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Tools: Figma
Focus: Product Design, UX
Color Palette Tool
An idea for art store e-Commerce to boost customer confidence in buying things like paint online.
The Problem
Artists often don’t purchase large quantities of materials online - even if they are a veteran of the craft and know what they want.
I reached out to 10 artists through Instagram, 5 responded with largely similar sentiment - they like to see and feel their options in person. This was true even for artists who are buying the same the same products.
Customer confidence has long been an issue of eCommerce. So I wanted to challenge myself with how I could boost customer confidence in a creative space like an art’s store.
Solution
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Filtering options for the product color offerings.
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An overlay that displays your color selections for a product and allows you to adjust quantities before adding to your cart.
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Giving customers the opportunity to save palettes for repeat purchases.
Existing Tools
There are online retailers that will allow you to search and buy the paint color you are looking for as an individual product. For example, on Amazon as shown in the screenshot.
Others will let you add quantities of each color individually in the long list of color options. Allowing you to more efficiently shop for colors of the same product.
Lastly, some retailers display an overlay of your color selections from the long list of colors. With both a universal 'Add To Cart' button as well as individual quantity adjustment and 'Add To Cart' buttons, customers have the flexability to work through the list or through their cart.
So what?
I wanted to elevate these ideas into something that would be helpful for artists of all levels. Something that would bring in veterans of their craft, comfortable in their current in-store shopping methods.
Some of the specific issues that arose were:
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Comparing product
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Seeing the ‘true’ color
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Knowing alternative options available
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Scrolling through a long list
The main improvements I’ve decided to implement are:
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Saving palettes
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Gradient function
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Color catalogue filtering
Catalogue Filtering
Having some color catalogues reach over 100 unique colors, I thought filtering the list would allow customers to more confidently navigate their options and make their final selection, while speeding up the process.
Color Gradients
Once colors have been selected and added to the palette, customers have the option to remove and change colors, as well as see a gradient between two of the color selections. In order to remediate the ability to look and feel the product, gradients will give a better look at how colors look together.
Final List
From this overlay, they can add the colors, a maximum of 12, to a purchasing list where they adjust quantities. A final view to consider your color selection before you add to your bag. An extra step worth the comfort for purchases larger than the overlay's capacity.
With the last additional feature, saving palettes, customers can easily organize their color selections, update lists, and easily repurchase go-to colors.
Moving Forward
Thinking further, the overlay could go a level deeper and distinguish between brands of a product, so you could create a multi-medium palette.
There are certainly other ways to remediate the physical arts and crafts shopping experience. Looking at photographs of examples of the colors in use or a tool that allows artists to use the product on a stencil of some kind, for example.
Beyond color selection, the tool could also be used for textiles and building out palettes for the interior design and fashion spaces. An incredible task for a developer and data management teams, more in depth research would determine its true worth.