Alicia Rydel

Material Bank

Increasing user engagement by improving access to design tools that help interior designers streamline their workflow.

Material Bank

Increasing user engagement by improving access to design tools that help interior designers streamline their workflow.

Material Bank

Increasing user engagement by improving access to design tools that help interior designers streamline their workflow.

ROLE

UX Research

UX/UI Design

TYPE

Independent Study

TIMELINE

12 Weeks

TOOLS

Figma

Photoshop

Final Cut Pro

ROLE

Research

Strategy

UX/UI Design

TOOLS

Figma

Photoshop

Notebook LM

TYPE

Independent Study

TIMELINE

12 Weeks

View Research & Process

THE ASK

Increase user (designer) engagement.

PROBLEM

Designer engagement fluctuates with the sampling demands of their projects, resulting in inconsistent platform use.

INSIGHT

Sampling is just one task a designer is responsible for during a project’s ideation phase. Their workflow is complex, often involving multiple touchpoints across disconnected software programs.

OPPORTUNITY

By integrating and improving access to design tools that streamline tasks beyond sampling, Material Bank has the opportunity to boost designer engagement.

THE ASK

Increase user (designer) engagement.

THE ASK

Increase user (designer) engagement.

PROBLEM

Designer engagement fluctuates with the sampling demands of their projects, resulting in to inconsistent platform use.

PROBLEM

Designer engagement fluctuates with the sampling demands of their projects, resulting in to inconsistent platform use.

INSIGHT

Sampling is just one part of a designer’s responsibilities during a project’s ideation phase. Their workflow is complex, often involving multiple touchpoints across disconnected software programs.

INSIGHT

OPPORTUNITY

By integrating and improving access to design tools that streamline tasks beyond sampling, Material Bank has the opportunity to boost designer engagement.

OPPORTUNITY

By integrating and improving access to design tools that streamline tasks beyond sampling, Material Bank has the opportunity to boost designer engagement.

Background

It's estimated that interior designers dedicate nearly 25% of their billable hours to sampling-related tasks.

Dezeen

Sampling physical materials is a critical but highly time-consuming task for interior designers.

Traditionally, sampling has been rife with pain points such as sourcing from independent manufacturers, navigating inconsistent distribution models, and receiving wasteful packaging.

Traditionally, sampling has been been rife with pain points such as sourcing from independent manufacturers, navigating inconsistent distribution models, and receiving wasteful packaging.

With its launch in 2019, Material Bank revolutionized this process.

Its centralized platform provides designers access to 300,000+ SKUs from hundreds of brands and next-day delivery for orders placed by 2:00 PM—all in a single, reusable box.

And it is augmenting the platform with tools to provide even more value to designers.

In 2022, Material Bank launched an integrated design tool called "boards", a simple but effective feature allowing designers to save and organize products before placing a sample order.

Material Bank has successfully attracted over 100,000 designers since its launch. However, I was aware of many user pain points from my experience with the platform as a former interior architect.

Research

To test my assumptions, I conducted a usability study and UX audit to better understand designer's experience with the interface and Boards feature.

Usability Study

UX Audit

Want to learn more about my research and how I used AI to assist with problem identification?

View Research & Process

Key Findings

Two key findings emerged from the research.

01 Designers are unaware of, nor can they find the key design tool that already exists on Material Bank’s website— the Boards feature.

Designers are unaware of, nor can they find, the key design tool that already exists on
Material Bank’s website—
the Boards feature.

02 Even once designers discover the Boards feature, they find it’s not robust enough to augment their workflow.

Solution

Increase awareness of an integrated and robust set of design tools that allow designers to expedite their workflow.

The solution came in two phases, responding to the two key findings that emerged throughout the research.

01 UX/UI improvements to increase awareness of design tools and make it easier to find them.

02 Integrate useful design features to reduce touchpoints across various software programs.

SOLUTION | PHASE 01

Improve the UX/UI

Designers are unaware of, nor can they find, the key design tool that already exists on Material Bank’s website— the Boards feature.

