A Take Over

Of

Collector's Paradise

"When you hold something you created, drew, and conceived, and now here it is in 3D plastic - it is a rush." - Rob Leifeld

Just as a person who purchases comics and merchandise from their favorite artists & creators, getting that same rush of gratification, I have questioned how I could bring that delight to the online platform for collector's paradise.

Time Duration

2 Week time span to re-imagine Collector's Paradise own platform.

My Role

My role was to Re-design Collector's Paradise e-commerce platform. I had taken that a bit further and implemented a new key feature that would make the online comic book store unique and stand out.

Tools Used

Prototype in Figma, Adobe XD, Illustrator, Google Suite and Miro.

The Origin

- Edward GreenBerg & Joseph Zelich co-owner's
- Their first comic shop opened on September of 1994
- Goal is to refine online customer service, include online subscription base model, and create a walk in gallery
- Opened up 2 new locations between 2010 - 2019
- Awarded "Best Comic Store in Los Angeles Country" by a Fan Poll from LA Hot List

"SHHH, My Common Sense Is Tingling."

Shortly after going over the original Collector's Paradise e-commerce page, I sprung into action by conducting several interviews and user testing the original site. From there, I've received valuable data that supported the changes that had to occur as it was evident Collector's Paradise platform is not user-friendly.

Research & Interviews

Notable Quotes

"You get to be in this whole other world that you can experience"
"Something to do when I just want to get away from the crazy of the world"

Collector's Paradise Website

The Good

- They visually show the comic book's cover art
- Show the newest product on the home page which was great for people who are looking for new things to read or want to be updated on quickly
- A big growing community and hosts events for the locals around the shop to bring in more attraction
- They also have social media where they would talk and have common interest's on comic book's

The Ugly

- Bright orange are not very appealing and gives the user who are viewing their site a headache
- Categories are in confusing order located on the top nav. bar
- Type fonts are very small, especially on important informational pages
- There are 3 repetitive login's for people who live in a different area
- Need to highlight some parts of the text where the font are just not showing at all (check-out process)
- There are some tangents going on with text unintentionally touching other parts of the sections
- Not enough comic books offered online
- Only use paypal as payment when purchasing online

Problem Statement

Comic book aficionado's, are in need of an organized and thorough method of tracking, searching and collecting comic books in order to actually enjoy their collections of books that have grown over time.

Insights

Management - A Lack of an organized system in having a collection of comic books wastes time as they have to revisit their pile to see which books they do and do not have.
Enjoyment - Reading a comic book gives the reader a break from reality, letting the individual delve deep into an immersive storyline for these comic book characters to come to life using stylistic visuals with dialogue to take them on a journey.
Availability - The lack of availability to which having new and old comic books in stock, especially for a collector, is frustrating and stops them from returning to the store they once enjoyed before.

Persona

Sketches/ Mid-Fidelity

Prototypes

Compiling all the data from the research, sketching, and ideations, I was able to come to a finalized design layout. I was able to create the optimal prototype that caters to the user's needs and wants while also providing a clean and simple user interface.

Visually I have made changes that really made it so that you are on a comic book site. I was able to play around with comic book characters and textures and really have fun in making it immersive. I have changed their top navigation and how user’s would navigate the category section. From my findings, the previous site was not very clear cut and the flow was very off. I made sure to categories them and title them so the user would have ease navigating when using the top nav. bar.

A lot more changes have been made but one that I am particularly fond of is adding in a new feature which is the “My Collection” section. The “My Collection” is a feature that helps keep track of what the user had bought previously, what they will buy in the future, what series they are keeping track of, the series that they are missing, and so on. They are also able to add in comic books that they had bought previously but from a different site or even had the comic book for a really long time from their childhood. Another neat thing is they can request a comic book if the store does not have it in stock.

Next Steps

Navigation Bar Refinement - I would like to refine the overall prototype starting with adding more interactions to the top Nav. Bar and how the user would use it to locate the comic instead of searching it up using the search bar.

My Collections Refinement - I would also like to refine this new feature for collectors who are coming to the collection page. I would like to create a user flow or even storyboard as a way for the user to upload the collections of comics they have kept over the years. Possibly through using an AR photo to quickly snap a pic of the comic book cover and it would go from there.

Test it out - I would also like to test this prototype a bit more just to see if any of the features incorporated are viable and if there is anything I should as a designer do, to create a much simpler path to navigate this platform.