MiMi GLOBE GOODS
MiMi Globe Goods is a business conceptualised in 2015 by an immigrant for immigrants. The founder and CEO Ming-Ming Tung-Edelman immigrated to America at the age of 16 from Taiwan. She is a pharmacist with a passion for fashion and a certificate in fashion design.
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MiMi Globe Goods aims to empower stay-at-home refugee and immigrant women to become self-sufficient by providing them with the skills and equipment to design, make and market handcrafted fabric jewellery and an opportunity to earn fair liveable wages.
Based in Seattle, Washington, USA, MiMi Globe Goods, is a start-up funded by the Tung-Edelman family, and has been trading for the past 14 months. The last 7 months has seen rapid expansion of the business and consequently the ability to support more refugee artisans. This expansion has been driven by:
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Market Traction - their range of fabric jewellery has been discovered by some exclusive, local, museum gift stores and boutiques.
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Recognition - has won two business awards for social impact bringing much needed cash injection and is currently quarter finalist in Seattle’s largest social venture competition – SVP’s Fast Pitch.​​
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Prominent Partnerships - MiMiGG invited to join the Gates Foundation’s Giving Marketplace holiday bazzar – raising $3000 in two days.
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Media coverage - invited by the Gates Foundation to promote the Giving Marketplace on local TV.
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THE GOAL
MiMiGG's long term vision is to expand its customer base and operations to other US cities in order to support refugee and immigrant artisans in those cities, and to seek and build partnerships with American fashion designers and celebrities sympathetic to the refugee/immigrant cause in order to gain greater market traction across the US.
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THE PROBLEM
I devised the problem statement along the lines of the template in Jeff Gothelf’s Lean UX.
We have observed that
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our current channels are limited to word of mouth, customer promotions (by wearing the jewellery) or non-digital direct marketing with only a negligible percentage being online via the web; and
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that our relationship with existing customers is primarily through assisting them face-to-face with minimum automation.
Problem Statement
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The activities of MiMiGG help refugees to learn a skill, work from home and earn fair wages without the need to make any financial contribution.
This empowers them on their journey to self sufficiency. The sale of their output – the jewellery and donations, funds the activities of MiMiGG.
How might we raise our visibility and be found easily by customers from a wider geographical area within the US (i.e. expand our channels)?
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How might we build an automated self service relationship with our customers that is supported by a direct, personal assistance relationship as and when needed only?
MY ROLE
As the sole UX Consultant, I worked closely with the CEO and some of her board members to scope the project. I conducted all the UX work and produced all the deliverables between mid July and mid-September, 2017.
I also provided business strategy guidance and helped in the preparation of a pitch with presentation slides for Seattle’s SVP – Fast Pitch Competition.
As MiMi Globe Goods was registered to participate in the upcoming IxDA’s Seattle Social Good Series’ hack-a-thon in mid-September, I was nominated to be the lead for the Refugee/Immigrant group, in the preparatory workshops leading to the hack-a-thon.
SSGS Workshop on extracting meaningful insights from user research
SETTING A FRAMEWORK
THE CHALLENGE
Initial sessions with the stakeholder to understand the operations of MiMiGG and its customers revealed that the rapid growth of its business had led to a loss of focused approach and direction. Growth was being driven by external demand and the internal operations of MiMiGG were not set-up to meet this increased demand. MiMiGG not only wanted to expand its customer base to US wide but also intended to expand the range of its offerrings. There were in particular two areas of concern that would impact success.
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The lack of a strategy that would guide the prioritisation of goals and give focus and direction to growth.
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No clear understanding of the value that customers received from the products or the value that MiMiGG wanted to bring to to the customer
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Many unanswered questions remained.
Identifying the Customer
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Who are our customers
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How can they be categorised
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Who gets higher priority
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Why are they our customer
Serving the Customer
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How do we want to serve our customer
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How do our customers want to be served
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What do our customers want from us
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What are their problems
Defining Ourselves
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Who are we
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What are we selling
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What do we want to sell
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How are we selling it
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How do we want to sell it
FOCUS & DIRECTION
We began by identifying key customer segments. We identified 5 but later added the artisan workers as a 6th segment that MiMiGG served.
