The Challenge
With high-end fine dining restaurants, reservations can be extremely hard to come by. Even if diners have the means to go to these places, a spot is not guaranteed.
How might we help diners obtain a reservation at a fine-dining restaurant and be more proactive in that process?
The Idea
Similar to many reservation platforms and app out on the market, Rezz is the bridge between diners and an unforgettable experience at a fine-dining restaurant. The app would serve a more niche group of restaurants rather than a variety of them. At the same time, there needs to be features than set it apart from existing solutions.
Duration
October 2022 - December 2022
Skills Involved
- User research
- User flows & user journey mapping
- Personas
- Information architeture
- Wireframing, Mockups, & Prototyping
- Usability testing
Understanding The User
In order to better understand and identify the needs of the target users of Rezz, qualitative research was conducted in the form of interviews with 6 different participants. The information helped form the insights below.
Pain Points
Scarcity
Many diners find it difficult to secure a booking due to a high demand.
Alerts
Exisiting reservations apps do not offer any features to alert the user of a spot opening up.
Editing
Changing or canceling reservations can be hassle and worsen the user experience.
User Persona
Joshua
Joshua is a young professional that works as a software engineer at a tech firm. He is a foodie at heart and loves to explore various restaurants in his city. Ever since he can afford to go to upscale places, he’s always wanted to enjoy the finer things in life. However, Joshua finds it difficult to even get reservations at places he wants to try as they’re always booked. He wants a way to help him with the reservation process at these restaurants.
Journey Map
Browse
Reserve
Alerts
Take Spot
1. Scroll through app and look at restaurants
2. Select restaurant to
make a reservation
3. Book a reservation at
chosen restaurant
4. Continue to next action if no spot is available
5. Set up alert for any
spots that open up
6. Pick times to get alerts for
7. Gets alert if a spot
opens up
8. Quickly reserve the newly opened spot
Building the App - Early Stages
App Architecture
Based on all the information gathered and insights formed, I started to construct sitemap to plan out the information architecture of Rezz. This will be the base on which my wireframes and mockups were built.
Wireframe & Low-fidelity Prototype
The primary user flow was wireframed and laid out to create a low-fidelity prototype which was used for a usability study to inform the next steps of the design process.
The primary user flow included:
- Booking a reservation
- Setting up an alert for an open spot
- Cancelling a reservation
Building the App - Refinement
Usability Study
Using the low-fidelity prototype, I conducted a usability study to recieve critiques and feedback on my early design in order to then make necessary changes to the app.
Online Sessions
All test sessions were conducted through Zoom with the Figma prototype
Main Flows Tested
Making a reservation; setting up alerts for open spots; cancelling a reservation
5 Participants
The participants consisted of 3 males and 2 females, all of them in their 20s.
Minimal Interference
Participants were asked to perform all tasks with minimal guidance from the moderator (me)
15 - 20 Minute Sessions
All 5 sessions ran for 15 - 20 minutes from start to finish.
Vocal Reasoning
Participants were asked to convey their thought process vocally throughout the tasks.
Usability Study Results and Insights
"Um, I'm not really sure where I'm supposed to go...I feel like normally there would be a tab that says 'Reservations' or something but I don't see one."
"I do like that I can set the app up to get alerts. It's be nice though, I feel, if I can actually select specific times since I don't want to get an alert every time a spot opens up."
Navigation
Participants had trouble navigating between screens during their tasks.
Editing
Participants wanted to edit reservations on top of being able to cancel them.
Time Specification
Some participants expressed desire to be able to get alerts for specific times.
Design Updates
Based on the usability tests, I implemented various changes to the design concepts including the ones in the mockups shown below.
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Added navigation bar
The navigation bar at the bottom of the screen presents clear paths for the user
Added editing feature
Allowing users to make changes to their upcoming reservation on top of cancelling give them more flexibility
Pick specific times for alerts
Giving users the ability to pick specific times to get alerts for maximizes personalization
High-fidelity Mockups
I created high-fidelity mockups based on all the design changes above to illustrate my vision for what Rezz may look like as a finished product.
This is a quick walkthrough of the high-fidelity prototype.
Style Guide
Colors
#5D75FF
#303243
#FFFFFF
Typography
20pt, 30pt
Montserrat Bold
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Headline text
Emphasis text
Button text
15pt
Montserrat Regular
THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG
the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Body Text
Going Forwards
Takeaways
While designing Rezz, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and
feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs. There were areas where I could have only improved upon with the information I gathered from user testing. I realized that many times, as designers, we sometimes make assumptions that may not reflect how the user might think. Designers, as a result, have to always be mindful when designing a product.
Potential Next Steps
More Testing
Conduct another round of usability test using the high-fidelity mockups and prototype to see if I have adequately addressed issues from the early design
More Research
Do more research to find potential areas pertaining to restaurants reservations that could be further improved with Rezz