Marfa Maid Dairy is a goat milk dairy that produces artisan cheese for local restaurants, groceries and Farmstand Marfa. In addition to selling high-end dairy products, they offer cheese making classes and farm tours. I was tasked with improving their eCommerce website to connect Marfa Maid to the local community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main objective for the project was to maintain the brand image: “small shop” appeal and great customer service while providing an opportunity to showcase products and services.

My Role: UX Researcher + Designer

Duration: 2 Weeks

Photo Credits: Unsplash, marfamaid.com

DIVE INTO MARFA

Known as, “The Capital of Quirkiness” -CBS, Marfa is a high desert town in west Texas. The landscape is vast. Open spaces are surrounded by sprawling ranches and raggedy mountains in the distance. With around 1,800 residents, you will often find ranchers, hipsters and tourists convening together around town. Artists and artisans flock to Marfa — a contemporaty cultural center away from the buzz of civilzation. 

Marfa Maid Dairy is a community staple. Their little corner in Marfa showcases how passionate they are for making quality products and exercising sustainable living practices.

GETTING TO KNOW THE USERS

I interviewed 3 individuals between the ages of 31-65 who have experience living in small communities around dairy farms and created an Affinity Map.

Key insights from the interviews:

• The best part of living in a small town is the community support
  
  
• People enjoy attending community farm events for the fresh food, good spirit, cute animals and innovative farm practices
  
  
• Farmers work hard and need our full support
  
  
• Buying fresh local cheese is the easiest and best option
  

WHO WE ARE DESIGNING FOR

Based on my initial research and user interviews, I created two user personas to build emathy and identify a design direction.

Meet Kayla, mother of two, likes to visit the dairy with her young sons and prioritizes buying local.

Meet Alix, the cheese connoisseur from LA who has dreams of visiting Marfa’s art scene but will settle for taking a Marfa Dairy online cheese making class while the Pandemic prevents an in-person visit.

HOW USERS  EXPERIENCE THE DAIRY

I created 2 high level user flows to help determine how many screens are needed, what order they should appear in, and what components need to be present in the website.

Visiting a Dairy

This user flow represents Kayla’s typical trip to Marfa Maid Dairy. She browses their fresh cheese selection, treats herself to ice cream and always takes time to watch the cheese making process with her sons.

Online Ricotta Cheese Making Class

This user flow follows the steps Alix taking an online cheese making class.

COMPETITORS OFFER SIMILAR SERVICES

I compared what services and features similar dairy farms offer on their websites and during in-person visits to create a feature analysis.

Key insights from the analysis:

• All of them offer tours, classes and a chance to meet the animals in person.
  
• All have an online checkout feature.
• None of their websites provide a way for customers to purchase dairy products online. 

The Problem

Marfa Maid Dairy needs a full immersion farm experience because the Pandemic has caused customers to miss out on the owners passionate farming practices.

The Solution

Provide customers with a way to visit the farm so they can continue to experience the essence of Marfa Maid Dairy.

MAKING THINGS FINDABLE

To ensure that customers can find products easily, and in turn have a more intuitive online experience, I created a site map defining the overall structure of Marfa Maid’s website. As a basis for its architecture I used the results of a card sorting activity from 10 participants and insights from competitor websites.

DESIGNING FOR CLEAN + INTUITIVE NAVIGATION

After organizing my insights, I began the interface ideation process starting with sketching, designing mid-fidelity wireframes using Figma and ending with a high-fidelity prototype. With a simple and clean aesthetic, earthy and vibrant colors and easy and intuitive navigation, the website could be accessed by a range of customers.

USER TESTING WAS SUCCESSFUL +  INSIGHTFUL

I conducted 5 usability tests to evaluate how users engage with the website and test if it was addressing the primary needs of the client. The feedback I received in the process helped solidify the functionality of the website and address additional visual design tweaks.  

“Navigation bar drop down is too big and clunky”

>>Adding a horizontal navigation looks cleaner and more space efficient









“Color palette and images are captivating and visually appealing”


>>Updating the colors, information alignment, and font sizing resulted in better visual hierarchy.   









“Where is PayPal? That is always my go-to payment method.”


>>Adding a PayPal feature gives users another option for fast and easy payment.

FINAL DESIGN

Marfa Maid Dairy’s new virtual tour experience and their updated and intuitive online shopping features allow their loyal customers to tune in to MMD’s passionate farming practices.

New customers can join the MMD family from afar and learn about sustainable farming, step-by-step cheesemaking or watch cute baby goats jump and play.
 
...and you can’t go wrong ordering a fresh rind of cheese!