FENTY - Information Architecture
Sometimes it’s all about the appearance of a website, so how could we ensure usability and user-centred design were incorporated? This was a fantastic example of the marriage between design and usability. Visibility of interesting and engaging content, via slick functionality, was key to the architecture of this website. A user is expected to explore, browse, and become fully immersed in a luxurious, creative environment, without cognitive overload, whilst still completing core actions such as browse, search, checkout, and account interaction.
Inspired by a worldwide community beyond traditional boundaries, FENTY embraces a fundamental freedom: a freedom from convention and rules.
Founder, CEO and Artistic Director: Robyn Rihanna Fenty. LVMH
Brief
To architect an online store delivering an inspirational, luxurious, and exciting experience like no other. Offering clients the ability to browse, collect, save, and purchase goods across multiple platforms.
The Challenge
Releases are dropped and made available at set times, which makes the whole process of buying time-sensitive. The likelihood of items running out is very real, so if you want to be seen in an item, you need to buy it immediately. In many instances, this is a place where people will be shopping for that one special item that they will cherish and adore for many years to come.
Cross-interaction between social media platforms and the site was vital to deliver a seamless shopping experience.
Therefore, the shop needed to be very visual and interactive, focusing on individuality, the beauty of each product, and instant acquisition.
responsibilities & Achievements
Lead IA, delivering a unique architecture.
Investigate and advise on the organisation of site content.
Proposal of inspirational taxonomy.
Technical investigation into the eCommerce process.
Creation and delivery of system process flows, navigation design and client-facing technical wireframes using Azure and Omnigraffle.
Inclusion of international multi-site and location functionality.
Rapid, agile working environment across multiple teams and work streams promoting complete cross-country collaboration.
Seamless remote working throughout.
User Experience process
The results of the UX process were fed directly into the developing IA. Functional wireframes were produced detailing exact technical requirements and expectations of the functionality within the page. A responsive approach was required, which delivered mobile-first wireframes. As an agile project, daily contact with the agency team was maintained throughout, completing core requirements but also allowing the project to develop naturally.
An intuitive and modern approach to the site navigation was put forward, along with in-page explorative navigation offering multiple ways to interact and navigate the content.
Multiple architectural structures expressed within the site were dependent on the content requirements. Therefore, product pages work with a strict hierarchy of information, pushing the user to investigate and buy, compared to the release list pages, which are designed to maintain engagement and attention through scrolling and page exploration.
Bold images, large videos, and cool graphics enhance the content throughout. In turn, this aids the user experience and interaction via functionality such as galleries, accordions, interactive forms, etc.
Conclusion
Fenty had to stand out from the crowd right from the start, offering an exceptional, unique online experience, which it did, but sadly the business requirements competed with the user needs, and not long after launch it was clear that the audience for these “last minute” products were not, as expected. This highlighted that the client was not fully aware of their users, and the pre-testing was not thorough enough, solidifying that User Experience investigation is an integral part of the full project life-cycle, and not just wireframing to deliver a beautiful design.