The Problem
Warby Parker customers frequently attempted to purchase glasses or contacts but were unsuccessful because their prescriptions were expired. Getting a prescription often required a visit to an eye doctor.
This project started at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so for many customers, visiting a doctor's office wasn't just inconvenient and expensive — it was also dangerous.
My job was to architect an experience that made taking a vision test both easy and fast without compromising accuracy.
My Role
As the principal designer, I was responsible for project strategy, user experience, user interface design, and high-fidelity prototypes. I worked on this project from concept through launch and several iterations.
Design Process
I coordinated with our Product Manager to divide the project into four core flows:
- Eligibility Survey — Determine if the service was right for the customer
- Vision Test — Quick test to determine if their prescription was still working
- Review Order — Finalize prescription and payment details
- Doctor Review — Remote eye doctor reviews the test and determines whether to renew
For each flow, I:
- Created rough wireframes to nail down the experience and UX copywriting
- Ran designs by product team and medical experts to ensure safety requirements
- Sent designs to UXR team for user interviews
- Integrated research findings into designs
- Pulled in engineers to gather feedback
- Requested final visual assets and copy revisions from Brand Team
- Finalized designs and handed off to engineering
Key Learnings
Chatbot design was too slow
Though initially promising, the chatbot-style eligibility survey felt annoyingly slow for testers. Customers also wanted to navigate backwards to change answers, which was difficult with a chatbot design.
Quiz-style layout won
Faster and customers had an easier time using the "back" arrow to change answers.
Visual Design
An important part of this project was developing a look and feel for Warby Parker's "vision services" offerings. The Warby Parker ecommerce site relies heavily on model photography, something the team wanted to avoid for a telemedicine product.
Solution: The resulting designs were consistent with Warby Parker's general look and feel, but included playful animated illustrations to help represent abstract concepts. A designer from the Brand team created the final illustrations, and I added motion design for extra polish.
Prototype Demo
Challenges
Testing During the Pandemic
The "Vision Test" itself was very interactive and difficult to test via prototypes. We were forced to implement designs based on assumptions and then test them in person — very difficult during the pandemic.
Comprehension
Many customers don't understand how prescriptions work.
Technical Limitations
Small engineering team wasn't able to implement some features customers needed.
Results
Enabled thousands of customers to renew prescriptions every month
Won a 2022 Webby Award for Best Use of AI/ML
Featured on Apple App Store as App of the Day
Great PR for Warby Parker during the period leading up to their IPO
Takeaway
This was a large project with many phases and iterations. Key lessons: adapt to challenges, test assumptions early (especially for interactive experiences), and iterate based on real customer feedback.