The Stowe Mountain Resort's website required some serious adjustments to their user experience. Not only did it lack a sense of direction but it didn't even work on mobile. Buying a ticket online to go skiing should be straight-forward and simple. Here is the process I went through for redesigning the Stowe One Store website.

It began with process flow charts of the original website, using simple scenarios where users make specific purchases from different parts of the site.

From there I researched a few sites with solid ordering processes, for inspiration on how good user experience should work/feel.

Furthermore, I researched Stowe's direct competitors to find out how their experiences were better or worse, until I found what I thought to be the best ordering processes.

Below are four fictional personas of "typical users" that would use the site, all with different goals.

With the research and analysis phases completed, I began planning for the construction of the site with quick desktop and mobile wireframes of the different site pages.

After Determining how the site worked via the wireframes, I designed mock ups up what it would actually look like. I ended up proceeding with the second set of mockups.

Once the site was completed, I had multiple people test it using tasks that a typical user would want to accomplish. I observed and recorded their process to see where I could improve the overall user experience of my redesigned site.

Scenario 1

- Learn about Evolution Stowe Card
- Buy New Card
- Buy 1 Adult lift ticket for 2 consecutive days

User did not check boxes when choosing adult tickets. It was unclear that it was required.

Scenario 2

- Given the ESC Number VC18, reload your existing card
- Purchase 3 FT College Student Stowe7+ Season passes
- Purchase 3 Adult Snowboard rentals and helmets

User did not know how to proceed from purchasing season passes to finding rental equipment. The continue shopping option may not have been prominent enough.

Scenario 3

- Given the ESC Number VC18, connect to bypass
- Purchase 2 Adult and 2 Child lift tickets starting March 26, for 3 non-consecutive days
- Purchase 2 Adult and 2 Child helmets

Once again, users did not know to check boxes when selecting the certain age. Otherwise there was no problems.

Scenario 4

***ON MOBILE
- Purchase New card
- Make it so you can access lifts at any time
- Purchase 1 Couples ticket for Cross-Country Skiing

The mobile version of the site is a little wonky due to some errors in my code. One of the nav buttons didn't lead to the right page, and purchasing a new card was impossible. The other two tasks were possible however.

Scenario 5

***ON MOBILE
- Returning user (VC18)
- Purchase 2 Senior Lift Tickets starting April 8, for 5 consecutive days
- Rent 2 Adult Ski Packages

It wasn't until the users were on the mobile version that they selected the checkbox for the age. It must be the spacing on the desktop. The calendar isn't well positioned on mobile and therefore becomes a bit irrelevant.

In Conclusion...

There are several things that need to be fixed on both the mobile and desktop versions of the site. One of the biggest issues is that when you create a new card you are taken straight to lift tickets, so I'm thinking there may need to be a back button or a page in between. There are also a few areas which seem like dead ends that could use some more direction. Along with a few other spacing issues and programming bugs, it has a long way to go.