategy for the entire product, studied users' psychology, mental mode, and shopping journey to drive the design directions.

Created emotional connection with users through UX writing and visual design

Team

3 designers & 1 PM

Duration

2021.9 - 2022.3

Find us in IG

There are the trends that people are spending more time at home, so why not sell the products that could be used at home? So I decided on the product direction:

The products can help people feel at ease at home.

We brainstormed a lot of ideas, but we narrowed them down to 4 candidates: Considering the international shipment, storage, market size, and margin profit, we finally decided to sell cute plush.

Pajama

Slipper

Onepiece

Cute plush

Cuteness is very popular in Asia, especially in Japan. So is cuteness only popular for Asians? In order to better define our target users, I conducted research to help me better understand the cuteness in the American market.

1. A touchstone for many Asian- America

2. Americans are Influenced by Japanese cute (Kawaii) culture

3. The Kidult market

The definition of Kidult in Cambridge dictionary: An adult who likes doing or buying things that are intended for children

The kidult trends

Hello Kitty has been popular in the world. Americans are also influenced by the cute (kawaii in Japanese) culture. (Pink globalization, 2013)

During the past two years, there’s a growth that adults are buying toys for themselves, and the industry has dubbed the “kidult” category. (Raju Mudhar, 2021) Millennials with the age of 18 - 34 years old take up more than half of the kidult market. (Fiona Pavely, 2020)

By reading a lot of articles, I got to know that there were couple of deep reasons that drove users to buy cute plush.

The cute design provides warm, cheer-me-up atomosphere, and it helps people to calm down the nerves and comfort the feelings (Sharon)

When lacking social connection with other humans, people need objects to communicate. People can feel a bond with cute plush. (Nicola, 2022)

“I like teddy bear because it’s always there for me to lean on or cry to or to cuddle with, and he never leaves me. ”

“I like Hello Kitty because I can project my feelings onto her, imaging she is happy or sad when I’m happy or sad.” (Oliva, 2014)

Adults play with the toys by giving them personalities. The toys come alive as emotions are projected on them. (Toy story, 2010)

Cute design can bring back memories of childhood. (A brand made of cuteness) They want to continue to feel youthful.

People like to show their their inner “beings” or style through interior decoration. (Toy stories, 2010)

Users are easy to get interested in cute images. They only want to go further if the plush looks cute for them.

we should create visually appealing graphics to attract users

Design for visual impression

After getting the samples, we tried different ways to take photos to make them look attractive. It looks like this in the very beginning:

And then we explored various visual design concept to make it look better

Concept 1 - flat illustration + 3D product

Concept 2 - Abstract background + 3D product

We chose Concept 2 because users like it more.

After being attracted by the look, users want to know about the product details, such as material, texture, and quality. They evaluate the product rationally in this stage.

we should show the material, texture quality, and reviews to persuade users rationally.

Design for rational decision

From the user interview, users have the following pain points when they are making the rational decision:

Product size

product texture

product material

product quality

What does it look like in my home?

There are the trends that people are spending more time at home, so why not sell the products that could be used at home?

So I decided on the product direction:

We brainstormed a lot of ideas, but we narrowed them down to 4 candidates:
Considering the international shipment, storage, market size, and margin profit, we finally decided to sell cute plush.

Cuteness is very popular in Asia, especially in Japan. So is cuteness only popular for Asians?
In order to better define our target users, I conducted research to help me better understand the cuteness in the American market.

The definition of Kidult in Cambridge dictionary:
An adult who likes doing or buying things that are intended for children

During the past two years, there’s a growth that adults are buying toys for themselves, and the industry has dubbed the “kidult” category. (Raju Mudhar, 2021)
Millennials with the age of 18 - 34 years old take up more than half of the kidult market. (Fiona Pavely, 2020)

Cute design can bring back memories of childhood. (A brand made of cuteness)
They want to continue to feel youthful.

After getting the samples, we tried different ways to take photos to make them look attractive.

It looks like this in the very beginning:

V1: the background is too strong
V2, V3, V4: the layout is boring - we want to deliver interesting experience

There are a few goals for the homepage: