LAURA
Designs
Project Overview
The Product:
Gabby’s Bakery is a local bakery in Arkansas. Their primary customers include Hispanics who purchase traditional Mexican bread. The app designed provides customers with the option to place orders online and choose a delivery option that’s most convenient to the user.
Project Member(s): Laura Ortega, UX Designer
Project Duration: November - December 2022
The Problem
Busy individuals want to save time and money. They want to save themselves a trip to the bakery so they can spend more time with their family as well as save on gas money.
The Goal
Our bakery app will let users order items online and also allow for the option of store pickup or home delivery.
Persona profile
User journey map
Understanding The User
I wanted to understand how likely it was for users to find using the app easier compared to having to physically go to the bakery to place orders, and if there were ways we could make that process easier.
Personas and Journey Maps
Creating persona profiles and user journey maps (see to the left) allowed me to understand the user and what their needs would be when designing an app.
User Research
I conducted a usability study and found some pain points users had when using the app. These included:
Features to increase equity among users: screen reader capability and language options
Users wanted to place orders without having to have to go through the process of creating a profile
Competitive Audit
A competitive audit was performed on both direct and indirect competitors to gather a better understanding of what is available in the market.
A "screen reader" and "language options" was an added feature
A "guest login" option was added
Starting the Design
Wireframes
First, drafting iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be the best versions that would address the identified user pain points.
After the best version of the paper wireframes were selected, I moved on to digital wireframes always making sure I considered the pain points learned from the user research. Examples included screen reader and language options as well as a guest login option.
Low Fidelity Prototypes
The low fidelity prototype connected the primary user flow of ordering baked goods so the prototype could be used in a usability study with users.
View the low fidelity prototype here.
Usability Studies
There was a total of two rounds of usability studies. After the first round, I was able to identify three pain points of which I was able to increase accessibility and improve my designs to begin high fidelity designs.
The second usability study included those prototypes and revealed small aspects of improvement.
Round 1 Usability Study Findings:
Users want an alternative to having to create a profile
Users want more accessibility features earlier in the app flow
Round 2 Usability Study Findings:
The check-out process is missing a status icon for the delivery option
An option for “keep shopping” would be beneficial at the end of the online ordering process
Refining the Design
Early designs demonstrated that users with disabilities needed a way to effectively interact with the app. A way to customize settings such as the need for a screen reader or language options early in the app’s flow was necessary.
After the second round of usability studies, it was clear I needed a status feature to let the user know what step in the process of checkout they were in.
Mockups
Accessibility considerations:
Provided access to users that need screen reader and/or different language options
Utilized icons with text to help with easy navigation
Made use of detailed and high-quality images with descriptions to help users better understand the designs
High Fidelity Prototypes
The final high-fidelity prototype presents cleaner user flows that accounted for accessibility compared to our first designs.
View the high fidelity prototype here.
Going Forward
Impact
The app ensures users with vision or language barriers are able to successfully place orders online for Gabby’s Bakery. This is especially beneficial as the main customers are Hispanic and their native language is Spanish.
Learnings
There are considerations and perspectives that are not always obvious in the start of the design phase, but as you get through and perform usability studies they tend to show up. It is important to consider these in order to design effectively and take into consideration most users.
"The app was fairly easy to use and would definitely consider using it in the future." -usability study participant