Daniella Tamez

Role: UX designer designing an app for WABI SABI from conception to delivery.

Responsibilities: Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.

Client: WABI SABI Sushi Restaurant.

Platform: Mobile App.

Timeline: 2 months.

Project background

WABI SABI is a Sushi Restaurant located in Barcelona, Spain. Recently, after the international health crisis in which the world finds itself, has decided to take the step of entering the world of food delivery. For this project it was requested to create a WABI SABI App to attract and retain customers in their online system.

It was noticed that WABI SABI’s competitors offer dedicated mobile apps for their customers to order through, and they have been very successful. We want to create a product that can compete in the market, improve sales, and increase customer satisfaction.

Product goal statement

Value proposition

WABI SABI App will let users decide to order online a menu for home delivery, wich will affect people who, either for study, work or health reasons, do not have time to cook or go to the restaurant and want to eat quality sushi. The online book-a-table option will also be available to facilitate the user being able to more comfortably choose the date, the place and the number of diners in order to eat in one of WABI SABI’s main restaurants and avoid maximum capacity issues.

The product is a food delivery app created exclusively for the WABI SABI restaurant, in which the user can not only book online a table, but also order sushi from their home easily and comfortably. The app will also have a loyalty points system, where for each purchase that the user makes, they will be able to collect points with which they will be able to exchange a complete menu for free.

User Research

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who don’t have time to cook meals or call to book a table due to their extense working hours.

This user group confirmed initial assumptions about WABI SABI customers, but research also revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from cooking at home. Other user problems included obligations, interests, or challenges that make it difficult to get groceries for cooking or go to restaurants in-person.

Pain points

Time: Busy workers and college students don’t have time to prepare a meal or call to a restaurant due to their schedule.
Accessibility: Some people such as exchange students find hard to use some spanish delivery food platforms due to language barriers.
IA: Text-heavy menus in apps are often difficult to read and order from.

User flow

In order to determinate the path taken by a typical user on the app, it was decided to create a simple User flow and Sitemap to indicate the actions of the user , the necessaries screens that the user needs in order to complete the tasks, and the decisions that the user has to make through their interaction with the product.

Sitemap

User personas

Using quantitative and qualitative data from interviews, survey results and investigations, two potential market niches were detected:

The first group corresponded to adults between the ages of 30 and 45, with an advanced level of education and a medium-high economic status. This group enjoys Japanese cuisine and wants to go to restaurants, but don’t have time to book a table by making a phone call because they work all day.
In the second group are university students or senior high school students who mainly live in shared rooms in student residences. In this group, Japanese cuisine is a focus of fashion and status, and they are interested in ordering large quantities of food to share with friends.

In order to build empathy with the main user groups and prioritize goals according to their needs, two User Personas were created.

After establishing two main user personas, it was created a User Journey for each one in order to highlight the series of experiences the users had as they achieve a specific goal. Mapping Yuna’s and Michael’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to a dedicated WABI SABI app.

Digital wireframes/ Low-fidelity prototype

After all the previous research abou the user’s motivations, feelings and experiences, it was time to create lo-fi wireframes. They stablished the basic estructure of the app pages and highlighted the intended function of the product. As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research.

Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was book a table and ordering a sushi for delivery, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.

UX Research Study

In order to understand the user’s behaviors, needs and motivations it was decided to conduct a UX Research study. The research goal is to figure out what specific difficulties users encounter when they try to complete the core tasks of the WABI SABI app: item selection, ordering, and in-app navigation.

For the conducted study there were a total of 50 participants between the ages of 18 to 45 years. Regarding the methodology used, it was an unmoderated usability study. The location was Barcelona, Spain via remote. Each participant had 10 minutes to complete the task in a low-fidelity prototype, and then they completed a questionnaire based on their experience.

Research insights

After conducting the usability study with users, analyzing and synthesizing the results, some possible changes were detected in the flow of the WABI SABI app in order to improve the overall user experience.

In the “Menu” screen, the “filter” option needs to have more types of selections, and not just “vegan” or “gluten free”.
Users want a confirmation screen with all the details about their order before purchasing.
The “WABI SABI Club” option needs to be more clear for the users, and appear as an option before they finish their purchase.

Primary research question

Are users able to successfully order the menu they want?
Are there any parts of the menu ordering process where users are getting stuck?
Is the payment process clear for the customer?
What can we learn from the steps users took to order a menu?

Final design

Design system guidelines/ Sticker sheet

High-fidelity mockups

The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for booking a table. It also met user needs for a delivery option as well as more customization.

Link to see the interactive prototype

Accessibility considerations

Provide access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
Use icons to help make navigation easier.
Use detailed imagery for sushi items to help all users better understand the designs.
Provide menu translation to different lenguages to help users who have not yet mastered the Spanish language.

Next steps

After lunching the product, there will be de need to conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed. Also conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.

While designing the WABI SABI’s 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.

WABI SABI | Sushi Delivery App

Daniella Tamez

Role: UX designer designing an app for WABI SABI from conception to delivery.

Responsibilities: Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.

Client: WABI SABI Sushi Restaurant.

Platform: Mobile App.

Timeline: 2 months.

Project background

It was noticed that WABI SABI’s competitors offer dedicated mobile apps for their customers to order through, and they have been very successful. We want to create a product that can compete in the market, improve sales, and increase customer satisfaction.

Product goal statement

Value proposition

User Research

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I’m designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who don’t have time to cook meals or call to book a table due to their extense working hours.

Pain points

Time: Busy workers and college students don’t have time to prepare a meal or call to a restaurant due to their schedule.

Accessibility: Some people such as exchange students find hard to use some spanish delivery food platforms due to language barriers.

IA: Text-heavy menus in apps are often difficult to read and order from.

User flow

Sitemap

User personas

Using quantitative and qualitative data from interviews, survey results and investigations, two potential market niches were detected:

The first group corresponded to adults between the ages of 30 and 45, with an advanced level of education and a medium-high economic status. This group enjoys Japanese cuisine and wants to go to restaurants, but don’t have time to book a table by making a phone call because they work all day.

In the second group are university students or senior high school students who mainly live in shared rooms in student residences. In this group, Japanese cuisine is a focus of fashion and status, and they are interested in ordering large quantities of food to share with friends.

In order to build empathy with the main user groups and prioritize goals according to their needs, two User Personas were created.

Digital wireframes/ Low-fidelity prototype

Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was book a table and ordering a sushi for delivery, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.

UX Research Study

Research insights

After conducting the usability study with users, analyzing and synthesizing the results, some possible changes were detected in the flow of the WABI SABI app in order to improve the overall user experience.

In the “Menu” screen, the “filter” option needs to have more types of selections, and not just “vegan” or “gluten free”.

Users want a confirmation screen with all the details about their order before purchasing.

The “WABI SABI Club” option needs to be more clear for the users, and appear as an option before they finish their purchase.

Primary research question

Are users able to successfully order the menu they want?

Are there any parts of the menu ordering process where users are getting stuck?

Is the payment process clear for the customer?

What can we learn from the steps users took to order a menu?

Final design

Design system guidelines/ Sticker sheet

High-fidelity mockups

The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for booking a table. It also met user needs for a delivery option as well as more customization.

Link to see the interactive prototype

Accessibility considerations

Provide access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.

Use icons to help make navigation easier.

Use detailed imagery for sushi items to help all users better understand the designs.

Provide menu translation to different lenguages to help users who have not yet mastered the Spanish language.

Next steps

After lunching the product, there will be de need to conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed. Also conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.

While designing the WABI SABI’s 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.