01  ·  E-commerce  ·  Accessibility

Pharmio

Year 2023
Role UX Designer
Client Quintessential
Scope End-to-end redesign

An online pharmacy stuck in the past — rebuilt for the way people actually shop for health.

Pharmio is a full redesign of an online pharmacy platform. The existing store had critical usability gaps: confusing navigation, inaccessible product pages, and a checkout process that drove users away before converting.

Working as the lead UX designer at Quintessential, I took the project from user research through to final handoff — with a particular focus on accessibility compliance and measurable conversion improvements.

Pharmio homepage redesign
Pharmio product listing page

Users couldn't find what they needed — and when they did, checkout friction killed the sale.

User surveys and a competitive audit revealed three core problems:


  • 01

    Confusing menu structure

    Product categories were inconsistent and overlapping. Users couldn't predict where to find a product, leading to high exit rates from category pages.

  • 02

    Poor accessibility

    Low contrast ratios, missing alt text, and no keyboard navigation made the site unusable for a significant portion of the pharmacy's target demographic.

  • 03

    Checkout abandonment

    The multi-step checkout had no progress indicator, required account creation upfront, and had confusing error states — all contributing to drop-off.

01

Research

User surveys, accessibility audit, competitive analysis of leading pharmacy platforms.

02

Design

Wireframes to high-fidelity in Figma. WCAG 2.1 AA compliance baked in from the start.

03

Prototype

Interactive prototypes for 3 key flows: search, product page, and checkout.

04

Test & Ship

Usability testing with 8 participants, iterated on findings, collaborated with devs for handoff.

Pharmio product detail page and checkout flow
  • 01

    Advanced search with contextual filters

    Filters by category, brand, health concern, and price range — reducing search-to-product time significantly.

  • 02

    Restructured information architecture

    Simplified menu with 6 clear top-level categories based on card sorting sessions with real users.

  • 03

    WCAG 2.1 AA accessible UI

    Full contrast compliance, keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and ARIA labels throughout.

  • 04

    Streamlined guest checkout

    3-step checkout with progress indicator, guest option, and inline form validation to reduce abandonment.

40% Increase in task completion rate post-launch
AA Full WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility compliance achieved
Higher conversion and repeat visit rates from improved UX

The redesign significantly improved user engagement metrics, with higher interaction rates and longer browsing sessions. Improved navigation and streamlined checkout drove stronger conversion, while the accessibility improvements opened the platform to a wider audience.

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