American Dream

Company
Apple

Project
American Dream Mall

Background
American Dream Mall partnered with Apple to re-envision the in-person shopping experience.

Responsibilities
UX Research
Visual UI Design

Brief Overview

Design Challenge

Re-envision what the in-person shopping experience can be. Partnering with Apple, the American Dream Mall aimed to be a state-of-the-art solution for in-person shopping and attractions. American Dream Mall is the 2nd largest mall in America—outside of its massive number of stores, accessibility to the stores and managing events and attractions had to be considered and personalized for each visitor.

Interview Questions

Since the Mall of America family owns the American Dream Mall.
We visited the Mall of America and interviewed visitors in person:

How often do you visit large malls or shopping centers like American Dream?
What do you typically look for in a shopping mall app?
How do you prefer to discover new stores or attractions at malls?
How do you feel about personalizing your shopping experience?
What are your thoughts on using mobile devices or apps for managing mall visits?
How important is it for you to have real-time navigation and smart itineraries?
Have you used mobile wallets or wearables like Apple Watch for reservations? If so, how was the experience?
How do you feel about sharing your itinerary with friends or family in group outings?
What challenges do you encounter in mall visits regarding finding information or navigating the mall?
What other features would you expect in a mall app for an enhanced experience?

Aggregated Empathy Map

Persona's

I created the personas below based on research, survey questions, and empathy maps.
They provide an overview of our users and the pain points we must address.

Problem Statement:

Family-oriented visitors to large malls like the American Dream Mall struggle with efficient navigation, group coordination, and finding child-friendly, engaging activities. They often feel overwhelmed by the size of the space and the lack of real-time, personalized solutions to manage family outings effectively.

Hypothetical Solution:

Create a family-focused mobile app that offers real-time navigation, tailored itineraries for kids' activities, family-friendly store recommendations, and a group coordination feature to track and communicate with family members throughout the mall. The app could include quick checkout options and personalized promotions to simplify the experience for busy parents.

Initial sketches

After extensive user interviews with visitors of the Mall of America and other in-person shopping experiences, we conducted multiple brainstorming sessions with stakeholders and Apples EDL (Experimental Design Lab) team. I produced the sketches below for approval from these sessions before moving into high fidelity designs for testing.

On-boarding Experience

Upon opening the application, customers can personalize their experience based on their interests, which will help provide a better experience on their home screen.

Personalized Home Screen

A personalized home screen will be presented to them based on the information a customer provided during onboarding. This screen would showcase Stores, Attractions, and info based on their location, leading Restaurants, and increased customer engagement by increasing discoverability.

Attractions

Detailed information for every available attraction and event is listed, with the ability to purchase and manage tickets/reservations. In addition to working tickets and reservations in-app, customers can add to their Apple wallet if they prefer to use their Apple watch for entry.

Itinerary Management

To increase app adoption, we wanted to provide a way for groups to manage their time at the American Dream Mall. Based on a customer's favorite retailers, reservations, or ticketed events, a "smart" itinerary will be generated based on the customer's location. In addition, this itinerary can be shared with family and friends, allowing groups to explore the mall individually without the concern of losing their party members.

Venue & Search

We reimagined the static directory & search experience by implementing an intelligent search feature to encourage discoverability and offer a personalized experience and an interactive guide showing the customer's current location.

Final Product Demo

Key findings

User Research: Conduct interviews and surveys with families to gather insights on their specific needs and pain points when visiting malls after launch.
Define Features: Based on user feedback, prioritize features like navigation, activity suggestions, and coordination tools for families.
Testing: Conduct usability testing with target users to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments.
Launch Plan: Develop a marketing strategy to promote the app and encourage downloads among mall-goers.
Continuous Improvement: Gather user feedback post-launch to refine features and enhance user experience over time.