Overview
Happy Monkey Miami is a small business specializing in ethically made toys. This project focused on redesigning a poorly organized website to improve navigation, user control, and overall experience, making it easier for shoppers to find products while building trust in the brand.
My Role
As the UX Designer on a team of three, I led website development and user testing, and collaborated on user research, ideation, and competitive market analysis to ensure solutions aligned with both user needs and business goals.
Problem
The existing website limited user flexibility and lacked clear organization, resulting in confusing navigation and user frustration. Users had difficulty finding products, understanding pricing, or accessing store information.
Goal
Redesign the website to give users greater control and flexibility, simplify navigation, and organize content clearly to create a seamless, intuitive shopping experience that communicates the brand’s values.
Discover
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User Research Insights & Pain Points
We interviewed individuals who regularly shop for children, including parents and family members of new parents. Their feedback revealed several consistent difficulties and expectations:
The homepage felt overwhelming, with too many elements and a lack of visual hierarchy.
Website organization was confusing, making it hard for users to browse or find what they needed.
There was no clear information about the physical store, including its location, hours, or in-store experience.
Price was a key factor in shopping decisions, with most participants having a median gift budget of $50.
Users expressed a strong preference for clear product categorization by age, type, and price.
A dedicated “Gift Ideas” section was a commonly requested feature to simplify decision-making.
Many users cared about the values of the business or store owner, seeking a more personal, trustworthy connection.
The insights guided us toward a design that simplifies navigation, aligns with shopper priorities, and builds trust through transparency.
Define
Rachel, a 36-year-old health-conscious interior designer and mother of two, represents the target audience. She values ethically sourced, educational toys and wants a website that is easy to navigate, trustworthy, and aligned with her values.
Needs: Quick access to trusted products, simple navigation, and convenient home shipping.
Challenges: Overwhelmed by cluttered interfaces, unclear product categorization, and a lack of store transparency.
Insight: Rachel’s journey highlights the importance of organized content, clear categorization, and visible brand values to increase confidence and engagement while shopping.
Click to ViewUser’s Journey
The journey map for Happy Monkey shows Rachel’s key steps and challenges while shopping, helping improve the user experience. The emotional journey map reveals her feelings throughout, guiding a more empathetic design. Together, they highlight a user-focused approach that balances function and empathy
Emotional Journey Map
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Journey Map
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Ideate
To address these pain points, we developed a design strategy focused on navigation, organization, and user engagement:
Product Organization: Sectioned by age, season, price, and brand.
Themed Collections: Grouped products under common themes (e.g., Winter, Safari, Ocean) to simplify browsing.
Discount & Promotion Visibility: Keep users informed about sales and seasonal items.
Gift Ideas Section: Simplifies decision-making for gift shoppers.
Site Map & User Flow: Redesigned flows to minimize steps and reduce confusion.
Site Map
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Userflow
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Lo-Fi
For Happy Monkey, the lo-fi wireframes outlined key elements like product categories, search bar, and cart, without any colors or images. This allowed us to focus on layout, user flow, and information hierarchy before moving into visual design.
Mid-Fi
Mid-fidelity wireframes for Happy Monkey helped define layout and core features—like product categories, search, and cart—before applying visuals. This step ensured functionality was solid before moving into high-fidelity design.
While the main case study focuses on the user experience and strategy behind Happy Monkey, I also developed a playful and cohesive visual direction to bring the brand to life. This includes a style tile, UI components, and high-fidelity screens that reflect the brand’s cheerful, parent-friendly tone.
Validate
Prototype
Heuristic Evaluation & Usability Testing
We applied Jakob Nielsen’s heuristics to identify areas where users lacked control, flexibility, or efficiency. Based on these findings, we refined the navigation, product organization, and feature accessibility.
Usability Testing:
Navigation Success Rate: 75% of users successfully completed key tasks.
Insights: Users were generally able to navigate the site effectively, but features such as promotions and themed collections were sometimes overlooked, indicating a need for clearer visibility and stronger visual cues.
Iteration: To address this, we planned to highlight key features, improve visual hierarchy, and add hover states or microinteractions to guide user attention and encourage engagement.
Next Steps
Make buttons interactive with hover effects.
Refine font styles and color palette for readability.
Highlight the “About Me” section to showcase business values.
Conduct additional competitor analysis and follow-up user testing to validate improvements.
Conclusion & Impact
Clear organization, intuitive navigation, and visible brand values are critical for building trust and driving engagement in an online toy store. The redesigned Happy Monkey website allows users to easily find products, explore themed collections, and connect with the brand, creating a seamless, parent-friendly experience.
Outcome: These improvements are expected to boost customer confidence, satisfaction, and loyalty, while emphasizing the company’s ethical and personal brand values..