INTRODUCTION
Mitti Good Gifts: E-commerce Website on Shopify
Creating an accessible shopping experience for products made by people with special abilities for socially conscious users. This was part of the work I did during internship. The pilot phase of 'Mitti Good Gifts' was launched with 50 NGOs partners (who create livelihoods for people with disabilities / acid attack survivors / women rescued from trafficking and other vulnerable communities) in August 2021.
DURATION
5 Months (April 2021 - Aug 2021)
MY ROLE
User Experience Designer and Developer Intern
BREAKDOWN
ORGANIZATION
THEMES
E-Commerce, Inclusive, Economic Disparity
MENTOR
Subashree Krishnan (Mitti Strategic Advisor), Nikhil Iyengar
MITTI SOCIAL INITIATIVES FOUNDATION
A non profit organization committed to the cause of employment and livelihoods for people with special needs. They works towards economic independence and dignity for adults with physical, intellectual and psychiatric disabilities and persons from other vulnerable communities. The organisation’s outreach initiatives also help create awareness about inclusion and disability rights.
Their first initiative is Mitti Cafe, which are managed by hundreds of adults with special needs has served over 10 million meals in over 35 cafés within institutions such as Supreme Court of India, Bangalore International Airport, and multiple corporate companies.
Makers from different NGO's manufacturing variety of products to be sold on Mitto Good Gifts
PROBLEM
During COVID-19, due to the surge in remote work, the in-house cafes embedded within corporate spaces began to struggle, and events showcasing the unique creations of people with special needs were canceled. NGOs supporting this noble cause found themselves with significant inventories of diverse products, spanning clothing, accessories, and food items, among others, with limited avenues for distribution.
In response to this critical situation, Mitti Social Initiatives Foundation decided to start an e-commerce platform "Mitti Good Gifts" to sell these products under their umbrella. Due to the gravity of the situation, they wanted a quick launch within 3-4 months to help the NGO's and people with special needs that were part of it to earn dignified living in the post COVID world.
Makers from different NGO's manufacturing variety of products to be sold on Mitti Good Gifts
PERSONA
There are total of 7 personas: 2 Mitti Team Members, 1 NGO Partner, 4 Consumers ( 50+ years, 20-30 years, 30-50 years and Corporates)
RESEARCH: Similar Websites
Conducted a competitive research of organizations and websites that were selling similar products attached with community upliftment.
Noting points: How the cause was highlighted, how consumers's contribution was quantified, how coportates could showcase their contributions, how the products were organised by causes, and most of all how the message of inclusivity was put forward in subtle manner.
Logos of websites that were part of the competitive research.
RESEARCH: Shopify
Research of various themes on Shopify to find and suggest the one which matches most of the criterias. Cosen theme was Impulse.
PLANNING: Site Map
First step was to understand the requirements of Mitti and what all they wanted to put on the e-commerce website. After multiple sessions this site map was finalised. As the development progressed, this map was also used to keep a track of pages in different stages of development.
DEVELOPMENT: Categorising
The pilot phase had over 500 products that were sorted in 9 main categories. For usability, all categories were visible in the mega menu on hover.
DEVELOPMENT: Wireframing
Wireframing was done before starting development on shopify to understand the position of content. We had made a priority list of what was important to highlight and in the wireframes, I tried various ways to highlight the.
For example, Mitti wanted to highlight the cause and areas of disability in subtle manner. One solution for this was to sell by different causes such as women in need, acid attack survivors, children with special needs, etc.
DEVELOPMENT: Accessibility
-
Tab: Keyboard accessibility for users with vision or motor impairment
-
Detailed alt text for visually impaired and screen readers
-
Colour contrast for colour blind and visually impaired
-
Font as per WCAG guidelines.
BACKHAND: Setting up & Guides
Guides were made to request specific text and photographs. Most of the content would be sourced by NGO partners and the guides were designed with exact specification so that the non-tech savvy individuals could also understand and deliver high quality data.
To have an organised and systematic data pool, these guides were also converted into google forms to ensure the important details could be gathered.
We noticed that even after having a seperate section for the product details, the data was very inconsistent so the forms were also edited to ensure seperate sections. This made the onboarding of new products an easy process for Mitti's onboarding manager.
FINAL SITE: Mitti Good Gifts
The website of Mitti Good Gifts was created and designed to empower individuals who are often overlooked because they are different. They have to work harder than most to earn respectable livings and to support their families.
Part of handing over this website was also to set up the backhand and make the product upload process seamless. Shiprocket was vendor platform used and the NGO's were given detailed guides about how to manage their inventory.
The main goal of the design was to provide an accessible and user-centric solution. This was achieved through the minimalistic website.
This website gave the opportunity to 50 NGO's and over 200 people with special needs the opportunity to showcase their skills and sell products.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
This project was part of work done for Mitti Social Initiative Foundation during an Internship. Get in touch for more details.
1. Mitti Good Gifts Website: The site has been updated
2. Mitti Social Initiatives Foundation: Parent company
3. User Testing Session: Connect with me for more details about this.