SwipeSwipe
Made in Chinatown
I worked with researchers, designers, and WtC’s Head of Creative, Harry Trinh, to redesign Made In Chinatown (MIC)—an e-commerce site supporting NYC’s Chinatown businesses. Over 4 months, we revamped its structure and design to boost sales by connecting users with businesses through their stories.
Client
Company
Made in Chinatown
Team
Year
2022
Challenges
Challenges
MIC faced difficulty sharing Chinatown business stories seamlessly.
There is a disconnect between businesses and community
Solutions
Solutions
Information Architecture
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements,
fostering a narrative-driven user experience
1
Information Architecture
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements,
fostering a narrative-driven user experience
1
Information Architecture
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements,
fostering a narrative-driven user experience
1
2
Visual Storytelling
Users couldn’t get a clear, summarized view of their finances.
2
Visual Storytelling
Users couldn’t get a clear, summarized view of their finances.
2
Visual Storytelling
Users couldn’t get a clear, summarized view of their finances.
My role
My role
Addressing design challenges and improving the existing design.
Leading the technical analysis and collaborating on the rainbow sheet.
Conducting user interviews and developing interview questions.
Creating usability testing tasks.
Brainstorming with the team on information architecture.
Designing wireframes and high-fidelity designs for specific pages, including the "All product page" and the all the pages of workflow of buying a product
Process
Process
How did I get to the Solution...
Kick-off meeting
The journey started with a promising kickoff meeting, where we with Welcome to Chinatown's Head of Creative, understanding their goals and mission
UX Research
Leveraging UX research and analytics to inform data-driven insights and enhance the MiC website redesign
Research Goals
To understand users’ e-commerce shopping habits
To identify pain points users experience when navigating through the MiC website
To understand users’ first impressions of the current MiC website
Methods
Background Research
We created an eco-system map and conducted a technical analysis to better understand the key players involved in the MiC organization and how the product functions.
Findings
The key players in the MiC organization are
MiC volunteers manage the MiC program (and website) and get Chinatown businesses involved in the program.
MiC gives back 30 - 40% of the revenue from merchandise sales back to the Chinatown businesses.
Content Gap: MiC's brand identity relies on storytelling, but the current website lacks this essence. Only a few collections feature informational blurbs about the collaborating businesses in the "Collections" drop-down menu.
Visual Design: Enhance storytelling impact by redesigning with visual elements like colorful text, larger fonts, and eye-catching banners to draw attention to collection blurbs on the website.
User Research
We conducted moderated interviews and usability tests with 7 volunteers (2 internal MiC stakeholders and 5 potential MiC users) to gain insights into how users navigate through the MiC desktop website.
We recruited the internal stakeholders through a recruitment form which Harry shared with his contacts.
We recruited potential MiC users through people in our networks.
"
I think I thought I was going to get more like the about page. But I don’t think the behind the scenes shows me that.
"
I guess in this shop site it is more important to see the products rather then the information but I like to read the stuff like this because it makes me connect to the product
"
Linking to Social media of Wing on WO & CO could help in giving more information of the business and its history
Major Findings
Technical Analysis
100% of our users mentioned adding images/video/social media to draw more attention to the storytelling aspect of the website.
User Interview
Strong interest in interactive features that allow for deeper exploration of Chinatown business stories.
Usability Testing
Difficulties in locating information about the history and background of Chinatown businesses.
Top insight
Top insight
Users feel disconnected from Chinatown businesses due to a lack of seamless navigation
How might we redesign the MiC website such that it drives merchandise sales through an enhanced storytelling approach?
How might we redesign the MiC website such that it drives merchandise sales through an enhanced storytelling approach?
Solution 1: Information Architecture
Solution 1: Information Architecture
Information Architecture Redesign
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements, fostering a narrative-driven user experience
Before
After
Design
How I integrated our research findings into the new website?
How I integrated our research findings into the new website?
Check out the prototype!