For each customer segment we identified the current and anticipated future channels of distribution and communication - how each segment wants to be reached.
For each customer segment we defined the current and anticipated types of relationships we wanted to establish with our customers.
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We then took time out from the business model to make some assumptions on the value we brought to each customer segment. I used the Simon Sinek's Golden Circle and the Value Proposition Canvas as tools to lead the stakeholder through this process.
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Assumptions would be validated later through user interviews and other research.
Returning to the business model canvas we completed the remaining blocks with ease. We now had a complete picture of MiMiGG's business model.
MiMi GLOBE GOODS
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
MAKING A START
THE DISCOVERY
The discovery phase effort was aimed at evaluating the current website and other existing work, scoping out the competitor and comparator landscape, understanding client's resources and beginning research on user needs, behaviours and pain points.
COMPETITORS & COMPARATORS
Our research revealed that whilst there were many competitors in the local, handmade jewellery space, none worked with fabric and only very few supported a social cause. That there were other local organisations working with refugees and immigrants to get them employment ready but none that provided employment themselves or in the jewellery making space. These organisations had a good online presence promoting their cause and social engagement with that cause.
I enjoyed checking out the range of local, handmade jewellery vendors.
GETTING CLOSE-UP WITH THE USERS
As a start-up the sample size of users was very small and many of them were new to the product, some of them having barely got their first order in. Users were selected from each of the existing customer segments of Stores and Made-to-Order - special occassions. I also interviewed a key partner.
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The interviews were conducted onsite or via phone in 30 minute sessions. The questions were designed to cover 4 areas
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Interviewee profile - to assess weight of input
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Thoughts on MiMiGG the organisation
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Thoughts on the product (jewellery)
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Perception of the Competition
The intent was to understand what characteristics of the product/organisation induced customers to engage with MiMiGG, the problems customers encountered in this engagement and gather customer input on how their interactions could be improved.
GETTING USERS ON THE SAME PAGE
Through careful analysis of interview responses, I identified common motivational factors that influenced the purchase of our jewellery and common themes in the needs and pain points of our customers. I used affinity mapping techniques in a workshop with the stakeholder and UX designers from the Seattle Social Good Series, to group and categories these motivational factors and needs, We prioritised the categories by placing them on a chart that showed the level of importance of each category to both the customer and MiMiGG's business goals.
INFLUENCERS & NEEDS
The research revealed that whilst customers were influenced by different motivational factors for engaging with MiMiGG products and the organisation, there was one unifying factor that made our jewellery unique and attractive. This was the versatility with which the jewellery could be customised to fit in to a theme or special occassion.
"By selecting Asian themed fabric, the jewellery made by refugees, fits in really well with the Asian theme of the museum and the mission of the museum - to support under privileged communities"
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Senior Front House Manager - The Wing Luke Musuem of the Asian Pacific American Experience
Other influencers for customers
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pricing - enabled offering discounts without loss of target profit margins
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support of a social cause
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local, artisan handmade and unique product
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glamorous and sophisticated appearance
Key influencers for Stakeholder
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support of social cause - funding for refugee/immigrant initiative & employment
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fabric - donated scraps essential low cost structure​
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Key needs for customers and Stakeholder
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functional and usable website
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automated browse and buy
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Key needs for customers
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information re social cause, jewellery design and materials
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engagement with artisans through onsite demonstrations
BUILDING EMPATHY
Based on the research, especially key motivational factors, I developed personas in order to build further empathy with each customer segment archetype. During this process, it became clear that as a recent start-up, one of the primary users was the organisation itself. Consequently, a persona was developed depicting the stakeholder. Personas were constantly used to hypothesise on behaviour, map out user flows, create list of features and drive design and prioritisation decisions.
SOLUTION IDEATION
I used these personas to lead stakeholders into a better understanding of the behaviour and needs of their customers. Using the research we identified key pain points for each persona and made a list of possible solution features. This exercise clearly identified the need for a digital solution that would need to be supported by a number of non-digital ( ) solution features, in order to be successful.
