Website redesign solving people problems and adding revolutionary features
Lead Designer
Oakwood Homes
2024
9 minute read
Read me if you're trying to read at a glane
Oakwood Homes is recognized as one of the top 50 largest homebuilders in the U.S. I was brought on board to redesign their website and craft an innovative experience that allows users to seamlessly configure and purchase homes online.
Read me if you're technical
Define
Figure out what isn't working
Lack of clarity in user journey
Outdated user interface
Home discovery feels lengthy
Missing centralized help resources
Integrate business goals with UX
Oakwood has been facing challenges with both conversion rates and attracting unique users. But the real issue goes beyond responsive design—it’s about building trust, reliability, and credibility across the entire experience. For first-time homebuyers making one of the biggest purchases of their lives, that trust is everything. My goal is simple: get users to confidently click the "Buy" button. To do that, I need an intuitive, accessible design that removes friction, addresses concerns, and earns their trust at every step.
Design decisions are guided by the technical constraints and capabilities of embedded tools such as Mapbox and Kova
Process
How I will solve this problem
Step 1
Concepts
Research
Step 2
Version 1.1
Design System
Step 3
Internal Research
Research
Step 4
Version 1.2
Step 5
External Research
Research
Step 6
Version 1.3
Step 7
Phase 1 Handoff
Concepts
Let's get on the same page
Conceptual clarity before execution
Align business goals with technical limitation
Before tackling the more complex tasks, I created three concept versions to present to the CEO, stakeholders, and key decision-makers. These concepts served as a foundation for discussion and helped align everyone on the direction for evolving the new Oakwood Homes vision.
Sign-in and sign-out state management was handled through Figma’s local boolean variables
Research
Reading up on the articles
Researched hand positions to support UX decisions
49.59%
of mobile users hold their phone in their right hand while navigating with their left
46.8%
of mobile users inside Oakwood's target audience read their phone and scroll with their thumb on their right hand
The bottom CTA bar needs to built to support multiple states and actions—like “Save,” “Apply,” or “Schedule”—while staying flexible for one or two-button layouts. Each instance adapts to system states (disabled, loading) and user behavior, with shared tokens for consistent styling and responsiveness.
Version 1.1
The start of something new
Addressing home discovery problem
With research done and a polished design system in place, it’s time to begin the first iteration. We’re focusing on the full website experience
Introduced the idea of SPAs to improve UX and better SEO engagement
The custom design system includes colors, typography, and reusable UI components, ensuring a consistent, intuitive, and user-friendly experience that supports our goal of making home buying simpler for first-time customers.
Tailwind CSS, Responsive Components, and Descriptions for animations
Internal Research
What does Oakwood think?
Used data and math to validate UX success
89.47%
of internal users fall into one standard deviation of the mean time it took for users to navigate to the Find Your Home interface
1 out of 4
open ended responses mentioned struggles navigating the filters
84.21%
of internal users fall into one standard deviation of the mean time it took for users to inspect package details
1 out of 3
open ended responses mentioned struggles navigating back and forth through the Configure and Buy interface
We want 80-100% of users to complete the task within one standard deviation of the average completion time. For instance, if the average time is 60 seconds, and the standard deviation is around 10, we aim for most users to finish in around 50-70 seconds.
Version 1.2
Solving the easy problems
Combined findings with intentional UX to elevate success
Added helper video modals that appear only once at key steps in the Configure & Buy process
To elevate our success in User Testing, we added clear CTAs on the homepage, made filters on the Find Your Home page more accessible, and introduced a more obvious exit from the Configure & Buy interface.
Helper videos were based on a boolean value that is turned off after the user views a key step once
External Research
What about real users?
Tested dual-devices with 78% core demographic and 22% older users.
37 participants from 26-49 years old
Group 1 Desktop
10 participants from 50-70 years old
Group 2 Desktop
37 participants from 26-49 years old
Group 1 Mobile
10 participants from 50-70 years old
Group 2 Mobile
After digging into the data, studying user session recordings, and analyzing facial expressions and behavior patterns, I gathered the insights needed to understand where the current Oakwood design is falling short. These observations helped me identify key friction points and areas where users were confused, frustrated, or losing trust—critical insights for guiding our next design decisions.
Version 1.3
Solving the real problems
Addressing cognitive overload
Support centers continuous button placement
Adding reference buttons inside the Configure and Buy interface
From a long list of user testing insights, several key updates were made in the latest Figma version. These include reworking Oakwood’s incentives to give users more control (instead of a chaotic carousel), adding a sort option with a clear H1 on the map interface, and placing reference buttons in the Configure & Buy flow so users can always access pricing and package info—no matter where they are in the journey.
Optimized SPAs for community and collection pages as well to improve UX and better SEO engagement
Phase 1 Handoff
Takeaways after final adjustments
Intentional design that aligns user needs and business goals for meaningful results
There will always be more to improve, and complete satisfaction—from you, your team, or your users—is rarely achievable. What matters most is designing with intention, prioritizing the majority’s needs while aligning with business goals. Stay grounded in principles that drive real impact and create experiences that truly resonate.
My Impact
What Jon did
—
————————————-———-
—
————————————————————————————-
—
——————————-