Role: UX Designer
Project: user and business research, information architecture, content strategy, digital prototype
Platform: web
The concept
Cuisine Culture is a new restaurant, offering local, fresh, seasonal Pacific Northwestern - style dishes to all. Their purpose is to establish their name, gain customers and provide unforgettable experience. They have a local and a global selection of wines, an opportunity that opens doors for wine tasting events with food pairing, or other social occasions. They are open to families, but also have happy hour snacks and cocktails. If inexperienced in local flavors, not a problem. In Cuisine Culture everyone can try a tasting menu that offers carefully selected bites of the Pacific Northwest.
The value of gastronomical experience, of enjoying fresh, local food and of spending quality time are main drivers for customers.
"How to create a journey for the user which offers a smooth experience on the website?"
Research on customers and the market reflected on personas needs, pain points and what can be offered in terms of creating the website. Key elements of my design were the reservation flow, navigation on the site and the ability to easily find information. Additionally, I wanted to create a story behind the restaurant; some thoughts about its origin story and maybe personal recommendations from the chef, in hopes of establishing a stronger connection between the restaurant and its customers.
Findings
In order to find out more about users' behavior I conducted several user research methods: market research, user feedback, interviews, usability testing with digital prototype. For usability testing I was using a script with three focus areas. First, I asked participants to share their impressions about the home page without taking any actions. Second, I asked where they would click to reserve a table. Then I asked them a more concrete task flow, namely to reserve a table for 3 people on August 15 at 5 pm knowing they have tickets for an 8 pm show.
Let me share some of my findings in connection with the reservation experience. The examples reflect conventions and nice to have features implemented in user flow.
What a difference it makes to add Chef Mike's blog to the confirmation note? Users visited the link and learnt that Chef Mike shares cooking tips and recipes weekly and is on social media to follow.
During usability testing, participants reflected on the top navigation as well. As much as Reservation, Menus and Events seem clear and straightforward, Contact tab raised some questions. What information would we provide under that tab? Is it about opening hours, phone number, address and email? Where would we tell the story of the restaurant? Where would we link the Chef's favorite recipes? Is there more potential in renaming it and expand its information scope with more? This is how the next concept was born, mixing these information crumbles into one page.
In attempt to emphasize the different tasting events in the restaurant and get constant updates, users can subscribe the newsletter. All about to stay in the loop, whether it is menu change or a newcomer in the wine selection. However, primary and secondary usability testing did not just provide efficient data on what to change in order to create a smoother user experience but also inspired further ideas like the introduction of Chef Mike, whose magical dishes and cooking tips attract more visitors.