Primary Persona
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Jewellery Lover
Pre-Made Range Customer
LEARNINGS
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Customers value the versatility of MiMiGG jewellery. The opportunity to customise is a valuable commodity
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Better communication of social cause will lead to increased community engagement, funding and partnership opportunities
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Stores find MiMiGG's pricing structure very attractive. This is enable by MiMiGG's low cost structure
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Credibility is increased through transparency, increased communication and customer testimonials
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Automation of order and payment processes is essential to achieve economies of scale in the current landscape of rapid expansion
"If we allow people to come into this country as refugees, then we need to enable them to support themselves. I think what MiMi is doing is wonderful and I want to encourage and help this initiative succeed"
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Ann - Customer - Special Occassion Custom Order & Donor
ACTIONING OUR LEARNING
DIGITAL SOLUTION
A website that clearly communicates MiMiGG's mission, values and operations
A website that offers personalised, automated, self service relationship with customers, with access to direct personalised service where needed
A website developed with well thought out SEO keywords
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NON-DIGITAL SOLUTION
Design & supply information brochures and hang tags wherever MiMiGG's jewellery is displayed
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Artisan demonstrations at store venues and community events
IMPACT
Attract donors, volunteers, strategic partnerships and socially conscious customers to invest emotionally in MiMiGG's vision
Caters for customers requiring different levels of personal service and assistance.
Enables a a geographically wider customer base.
Free MiMiGG management to focus on growing business opportunities and partnerships to better serve the refugee/immigrant artisans and community
Increase online visibility and findability by customers
Increase visibility and recognition
Communication of social cause to customers and staff at stores -> increased customer engagement
Tells a story about the piece of jewellery -> emotional investment
Increase visibility and promote refugee/immigrant case
Community engagement with MiMiGG mission and cause
Attract donors, volunteers, strategic partners and socially conscious customers
VISUALISING END TO END
Collaborating with the client, we worked through the workflow of each customer segment, carefully using the personas to visualise each touchpoint in the user's journey. Crafting these user journeys was time consuming but was the best way to conceptualise the user's experience
STORE
USER FLOWS
THE VISION
DESIGNING THE EXPERIENCE
The design phase was driven by our learnings from the discovery phase and the knowledge and empathy gained from mapping user flows.
RUTHLESS PRIORITISATION
Made To Order
Due to time and resource constraints it was necessary to adopt a phased approach. Whilst being able to customise the jewellery by selecting the fabric, stitch colour etc. was what made our jewellery unique and most valuable to every customer segment, this would be the most complex to implement digitally. This personalised service could continue to be provided to Store customers with relative simplicity for the moment and fully customised orders by individuals was very rare at the moment. Consequently, the Made to Order line of jewellery would not be catered for in the earlier phases of digital transformation.
Stores
Whilst our largest customer segment was the gift stores, further research with a larger sample of customers was required to validate this segment's pain points and needs. Consequently the automation of store transactions would be done in the next phase.
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Legacy
The Legacy range was considered by the client, as the next largest potential market. By its very nature this range would require a higher duty of care in handling customer orders, requiring the design of more complex processes. In order to enable a faster online presence and path forward to visibility, the Legacy orders would be digitalised in phase 3 after completion of Stores.
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This Phase
The priority was to increase visibility and expand to engage with customers and supporters beyond the shores of Seattle and Washington state to US wide. This drove the design solution:
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to promote and communicate the social cause of MiMiGG
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to enable community engagement in various capacities - donors, volunteers, testimonials, customers
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to establish credibility through transparency and sharing of information about the people, corporate standing and social impact of MiMiGG.
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to enable a functionally smooth and delightful experience for donors and volunteers in their engagement with MiMiGG
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to enable a functionally smooth and delightful experience for customers of our Pre-Made and Celebrity Lovers range in completing their selection and purchase tasks.
