Lakeshore Learning
🇺🇸 Carson, CA, United States
Senior UX Designer collaborating with a vibrant e-commerce team to support both B2B and B2C customers.
Wearing many hats, from front-end development of UI components to UX design and illustration.
Impact Areas
Education, Teacher Support, Special Needs Support, Classroom Design, Toys & Games.
Tools
Adobe Creative Suite, InVision, VS Code (HTML, CSS, JS, Knockout.js), JIRA, Adobe AEM, Oracle CMS
Clients
Direct B2B & B2C
0
Sales increase in the first year post-launch.
0
Lakeshore becomes a billion dollar company.
0
Increase in checkout conversion rate.
0
Positive customer feedback.
Engineered for endurance
The work our team accomplished at Lakeshore has proven to be incredibly enduring. Many of the features we developed are still live and functional on the site today. I loved working at Lakeshore Learning, and it fills me with joy and nostalgia to see our hard work continue to power the site and provide customers with a great user experience.
Our sprint schedule was divided between creating new pages, running homepage marketing campaigns, routine maintenance and refactoring of the UI and codebase, and developing supplemental materials such as classroom guides, interactive worksheets, and special event pages to promote Lakeshore Learning stores.
Search results page (SRP)
During Lakeshore’s major e-commerce platform rebuild, I was tasked with developing the complex search results page, utilizing an updated Oracle-backed faceted search. This required not only designing components to be mobile-responsive and backwards compatible (all the way to IE7) but also ensuring the code was lightweight enough to deliver fast, reliable, and consistent results.
Product Detail Page (PDP)
The Product Detail Page (PDP), though it appears simple, is a core component of the Lakeshore site with critical dependencies across various front-end and back-end systems. During its redesign and rebuild, I was tasked with developing the horizontal and vertical carousels, multi-select dropdowns, and an updated customer review feed.
Vertical carousels on the PDP were required to scale responsively, display images from our CDN, detect optimal display resolution, and function backwardly to IE7.
Many of the products on Lakeshore’s e-commerce site offer multiple variants. Previously, a cluttered radio-style selector was used for option selection. As part of the site overhaul, I was tasked with building a dynamic multi-select dropdown that interacted with the vertical slider by updating the hero image for the product.
Horizontal carousels needed to be redesigned and rebuilt from scratch to accommodate a wide range of screen sizes. This was a significant challenge, as the carousels had to scale properly for mobile devices without breaking. Additionally, there was a requirement for mobile carousels to display both even and uneven numbers of images, with the latter encouraging users to continue scrolling by showing a partial image as a visual cue.
Feature Pages
In addition to creating, maintaining, and iteratively refactoring major site features, we also developed standalone experiences to support Lakeshore’s commitment to teachers and parents. One such project I led was the Special Needs Product Guide, where I was responsible for designing mobile-responsive pages, icons, typography, and banners to promote the guide.
Icons created for Lakeshore’s Special Needs Product Guide.
Challenges & Successes
Challenge #1
Scaling our e-commerce site to Oracle CMS during a significant site migration while adapting to rapid changes and learning new technologies on the job.
Learnings
To enhance customer support, the Lakeshore B2C site underwent a major migration to an Oracle-based CMS. This process involved mastering Oracle’s CMS tools and effectively utilizing Knockout.js on the front end to serve site components efficiently. While some existing areas of the site could be ported directly, others that required interactions with additional tools, such as Adobe CDNs, necessitated either significant refactoring or a complete overhaul—particularly concerning the varying layers of product imagery and sliders on the site.
Successes
Some of my favorite memories come from collaborating with colleagues to troubleshoot issues with Knockout.js—whether it was figuring out why a piece of code wasn’t working or discovering why it functioned despite our expectation that it shouldn’t! We took immense pride in bringing our designs (as well as those of the wider Lakeshore UX team) to life. Working together to solve complex problems, we often engaged in pair programming, designed UI collaboratively, or sketched out ideas over a pint or a cuppa tea after work.
Challenge #2
Ensuring that assets were as high impact as possible by utilizing A/B testing for key features and closely monitoring conversion rates.
Learnings
To maximize the effectiveness of our digital assets, we integrated Adobe tools to conduct A/B testing on various features early in the development process. This involved collaborating with members of the e-commerce team to design tests, analyze results, and gather actionable insights. By regularly reviewing the data and reacting to feedback, we were able to make informed decisions that enhanced the overall user experience.
Successes
A/B testing proved to be an invaluable strategy for understanding our customers’ preferences and behaviors. This approach allowed us to experiment with different designs and functionalities, providing flexibility to pivot based on real-time data. Through these tests, we honed our intuition for feature development, which ultimately led to more impactful design choices and improved conversion rates. The iterative process not only strengthened our team’s problem-solving skills but also fostered a culture of data-driven decision-making within the organization.
Challenge #3
Balancing a multitude of design disciplines while meeting tight deadlines.
Learnings
Navigating the complexities of multiple design disciplines required me to cultivate strong communication and collaboration skills. As a UX team, we embraced a culture of saying “yes” to each other, which allowed us to quickly clear blockers and streamline our workflow. This collective commitment to supporting one another enabled us to effectively manage our workloads while ensuring high-quality deliverables. I also recognized the importance of knowing when to ask for help, understanding that collaboration not only benefited the individual but also enhanced the overall project outcome.
Successes
Our commitment to mutual support fostered a strong team ethos, where we could rely on each other to overcome challenges effectively. This close-knit environment not only enhanced our productivity but also enriched our creative processes. By working together, we cultivated a sense of camaraderie that ultimately led to the successful delivery of high-impact designs. Behind every great product is a great team, and our collaborative spirit was the foundation of our achievements.
Life At Lakeshore Learning
Lakeshore always prioritized inclusion. Whether I was socializing with colleagues or in a meeting with our CEO, I consistently felt heard and valued. During my time at Lakeshore, I formed lasting friendships and thoroughly enjoyed working with both the brilliant e-commerce team and the wider company. When I left to return to the UK, my friends from Lakeshore and Vance & Hines (my previous role) came together to see me off (see image 3, below). I feel incredibly fortunate to have met so many wonderful, inspiring people throughout my career, and I’ve grown through every connection I’ve made.
Lakeshore always prioritized inclusion. Whether I was socializing with colleagues or in a meeting with our CEO, I consistently felt heard and valued. During my time at Lakeshore, I formed lasting friendships and thoroughly enjoyed working with both the brilliant e-commerce team and the wider company. When I left to return to the UK, my friends from Lakeshore and Vance & Hines (my previous role) came together to see me off (see image 3, above). I feel incredibly fortunate to have met so many wonderful, inspiring people throughout my career, and I’ve grown through every connection I’ve made.