Product Catalog
Creating an interactive product catalog
Background
For this project, I was tasked with creating an interactive catalog for a company that sells physical products. I chose to create a catalog for a local bookstore. The goal was to help users find book recommendations and stay up to date with the bookstore. I also wanted to show the advantages a small bookstore could have over amazon.
Planning
To begin the design process, I sketched out some ideas of what I wanted the catalog to look like. These helped me to establish the layout of my catalog. It also got me thinking about what content I needed to start gathering. A good amount of my time went into finding lists of books that I could feature in the app. I then went through and got all the covers and the authors for each book.
Features
Curated Lists
Customers could use the catalog as a place to find their next favorite book. Who better to get recommendations from than your local experts. It also would allow for employees to create lists and recommend their favorite books to the community.
Events/Discover
The discover page is the place for the user to find new featured content. It shows a curated selection of new releases. It can also be used to feature an author/book series. In my example, I created a feature on the author Celeste Ng. It also could be used to announce new upcoming events.
Events are also featured on the discover page. I wanted to make it possible for users to stay up to date on events that are put on by the bookstore. One of the main advantages smaller bookstores have over competitors is their presence in the community. Events show up on the discover page and keep the customer up to date. It also allows customers to feel connected to the bookstore.
Your List
While browsing through the catalog you can save books that you want to look at later. The feature also works for list, so you kind find the list without endless scrolling the discover page. This list will show up in your profile and makes it easy to purchase a saved book.
Conclusion
Overall I really enjoyed working on this catalog. It was a fun challenge trying to figure out how to create a catalog that took advantage of being in the digital space. I tried to create a catalog that would keep customers coming back to find new books as well as events to keep them engaged with the book store.
