Sushimaki

ROLE/SERVICES

UX/UI Design

LOCATION

México

YEAR

2021

Project Overview

THE PROBLEM

Sell the food dishes of he Sushimaki restaurant through a website and app so that customers can easily purchase and inform about the services they offer.

THE GOAL

Design a website and an app for Sushimaki that allows you to sell your food and provide information about what you sell in your restaurant.

Attract new potential customers to visit your restaurant

THE PRODUCT

Sishimaki is located un the city of Tijuana B.C., it strives to offer the best Japanese dishes in the city. Offering a wide variety of accessible and competitive prices.
Sushimaki targets customers who are passionate about Japanese food and new customers who want to learn a little about Japanese culture.

MY ROLE

UX designer designing an an website and app for Sushimaki 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.

PROJECT DURATION

October 2021 to November 2021

Understanding the user

I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I am designing for and their needs. A main group of users identified through the research were people like Alejandra Morales, a freelance graphic designer in Tijuana who loves Japanese food and prefers ordering online quickly, clearly, and efficiently, avoiding unnecessary trips to the store.

This group of users confirmed initial assumptions about Sushimaki's customers, but the investigation also revealed that simply having an online ordering option wasn't the only factor influencing their decisions.

Other user problems include lack of awareness of promotions, interest in new menu items, and challenges in navigating a cluttered or confusing online ordering system.

PERSONA AND PROBLEM STATEMENT

Alejandra Morales

Alejandra Morales, 29 years old and a freelance graphic designer in Tijuana, is a lover of Japanese food who is always searching for new restaurants to try authentic dishes. She prefers to order food online to avoid lines and unnecessary trips, especially during her workday. She wants to stay informed about promotions and special menus offered by restaurants. She gets frustrated when she finds unreliable websites or apps that complicate the purchasing process, as well as the lack of clear information about the dishes. Her goal is to find a site or app that allows her to order Japanese food quickly, with clear information about ingredients and prices, and keeps her updated on promotions. As she says, "I love Japanese food, and if I can order it online easily and quickly, it will be my new favorite option for eating."

Starting the design

DIGITAL WIREFRAMES

As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research

LOW-FIDILITY PROTOTYPE

Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was finding an item and placing it in the cart, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.

Usability study: Findings

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.

Study type:

Unmoderated usability study

Location:

Mexico, TJ, remote

Participants:

5 participants

Length:

10-30 minutes

INTUITIVE MENU

Users wanted a more intuitive menu layout to quickly locate dishes.

INTUITIVE MENU

Customers found the checkout flow unnecessarily long and confusing.

INTUITIVE MENU

Adding more visual cues increased user confidence and reduced cart abandonment.

Authentic Japanese cuisine at affordable prices in Tijuana

Going Forward

TAKEAWAYS

IMPACT

The website makes users feel like Sushimaki really thinks about how it solves their needs.

Aquote from the peer comments: ''The website es very simple and easy to use, I can place my orders witout any problem. I would definitely use this website and app to do my food shopping.''

WHAT I LEARNED

While designing the Sushimaki website, I learned that first idead that are had for the design are only the beginning of a process to reach a final result and that the user can interact satisfactorily and without difficulties. The usability studies and peer feedback that were carried out helped to understand how users interact with the designs and functions of the webpage.

NEXT STEPS

1.- RESEARCH

Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.

2.- FEATURES

Identify additional areas of need and come up with new features.

3.- REWARDS

Research will be carried out on whether it is necessary to improve the design of the application to make it more comfortable to navigate.