Overview
Plastic Galaxy Toy Store never had an online store.
The company has been buying and selling toys, collectibles, and memorabilia for over five years only through live sales on its social media accounts.
My client purchased the company in 2020 partly to continue the business’ passion in the industry and partly for his dream of building a toy museum in Chicago.
I really like where Rhiza is going with my website... She always responds promptly and always has new ideas to improve the website.
TIMELINE
July 2021-March 2022
PLATFORM
Responsive Website
INDUSTRY
Business Retail
MY ROLE
User Research
Product Design
Style Guide
WordPress/Elementor
Wireframing
Motion Design
Copy
TOOLS
Adobe XD
WordPress
Photoshop
Illustrator
After Effects
TEAM SIZE
Solo
Goals
01
Design an online toy store for a niche in the market
02
Integrate existing eBay store and social media accounts
03
The site must be clean easy-to-use, accessible, and appealing to target and potential market
04
Create a community that can possibly contribute to building a successful Toy Museum in the future
Why build it?
The company needs its online toy store so its customers can easily purchase products
A proper website that will help with retention and attract more customers
To build a community for enthusiasts
Quality website to introduce a Plastic Galaxy Toy Museum
Who is it for?
Hobbyists
Can buy or sell toys
Toy Collectors
Serious buyers Ex. CAS Graded buyers, vintage toys, etc.
Potential Buyers
People that love to find new stuff, looking for a gift/memorabilia/etc.
Vendors
Private or business
Design Process
9 AM: RESEARCH
My client wanted an E-commerce website and he sent me links to competitors that he used to purchase from.
Part of my research then is to compare three competitor’s websites that my client used to purchase from. The main thing I specifically analyzed is their purchasing and check-out flows.
Basic Navigation
• Top nav bar (Login, Cart, Help)
• Left panel for navigation and menu
Convenient Checkout
• Number of steps to the final checkout process
• Convenience and security
• UI ( hierarchy of elements, copy, readability, etc.)
Special Feature
• Buy and Sell button
• CAS Grading (Certification of products)
12 PM: SKETCHES
These sketches are ideas combined from the competitor analysis that I conducted. Choosing the main features and layout that is focused on the business’ needs and goals.
1 PM: DIGITAL WIREFRAMES & PROTOTYPE
After analyzing the competitors’ checkout process, I realized that limiting the screens to a minimum while adding secure options and messages will make it convenient for the customer to purchase with ease and confidence.
January comes...
E-Commerce Website is Canceled
My client owns a few businesses and one of them is a popular transmission service and parts in Chicago. Plastic Galaxy is his newest endeavor and collecting toys and memorabilia is a huge passion of his. Currently, he has about 700 products in his arsenal and one part-time employee who helps with the business. We both agreed that an e-commerce platform will not be the best for him. He wanted a landing page that can be integrated to his social media accounts and of course, to the eBay store. Right away, I did a quick sketch of PG’s landing page.
Style Guide
As I have already planned the layout and content of the website, I decided to start collecting ideas for its branding and visual design. The logo was the one thing my client wanted to keep from the old company. I knew it was going to be fun when I realized that the one logo he has is not even a real .png and is the only asset in the design system.
I aligned the text inside the box, enhanced the contrast of red from black and exported formats in .svg, .jpeg, and .png to add to the design system files.
I use WordPress and Elementor to create the website. Templates are not an option everything has to be customized.
Since the client already knows who his main target market is, we only had to discuss how to approach the visual aspect of the website. Designing it according to the niche of a market and the website’s own branding.
I am still in the process of collecting the right fonts, colors, customizing .svg for buttons and symbols. The website is currently live and as discussed with my client, we would iterate on any negative user experience before we really focus on the visual look and feel.
I recreate the logo in Illustrator and animated in After Effects. Later on, will add sound effect.