La Cacina is an imaginary fancy restaurant that I created for one of my first course projects. The prompt was to build a booking app for a fancy restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Problem
The prompt/MVP was to create a booking app for a fancy restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The client wants their customers to get the same, quality experience when they visit the restaurant and make an easy-to-use app. In my research, I found out there are no Mobile apps for many of the restaurants there. Some have a mobile web version but it's very difficult to use.
Role
Sole UX & UI Designer
Tools
Sole UX & UI Designer
Duration
April 2021 - June 2021
Project Type
Mobile app
Empathize
Who will be using this app? To answer this I used 3 stages to find out. Interviewed 5 potential users from 18-60, then I reduced it to 2 personas and finally created a journey map to see the user's behavior during the booking flow. This allowed me to identify key areas with friction and focus on features that would make the experience as smooth and intuitive as possible.
Define: Problem statements & Value proposition
Using the data from the Empathize stage, and to get clarity and communicate this to UX designers to identify constraints that prevent users from meeting those goals, I created problem statements of the personas.
Matthew Fox is a busy businessman who needs an easy & efficient app to book tables because he doesn't have too much to spend on the process.
Scarlett J is a student/new to Buenos Aires who needs an easy & efficient app to book table because she finds it difficult to communicate to restaurant person.
Looking at all the research I found out that instead of building a basic booking flow, we can provide more details of the things users are buying - seat maps for booking tables, and detailed menus with pics.
Ideate: So what are the solutions?
Finding a solution is interesting and fun. So I used competitive analysis to see what other restaurants offer, crazy eight to come up with some ideas. Next, I started working on wireframes using the flow chart I created. Exciting!
Competitive Analysis
I analyzed 3 popular restaurants in Buenos Aires and found out that most of them doesn't have a dedicated app, some have mobile website which not user friendly.
Crazy Eight
Lots of crazy ideas - seat map like google map functions, zoom-in animation in the splash screen, showing big pictures...
User Flow
Working on the user flow helped me put the flow in my onto the screen and organize the task user will take to achieve his/her goal. Organize the complexity.
Sketches
Working on the user flow helped me put the flow in my onto the screen and organize the task user will take to achieve his/her goal. Organize the complexity.
Wireframe
Working on the user flow helped me put the flow in my onto the screen and organize the task user will take to achieve his/her goal. Organize the complexity.
Prototype: Mock ups & Prototypes
I chose the colors dark green and Yellow/gold as it looks elegant and classy which reflects the Hotel's style.
Usability Tests
I found 2 issues with the design. I went through the ideation process and redesigned it to fix the issues. Here they are
1. Some of the users found it difficult to find the filter icon and had trouble selecting a date, time, etc. So instead of a pop-up screen, I designed a dedicated screen for filtering the search. Made a big difference in user experience.
2. Another issue was that some users did not like the carousal scroll menu and wanted a grid or list. So I designed the grid view. Easy! So now the users will have the option of choosing Carousel view or grid view on the top right of the screen.
Prototype
Here's the final product. Go ahead, and check it out.
Takeaways and Next Steps
Impact:
With no dedicated app to a great-looking app. One quote from peer feedback: “The app is beautifully designed and easy to use”
What I learned:
While designing the app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs.
Next Step:
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Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
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Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.
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Refine the look and feel with super-hi-fi design.
Thank you for your time reviewing my work on La Cacina app!
If you’d like to see more and/or have questions, get in touch.
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