Lineage Coffee Roasting App.
Project Overview.
Role: UX Designer & Researcher
Duration: January 2022 — Present
The Product: “Design a mobile ordering app for a local cafe.”
Goal: Design an app that will be easy for customers to use to order on a mobile phone. Users should be able to: easily and quickly customize and place orders.
Responsibilities: User research, personas, user journey maps, wireframing, prototyping, planning and conducting usability studies, design iteration.
Project Brief:
The main scope of this case study was to create a mobile app for Lineage, which is a local coffee shop with locations throughout the Orlando metropolitan area. Its target users were Lineage’s customers, who wanted a simplified way of customizing their coffee orders. I chose Lineage because of my experience with the brand, seeing as I studied and met up with friends at their coffee shops during my time in college.
Design Solutions:
1. A survey to determine taste preferences & screen for any potential allergies users may have.
2. “Scan to pay” option for easier & faster checkout in-person.
3. Item menu shows what items are available at specific cafe locations.
4. Choices for pick-up times and ability to order ahead.
CONDUCTING INTERVIEWS
User research was conducted in the form of a survey and semi-structured interviews with individuals who ordered online using a mobile ordering app at least once a month. Participants were recruited from my social circle. Since this could lead to biased findings, I attempted to interview a range of different types of users to have diversity in terms of perspectives and needs. Using my interview notes, I identified 4 main user pain points, which helped inform the design process.
IDEATION
Insights and pain points gathered from user research were used to create two personas for the Lineage app. Alex is someone who enjoys coffee but has allergies while Michael enjoys his coffee on-the-go.
I created a user journey map of the main user flow — selecting an item from the menu and placing an order on the mobile app — and identified opportunities to improve the user experience. This is the user journey map for our persona, Alex.
FROM PAPER TO DIGITAL…
I designed multiple wireframes on paper for each screen of the user flow. I reviewed each version and combined the best elements from each screen to create a final wireframe design, pictured below on the left.
Next, I used Figma to create my digital wireframes. I addressed users’ pain points through the following features: a survey to recommend items based on allergies and taste preferences, as well as a scan-to-pay option for faster checkout when ordering in-person.
Examples of changes I made in the designs from the paper to digital wireframes include adding a search bar on the menu page with the option of speech-to-text for accessibility.
LOW FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
The low-fidelity prototype below shows the primary user flow of ordering on the Lineage app. This is the first iteration and was the version used in usability studies.
TESTING THE DESIGN
I tested the low-fidelity prototype to determine if the main user flow — ordering on the mobile app — was easy for the user. Specific areas of testing included ease of item selection, successful payment, and in-app navigation. 5 participants were interviewed at a Lineage Coffee Roasting location, who met the criteria of ordering on mobile apps at least once a week.
CHANGES MADE
Insights gathered from user testing concluded that the app’s main goal — ordering on the mobile app — was easy for the user. However, areas of improvement were discovered including: confusion about the onboarding survey and “customize” button placement. I decided to add text boxes for the payment card info after looking back at the previous pain point of faster payment options.
FINAL DESIGNS
After working on a few more projects, I decided to update the user interface of the Lineage app. The newer version, which has more illustrations, I think more closely reflects the Lineage brand.
View the final prototype here.
As my first UX project, I learned how to perform interviews and user testing to determine user motivations & needs.
Moving forward, I think the next step for a project like this would be more user testing to test the ease of the ordering process, as well as offering more accessibility options throughout the app. UX design is an iterative process, so in the real-world it would take multiple version to get a “perfect” version of the Lineage app that would have a positive user experience for all.