Socks

Sock Designs

Designing a sock is like making pixel art, with real life constraints. I worked with clients ranging from tech giants to local breweries to create the socks of their dreams. 3-4 times a year I was also able to design socks for the subscription side of the business.

Socks

Sock Designs

Designing a sock is like making pixel art, with real life constraints. I worked with clients ranging from tech giants to local breweries to create the socks of their dreams. 3-4 times a year I was also able to design socks for the subscription side of the business.

The process

I wanted to understand 2 things: who our web users are, and what was the problem with our signup process.

User research

Through Google Analytics and Sock Club's CRM software, I was able to get a reasonable idea of user demographics, like clients range from junior employees to small business owners.

I then sent surveys and met with the customer facing teams -- marketing and sales. From their answers, I was able to get a more subjective perspective.

I also reached out to users who had placed orders with us for brief interviews. Some key takeaways were that Sock Club's customer service and design team are a big reason clients love using the site.

“Why did I end up on the cotton crew? Did I actually click on the cotton crew? [...] I’m a bit lost to be honest. What if I don’t want the cotton crew?”

Using an online user testing platform, I asked 7 users to run through the Sock Club signup process, which revealed a lot of pain points. The biggest were:

  • Didn't grasp the free design service
  • Thought they were receiving free socks
  • Most importantly, everyone was confused

To design a solution, I wanted to try out a mini design sprint, bringing in a couple of other team members and trying out some design exercises.

The solution

The mini design sprint was made up of me, a sock designer, a developer, and the product manager. The schedule was:

  • Journey mapping
  • Design sketches
  • Prototype
  • Testing

Journey mapping & sketches

There was great insight by having other team members together! Journey mapping helped us identify where users might feel uncertainty or need to bring in another decision maker.

Prototype & testing

I created the prototype based on the sketches and went through another round of user testing. Overall, users were really positive (and not confused!) but I identified some areas to improve. The biggest issues was many users still didn't understand that Sock Club has a free design service.

Currently, development is building a pared down version so we can get insight with live users. You can view the prototype below!

Let's chat! 💬

Thank you! I'll be in touch with you as soon as possible.
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