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Restructured Information Architecture

Eric MinorVictor Popow

Only 4 main level categories –    this leads to a vertical information hierarchy so users   are forced to click down further to find what they need

Previous

Here is the current top navigation

Competitive Differentiation –    Crate & Barrel is the only company among it’s competition   that offers High End Furniture and Appliances

Step 1: Brand Research

Market Survey –    We surveyed 30 people to find out what THEY are saying

Market Survey –    Here’s a word cloud of what people think when they hear   the name Crate & Barrel

Market Survey –    This is what the market is saying about their competition

Market Survey – Takeaway      Crate & Barrel’s Brand is Clean, Modern and Trendy.      The competition’s Brands are Stuffy, Overwhelming,   Hectic, and Pricey. 

Location Scouting –    The Crate & Barrel stores reinforce their brand

Location Scouting –    A diagram of the Towson Crate & Barrel store layout

   To capitalize on their existing brand, we    propose revising the existing IA to mimic    their store layout. We want to replace the    current 4 top level categories with the    rooms in the house.

Step 2: Hypothesis

Proposed Redesign –    A horizontal IA structure for the proposed top navigation

New

Old

Cardsorting Exercises –    Highlighted in blue are labels that were always paired,    the numbers outside of the blue were often miscategorized

Step 3: Testing

   Shown on the left is the current IA. Notice the amount of     numbers outside of the blue, a total of 59 labels.

   Shown on the right is our proposed IA. Notice how sparse    these numbers are, a total of 26. That’s a 45% drop from    the current design, a significant improvement. 

Personas –    We created two personas and ran them through a task

3

4

   Megan is looking for an office desk, with the current IA,    it will take four actions from the home page. 

2

1

   With our new proposed IA, Megan can find her desk in    two actions, a huge improvement

   Paul is a tech savvy interior designer who heard about    Crate & Barrel’s Room Designer App and wants to learn    more about it

   Paul browses all over the top and bottom nav but can’t    find the App, so he decides to perform a search

   Unfortunately, Paul can’t find it so he gives up his search.   With our proposed IA, the Design App is easily found in    the main navigation under designer resources.

Replay

Conclusion

Crate & Barrel’s physical store layouts are well designed for flow of traffic, this should be mimicked on their website.

Our proposed redesign of the IA proved effective in cardsorting tests and persona process flows.

Crate & Barrel has a strong brand and clear competitive differentiation that should be better represented online.