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DEFINING THE TONAL EXPERIENCE
Understanding and sharing the passion and conviction of Ming-Ming the CEO and founder, helped me develop a clear vision of the tonal requirements of the design. I developed some underlying principles that would set the tone of the design
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Tell a story
Ming-Ming was passionate that every piece of jewellery should have a story to tell. In fact this was a key focus of her legacy and celebrity lovers range and she actively pursued customers for the story behind their legacy fabric, so that this could be woven into the design of the jewellery.
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Community
Create community with a common purpose and values
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Building Bridges
A bridge of empathy between the host American people and new refugee/immigrant settlers.
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Connection
Promote connection, engagement and emotional investment,
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COMMUNITY
TELL A STORY
BRIDGE
CONNECTION ENGAGEMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT CONNECTION ENGAGEMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT CONNECTION ENGAGMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT CONNECTION ENGAGEMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT CONNECTION ENGAGEMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT CONNECTION ENGAGMENT EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT E
STRUCTURING THE EXPERIENCE
The results of the current website and competitor/comparator evaluations, being an intimate part of every persona's journey flow and regular sessions with the stakeholder, gave me insight into categorising and segmenting tasks and aligning content and features. The key objective was to
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raise the hierarchy of social cause, corporate profile and opportunity for the community/customers to contribute
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offer a seamless flow for tasks to be completed; and
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the addition of new ranges of products
BRANDING THE EXPERIENCE
Raising the visibility also meant that we needed to create a memorable brand that adequately communicated the mission of MiMiGG. The logo had been designed by a University of Washington student in collaboration with Ming-Ming. It reflected the global vision the founder had for her mission and the love she had in her heart for those who travelled across the seas to find a new home due to adversity. However, the current logo did not communicate who the organisation was or its social intent. With this is mind I conducted a design studio with stakeholders to explore ideas and tweak the current logo. The resulting logo had an identifying name "MiMi Globe Goods" and a tag line that communicated what they did and how they did it - impact lives by embracing beauty.
ORIGINAL LOGO
NEW LOGO WHITE BACKGROUND
NEW LOGO BLACK BACKGROUND
CREATING THE EXPERIENCE
I conducted a collaborative design session with stakeholders and other interested parties to design primary pages of the website. The learnings gathered from the discovery phase, the visual representation of each persona's user flow, the behavioural affinities of the personas, the information architecture and the tonal objectives all fed into this process. Whilst very low fidelity sketched wireframes were created at this point, due to the impending geographical separation of the project team, we chose to proceed directly to creating digital prototypes which could be shared without physical limitations. I used Axure to create and share versions of the prototype.
Floating ever-present "Donate" button
Opportunity to connect, engage and invest emotionally
Social impact of MiMiGG
Clear mission statement
Carousal showing product range. Easy access to shop.
More Opportunities to engage with and contribute to MiMiGG's mission
Emotional investment
Read artisan stories directly from here.
Clear and concise navigation
Functional
SHOP
ENGAGE
DONATE
Client's Response to Prototype
"This is sooo.... intuitive. Now I understand why we need to build and design a website from scratch to engage with our customers"
"Thank you so much for your incredible talent and generosity for helping me with this project dear to my heart, I appreciate it very much!"
THE REFINEMENT
USABILITY TESTING
Sadly the prototype along with all other documentation was handed over to the client, for testing with users and further refinement. I was unable to be involved in this next phase of the project due to geographical relocation. However, I have continued to support the client by phone and email, especially in refining and adding to her pitch for the Seattle SVP Fast Pitch Competition and I am certain that this is not the end of my contribution or relationship with MiMi Globe Goods.
SVP - FAST PITCH COMPETITION
EXTRA SUPPORT
My role in the client's preparation for this has been to help create presentation slides to go with the pitch. Having a good understanding of the business and sharing the client's passion for her cause, I was able to help structure her pitch and offer guidance on the approach and organisation of the information. Later I also worked on the presentation slides to professionalise and refine the final presentation.
"I can't thank you enough for your awesome support. I went on the stage in front of judges with no trepidation, knowing I was prepared and well supported. I am so grateful for your guidance"
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Min-Min Tung-Edelman - Founder & CEO MiMi Globe Goods
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