Homepage

The hero highlights the “boards” design tool and links to a tutorial where she can learn about how it can speed up her workflow

A collapsable side menu improves access to a user’s account-related features and distinguishes them from product browsing navigation

When returning to the site, users now see their most recent project activity / content that allows them to quickly resume their workflow

Homepage

The hero highlights the “boards” design tool and links to a tutorial where she can learn about how it can speed up her workflow

A collapsable side menu improves access to a user’s account-related features and distinguishes them from product browsing navigation

When returning to the site, users now see their most recent project activity / content that allows them to quickly resume their workflow

Homepage

The hero highlights the “boards” design tool and links to a tutorial where she can learn about how it can speed up her workflow

A collapsable side menu improves access to a user’s account-related features and distinguishes them from product browsing navigation

When returning to the site, users now see their most recent project activity / content that allows them to quickly resume their workflow

Adding products to a Board

The “Add to Board” button was relocated adjacent to a user’s more frequent actions

The button’s UI was also redesigned to increase its visual weight

The Add to Board overlay was redesigned to clarify the actions required to perform the task

Adding products to a Board

The “Add to Board” button was relocated adjacent to a user’s more frequent actions

The button’s UI was also redesigned to increase its visual weight

The Add to Board overlay was redesigned to clarify the actions required to perform the task

Adding products to a Board

The “Add to Board” button was relocated adjacent to a user’s more frequent actions

The button’s UI was also redesigned to increase its visual weight

The Add to Board overlay was redesigned to clarify the actions required to perform the task

Project Dashboard

A horizontal navigation menu orients the user and allows them to easily toggle between a project’s details, orders, and boards

The menu also reduces cognitive overload, minimizing the information a user needs to process in order to take action

Users can access a project’s Boards without leaving the project dashboard and remain oriented throughout their navigation

Project Dashboard

A horizontal navigation menu orients the user and allows them to easily toggle between a project’s details, orders, and boards

The menu also reduces cognitive overload, minimizing the information a user needs to process in order to take action

Users can access a project’s Boards without leaving the project dashboard and remain oriented throughout their navigation

Project Dashboard

A horizontal navigation menu orients the user and allows them to easily toggle between a project’s details, orders, and boards

The menu also reduces cognitive overload, minimizing the information a user needs to process in order to take action

Users can access a project’s Boards without leaving the project dashboard and remain oriented throughout their navigation

SOLUTION | PHASE 02

Integrate useful design tools

Even once designers discover the Boards feature, they find it’s not robust enough to augment their workflow.

Canva App

Once they’ve downloaded the app, the Material Bank icon appears in the side navigation menu where they can link their account

Users can browse their Boards and add / edit product imagery directly from Canva while creating presentation decks

The app eliminates a designers need to download and edit files and reduces touchpoints across various software programs

Canva App

Once they’ve downloaded the app, the Material Bank icon appears in the side navigation menu where they can link their account

Users can browse their Boards and add / edit product imagery directly from Canva while creating presentation decks

The app eliminates a designers need to download and edit files and reduces touchpoints across various software programs

Canva App

Once they’ve downloaded the app, the Material Bank icon appears in the side navigation menu where they can link their account

Users can browse their Boards and add / edit product imagery directly from Canva while creating presentation decks

The app eliminates a designers need to download and edit files and reduces touchpoints across various software programs

Want to learn more about my iteration and prototyping process?

View Research & Process

How this helps Material Bank

Material Bank is a two-sided marketplace.

User engagement is currently dependent on a designer’s need to order samples— and the need for samples fluctuates.

By increasing design engagement with

By integrating and improving access to design tools that streamline tasks beyond sampling, Material Bank has the opportunity to boost designer engagement.

In turn, manufacturers who rely

Reflection

I became familiar with Material Bank's product throughout my 10-year career as an interior architect. While I admired the ingenuity of the platform, I had preconceived notions regarding opportunities for improvement.

This project was an opportunity for me to test my assumptions. Conducting both market and user research, I was able to critically evaluate not only Material Bank's UX but also develop a longer-term strategy aimed at aligning future design decisions and feature innovation with business goals.

I particularly enjoyed the research and problem-identification phases of this project. A longer timeline allowed me to explore different research methods and tools for analysis, as well as level up my interaction and responsive design skills in Figma.

I became familiar with Material Bank's product throughout my 10 year career as an interior architect. While I admired the ingenuity of the platform, I had my own preconceived notions regarding its opportunities for improvement.

This project was an opportunity for me to test my assumptions. Conducting both market and user research, I was able to critically evaluate not only Material Bank's UX, but develop a longer-term strategy aimed at aligning future design decisions and feature innovation with business goals.

I particularly enjoyed the research and problem identification phases of this project. A longer timeline afforded me opportunity to explore different research methods, tools for analysis, and level up my interaction and responsive design skills in Figma.

To test my assumptions, I conducted a usability study and UX audit to better understand designer's experience with the interface and the Boards feature.

Usability Study

UX Audit

Want to learn more about my research and how I used AI to assist with problem identification?

View Research & Process