Smartwool Sock Education

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Smartwool Sock Education

Role

Senior UX Manager - VF Corporation

Goal

Educate 1st Time Shoppers and Core Customers on what Smartwool’s Sock Cushioning Is and Isn’t.

Insights

• Clear Product Differentiation: The guide effectively outlines the various cushioning levels—Zero, Light, and Full—providing users with a straightforward comparison to aid in decision-making. This clarity helps users quickly identify the sock that best fits their needs.

• Concise Descriptions: Each cushioning level is accompanied by a brief description, highlighting the benefits and ideal use cases. This brevity ensures users can absorb information quickly without feeling overwhelmed.

• Visual Consistency: The page maintains a consistent visual style aligned with Smartwool's branding, fostering trust and recognition.

Link

A Guide to Cushioned Socks

VF Team

Germaine Irwin | UX Research
Kait O'Malley | UX Design

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As the Sr UX Manager on this project, I led a cross-functional team—including a researcher and designer—to develop a comprehensive sock cushion education page for Smartwool. Our objective was to clarify Smartwool's cushioning levels—Zero, Light, Targeted and Full—and assist consumers in selecting the ideal sock for their specific activities.

Design Challenges & Solutions:
Content Creation: Collaborated with the brand team to generate entirely new content, addressing gaps identified through user research. This content aimed to provide clear and concise information, enabling users to make confident purchasing decisions.

Iconography Development: Designed custom icons to visually represent each cushioning level, enhancing user comprehension and engagement.

Content Structuring: Organized information in a user-friendly layout, ensuring a logical flow that guided users seamlessly through the educational material.

Outcome & Impact:
The final design featured a responsive, visually engaging interface that resonated with users. Feedback indicated that users preferred shopping by activity type, with educational content integrated to clarify common misconceptions—such as the belief that more cushion equals better durability. The project adhered to a user-centered design process, incorporating 32 moderated interviews to validate design decisions and ensure alignment with user needs.

Image of new sock cushion page, displayed on desktop, laptop and mobile devices

New Sock Education Page - Displayed in a Responsive Design format

These visuals highlight a responsive, visually engaging interface that helps users shop for socks. The key takeaway is users prefer shopping by activity type, with educational content woven in to clarify common misconceptions—like the idea that more cushion equals better durability.

Image of a research and design continuous loop - Discover, Explore, Test, Listen

Research & Design Process

Our UX process - rooted in a clear research and design collaboration cycle: Discover, Explore, Test, and Listen. This approach included 32 interviews across multiple phases to understand user behavior and validate prototypes across mobile and desktop.

This approach emphasizes research-informed decisions and the iterative loop ensures responsiveness to real user behavior.

image of a moderated test screen shot from usertesting.com and participant demographics

Research Phase 1: Moderated Interviews

Our team chose to start the project off with a round of Moderated Interviews due to the fact that sock cushioning information was sparse and inconsistent across sock retailers. We wanted to talk to the users, intervene if participants get stuck, ask for clarification, and observe body language and facial expressions to gain a richer understanding of the user experience.

This is a type of usability testing where a moderator guides participants through tasks, observes their behavior, and asks clarifying questions in real-time. It's important because it provides in-depth, qualitative insights into user experiences, allowing for a deeper understanding of how users interact with a product.

image of our competitor analysis and moderated interviews.

INTERVIEW RESULTS - COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

I collaborated with brand stakeholders to identify competitors offering some level of sock cushioning education on their websites.

This round of interviews explored how people think about sock purchasing—particularly cushioning. Participants were shown three competitors’ cushion education pages and asked to share their impressions.

Key findings included: All participants said the primary factor in buying socks is the intended activity. Cushioning matters, but only in certain use cases. Most also expressed a strong interest in clear information about materials and sock composition.

Image and text describing 4 best practices taken from Baymard, Webby Awards and the Nielson Norman Group

UX Best Practices - Landing Pages

At the start of any new project, it’s essential for the UX team to ground their work in current best practices and evidence-based insights from the field of user experience. By combining industry standards with targeted usability testing and user interviews, we ensure our recommendations are both strategic and actionable. This approach enables the team to deliver best-in-class solutions that are not only informed by user behavior and needs, but also supported by research and proven UX methodologies.

image of 4 unique designs created off research phase 1 and ux best practices.

Design Exploration - Phase 1

Through the use of NPS Feedback we learned that there had been user questions around sock cushion, misunderstanding of what cushion is best for their use and returns data helped us understand that the information on the web today was not the most hgelpful for the user.

By integrating this feedback into out UX strategy, the team could proactively address common concerns, reduce support inquiries, and build a more intuitive, informative experience that meets users where they are. This not only improves customer satisfaction but also empowers users to make informed decisions independently.

Research Phase 2: Moderated & Unmoderated Interviews and Testing

To begin Phase 2 of our research, we implemented a hybrid methodology that combined both moderated and unmoderated user interviews. This mixed-method approach allowed us to capture both attitudinal and behavioral insights. Moderated sessions enabled us to probe more deeply into participants’ perceptions, expectations, and decision-making processes as they interacted with our design concepts. In parallel, unmoderated interviews offered a window into natural user behavior by allowing participants to engage with the prototypes independently—without facilitator guidance or bias. This dual approach helped us validate usability patterns, identify friction points, and better understand how users interpreted content and navigational elements across contexts.

image of 2 screens sharing a moderated interview and consumer quotes and insights from the interview process.

INTERVIEW RESULTS - Consumer Insights

Moderated and Unmoderative interviews & testing revealed what users found valuable—like the inside-out sock graphic and cushion level infographic—and what caused friction, such as excessive scrolling and off-topic content around sustainability.

These insights helped the UX team provide recommendations, including:
1. Reduce content overload—prioritize clarity and hierarchy. 2. Align content with user intent (buying socks, not learning about fiber recycling). 3. Consider moving liked elements higher up for better visibility.

Image of Design and Research Key Takeaways that influenced the final design

Research Driven Design

When research and design teams collaborate throughout the process, insights from users can immediately inform design decisions—and emerging design ideas can, in turn, shape what questions need to be explored further.

This iterative approach allows teams to identify issues early, test quickly, and refine solutions based on evidence. The result is a well-aligned, user-centered product that’s both functional and meaningful. Ultimately, this integrated approach leads to stronger, more actionable UX recommendations that are grounded in real user needs, not just theory or aesthetics. The result is a well-aligned, user-centered product that’s both functional and meaningful.

image of final designs in desktop and mobile screen sizes

The Final Recommended Design

The final design demonstrates a well-researched, user-informed UX design process that led to a clear, accessible, and visually engaging educational experience for customers shopping for cushioned socks. By combining qualitative research with iterative design, the team crafted a guide that’s informative without being overwhelming.

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