Result
Result
Impact I made
The redesign didn’t just make e-commerce site look better—it had real, measurable impacts on user behavior:
0k
0k
virtual visits post redesign, up from 10k
0k
0k
virtual visits post redesign, up from 10k
0%
0%
increase in purchases
0%
0%
increase in purchases
0/5
0/5
improvement in engagement metrics (time on site, interactions).
0/5
0/5
improvement in engagement metrics (time on site, interactions).
Learnings
Learnings
What I learned
Collaboration with team and stakeholder
The importance of communicating with the stakeholders and effectively explaining my design decisions.
Going with a minimal and simple approach is often the most difficult to design.
Accessibility is a very important part of UX
Me
Client
Client
Me
Me
Client
Client
Me
"I just wanted to express my gratitude for the dedication and hard work you've put into the project so far! The 'storytelling first' approach has been incredibly well-received on our end, and it perfectly aligns with the Welcome to Chinatown mission. Thank you for your exceptional efforts!"
Harry
Head of Creative
Welcome to Chiatown
"I just wanted to express my gratitude for the dedication and hard work you've put into the project so far! The 'storytelling first' approach has been incredibly well-received on our end, and it perfectly aligns with the Welcome to Chinatown mission. Thank you for your exceptional efforts!"
Harry
Head of Creative
Welcome to Chiatown
more
more
Other Projects
SwipeSwipe
Made in Chinatown
I worked with researchers, designers, and WtC’s Head of Creative, Harry Trinh, to redesign Made In Chinatown (MIC)—an e-commerce site supporting NYC’s Chinatown businesses. Over 4 months, we revamped its structure and design to boost sales by connecting users with businesses through their stories.
Design
How I integrated our research findings into the new website?
more
more
Other Projects
How might we redesign the MiC website such that it drives merchandise sales through an enhanced storytelling approach?
Client
Made in Chinatown
Team
Year
2022
Challenges
Challenges
MIC faced difficulty sharing Chinatown business stories seamlessly.
There is a disconnect between businesses and community
Solutions
Solutions
Information Architecture
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements,
fostering a narrative-driven user experience
1
Information Architecture
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements,
fostering a narrative-driven user experience
1
2
Visual Storytelling
Users couldn’t get a clear, summarized view of their finances.
2
Visual Storytelling
Users couldn’t get a clear, summarized view of their finances.
My role
My role
Addressing design challenges and improving the existing design.
Leading the technical analysis and collaborating on the rainbow sheet.
Conducting user interviews and developing interview questions.
Creating usability testing tasks.
Brainstorming with the team on information architecture.
Designing wireframes and high-fidelity designs for specific pages, including the "All product page" and the all the pages of workflow of buying a product
Top insight
Top insight
Users feel disconnected from Chinatown businesses due to a lack of seamless navigation
Information Architecture
Information Architecture
Information Architecture Redesign
Restructured website layout to prioritize storytelling elements, fostering a narrative-driven user experience
Before
After
Result
Result
Impact I made
The redesign didn’t just make e-commerce site look better—it had real, measurable impacts on user behavior:
0k
0k
virtual visits post redesign, up from 10k
0k
0k
virtual visits post redesign, up from 10k
0%
0%
increase in purchases
0%
0%
increase in purchases
0/5
0/5
improvement in engagement metrics (time on site, interactions).
0/5
0/5
improvement in engagement metrics (time on site, interactions).
Learnings
Learnings
What I learned
Collaboration with team and stakeholder
The importance of communicating with the stakeholders and effectively explaining my design decisions.
Going with a minimal and simple approach is often the most difficult to design.
Accessibility is a very important part of UX
Me
Client
Me
Client
"I just wanted to express my gratitude for the dedication and hard work you've put into the project so far! The 'storytelling first' approach has been incredibly well-received on our end, and it perfectly aligns with the Welcome to Chinatown mission. Thank you for your exceptional efforts!"
Harry
Head of Creative
Welcome to Chiatown
"I just wanted to express my gratitude for the dedication and hard work you've put into the project so far! The 'storytelling first' approach has been incredibly well-received on our end, and it perfectly aligns with the Welcome to Chinatown mission. Thank you for your exceptional efforts!"
Harry
Head of Creative
Welcome to Chiatown