Kroger Concept
Discovery
Kroger is a well-known brand with over 100 years of equity. However, in considering what a redesigned homepage might look like, my team was asked to pretend that Kroger has no existing identity. This was primarily a visual study. My role in the redesign was to explore variations for how to present and prioritize new modules in the native app.
Before digging into assumptions about what the purpose of the homepage itself should be, we analyzed our brand’s perception. What are the words that describe us? What do we have to offer? More importantly, what do our customers expect from us? Thinking about our brand at a higher level allowed me to do two things: (1) Identify gaps in our current homepage where the experience did not bring value to our users, and (2) Be more intentional about the specific content we present to users.
The basis of the concept is that we want to portray Kroger as a food authority. We want users to engage with and spend time on the homepage (but not too much time). Users have jobs they want to complete in other parts of the app (building a shopping list, searching for coupons, finding a store, etc), and so homepage is just a conduit to that. How might we introduce bite-sized pieces of content that are easily scannable, yet still useful enough to connect with the user and drive revenue for the business?
Methodology
Once we figured out a content strategy for the homepage, I moved forward with some rough wire sketches. These studies explored different ways we could display and organize components within each of the content sections we had come up with. For example, we needed a section to highlight the different ways a user is able to shop for items within the app: (1) By department (2) By searching (3) From past purchases. Other areas we needed to highlight are recipes, coupons and shopper rewards. All of these elements needed to work together as a unified system to communicate the most value to our users.
Solution & Outcomes
Moving into high fidelity, I began to explore variations in imagery, color and typography for the modules. I designed three different concepts. Concept 1 uses mostly layout and imagery to communicate a strong sense of food authority, while concept 2 explores a more liberal use of color and concept 3 utilizes bolder typography and contrast. Each concept has its own aesthetic considerations but all are meant to communicate similar functionality and elicit brand perception.
These concepts played a role in aligning stakeholders around a common need and vision for a homepage redesign.
Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3
