Case Study: Mexican Restaurant Booking App

The Mex Taste: Delicious Mexican food and Mexican-like events and experiences.

Overview

Product: The Mex Taste Booking App is the application of the Mexican Restaurant “Mex Taste” that allows users to make reservations and book private events and parties.

Guide: Google UX Design Professional Certificate

Duration: 7 weeks

My Role: UX Research, UX Design, UI Design

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

Goal: The main goal for the design was to create an app that allows users to easily make reservations and book private events.

The Process

The Design Thinking process for this project is the one which was taught in the Google UX Design course. The process consists of five stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.

Understanding the user

User research: Summary

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 deaf adults who want to book a table at The Mex Taste. This user group confirmed initial assumptions about The Mex Taste customers, but research also revealed that users wanted also to be able to choose the specific table they want. Other user preferences included the option to check and book a table last minute, the convenience to book a table only with the click of a button and the ability to book a private party for a special occasion.

User research: Pain Points

Time: Working adults are too busy to spend time on phone reservations.

Accessibility: Deaf people cannot book a table through phone communication by themselves.

Information: People want to be able to check for last-minute restaurant availability.

Selection: People want to choose the specific table they prefer.

User Personas

Problem Statement: Ashish is a deaf adult who needs to book a table because they have an important date.

Problem Statement: Angela is a busy working adult who needs a quick way to book a table because they have planned a dinner with friends.

User Journey Map

Mapping Ashish’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for users to have access to the Mex Taste app.

Competitive Analysis

A competitive audit is an overview of your competitors’ strenghts and weaknesses.

Goals:

  1. Identifying the key competitors.
  2. Reviewing the type and quality of the competitors’ products.
  3. Understanding how the competitors position themselves in the market.
  4. Considering how the competitors talk about themselves.
  5. Examining the competitors’ strenghts and weaknesses.
  6. Identifying gaps and opportunities.

Finding the Competitors: Finding the competitors in that field wasn’t very easy because there aren’t many regional restaurant booking apps yet. The most well-known apps are the OpenTable and E-table (direct competitors) that provide the option to book a table in a restaurant. Viva.gr(indirect competitor) is a platform in which a user can do reservations for theatre and concerts.

Direct Competitors:

  • OpenTable
  • E-table

Indirect Competitors:

  • Viva.gr

Starting the design

Storyboards

Storyboards were created to visually understand and desrcibe the user’s experience with the product.

Big Picture Storyboard:

Close-up Storyboard:

Paper Wireframes

I took the time to draft iterations of each screen on paper, then I used the ideas I liked the most and created the final version of my paper wireframes.

Digital Wireframes

I created the digital wireframes using Figma and then using the completed set of my digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. You can check the low-fidelity prototype here.

Usability Study

I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.

Research Questions

  • How long does it take for a user to book a table in the app?
  • Are users able to successfully book the specific table that they want?
  • Are users able to successfully alter the reservation they just made?
  • Are users able to successfully select a menu and an event for their
    reservation?
  • Are there any parts of the booking process where users are
    getting stuck?

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

  • Time on task: how much time users spend booking a table
  • Conversion rates: how many reservations customers are making
  • User error rates: how often users get stuck trying to make a reservation
  • System Usability Scale: a questionnaire to evaluate customer feedback

Research insights

Round 1:

1. Users want a booking review page before confirmation.

2. Users prefer the calendar option in the date selection instead of a date drop-down menu.

3. Users want a navigation menu in all screens.

Round 2:

1. Calendar cancel step isn’t apparent.

Affinity Diagram

After gathering all the data from my usability study I grouped them together and I created an Affinity diagram.

Refining the design

From all the insights collected from the usability study, I corrected and improved my digital wireframes. Also, I worked on my mockups for each screen. After laying out all the screen mockups I connected them, added gestures and motions to create a high-fidelity prototype. You can check the high-fidelity prototype here.

Design System

High-fidelity screens

Accessibility Considerations

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

2. Used icons to help make navigation easier.

3. Used accessible color contrast confirmed by WebAIM.

Going forward

Takeaways

Users shared that the app really meet their needs. One quote from peer feedback: “The app made it so easy and fun to book my table! I would definitely use this app for scheduling dinners and events.”

While designing the Mex Taste 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 design.

Next Steps

  • Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
  • Interview users to get to know their feedback on the product.
  • Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.

Thank you!

Thank you for your time reviewing my work on the Mex Taste app! If you’d like to see more or get in touch, my contact information is provided here.

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