Overview
High Fidelity Prototype using Adobe XD is a redesign of the current Cannabis Canada Website that safely and securely sends marijuana products to customers. It solves the site’s identity problem by adding additional resources that none of their competitors have. My role was UX Designer. I collaborated with classmates who were designing their own versions of the site.
Define Stage
Strategic Objectives
The goal I made for myself with this particular project was to give the site a greater sense of identity. By doing a competitive analysis (a graph, or document which outlines the differences and similarities between companies), I was able to determine that a number of Canadian mail order cannabis sites that were too similar to one another. All of them say they send email safely and confidentially while giving you the best products for the cheapest prices. To counteract this, I decided to do further research on what resources I could add to the Cannabis Canada site to differentiate it and bring in a larger market. As of right now, none of these sites are looking into selling products to those who use cannabis medically whether it be for pain, or mental illness, for example.
Problem Statement
Cannabis Canada wants to stand out against its competitors, however, in order to do this, they need to give themselves an identity which reaches beyond them just being a marijuana shop and supply potential future customers with easy to access resources.
Requirements
This project required various research documents which would aid in finding a UX (user experience) problem to solve for both the company and their customers. These came in the form of a competitive analysis and general research paper which would help in guiding the rest of the project. Afterwards, a series of wireframes ranging from low to high fidelity (level of detail) were needed to illustrate the previous findings. After these designs were verified through critique, they were prototyped for potential future testing.
Discover Stage
Competitive Analysis
The point of this paper was to see what competitors are doing and not doing in order to capitalize on what is currently available on the market. Between Mail Order Canna, Pacific Cannabis, Hail Mary Jane and Dispensary Mail, there were barely any differences besides the visuals. None of them seemed to be reaching out to individuals who needed the product for medical reasons or were trying it for the first time. The language, and motifs were also very similar to one another.
Research Paper
This was made to argue for the aforenoted points through other research and the competitive analysis. This document went into how resources for individuals in need of medical cannabis, or first-time personal use could work. These went into detail on how the products are used to solve various medical problems along with how the different chemicals within the plants worked on either the mind or body.
Design Stage
Wireframes
These started at lower fidelity and gradually went to higher fidelity as more critiques and information were gathered on how to make them more user friendly. Some elements from the original site were taken as they were both usable and visually interesting (such as the format of the hero image on the main page). Once these were seen as complete, they were prototyped and handed in for final assessment.
Conclusion
The site itself was on the right track when it came to design and usability, however, it had no sense of self when comparing it to other mail order cannabis sites. This was fixed by turning the discovery into a UX design problem and solving it through further research. The solution was to add more resources which could attract other potential markets and answer their many questions. By having articles which explain how to use their products, and list their product’s benefits, they have a greater sense of identity than their competitors. Not only this, but they now have a feature on their site not seen on any of their competitors.
