Bed Bath & Beyond

Prompt

How might we help students and parents with the planning process for college shopping?

Skills

UX Research, UI/UX, Visual Design

Tools

Figma, Illustrator, After Effects

Duration

8 Weeks

Solution

Budgeting Envelopes

A budgeting system that allows parents to better manage how the student spends their money by sending funded envelopes that are meant to be spent on certain categories of household items.

Parent Screen

Parent Setup

The process starts with a parent sending their kid a budget envelope.

Budget envelopes are found though the gifts tab. Preset amounts work like checkboxes for selecting and unselecting.

Budget total updates live upon adding funds to the cart.

Student Screens

Receive Screen

Students start by redeeming envelopes from email or text by tapping on the redeem link. Upon doing so the BBB App will open and this screen will play.

Budget Envelopes are accessible through the ‘account’ tab once this screen closes.

In-store Scan and Checkout

Student scans items in-stores and picks which which envelope will cover for that item.

Upon adding item to the cart, there will be a live update of the student’s total budget and the item will be recorded to the selected envelope’s history.

Students can checkout anytime cash-free at the self checkout.

Requests and Checkout

Checkout is disabled until the student’s balance is no longer negative. They must send requests for items that aren’t covered by their budget.

The student must select who to send requests for unpaid items to. A response comes back immediately and the student can proceed to self-checkout.

Unselected items will be removed from the cart.

User Research

I had an interested in budgeting but needed research to prove whether or not it was a topic of concern when shopping.

Unneeded Items

The more parents help financially, the more likely it is for the student to buy unneeded/unused items.

Design Choice: If a parent helps more financially with shopping, they should play a bigger role in the shopping experience. 

Student’s Choice

76.9% of suggestions are initiated buy the student.

Design Choice: Audience is aimed at students for the in-store shopping experience.

Impulsive Buying

For people who buy things they don't use or need, they are 3x more likely to do so if they shop in-store.

Design Choice: Target the in-store shopping experience.

Takeaway

This was a solo project that pushed me into uncomfortable waters but I learned to be comfortable with unfamiliarty. I talked to many strangers online and in-person for research, something I had never done before. I’m glad to have tried UX research found joy in thinking of design solutions to bring a product to life with animations and flows.

As someone who enjoys motion, the best part of this project was prototyping the screens and little animations. It was an honor to apply my design skills to a real situation within the industry and recieve professional feedback from the BBBY team.