Bespoke Bakery App.
An app designed to make ordering a cake more reliable, efficient, and customizable for the user.
Let’s Get Started
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Project Problem
Buying a cake from a bakery can be a time-consuming and frustrating project for those who have busy schedules.
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Project Goal
Figure out if being able to customize, schedule, and track progress of a cake through a bakery app truly optimizes a user’s time when ordering a cake.
Understanding the User
User Research
Personas
Problem Statements
User Journey Maps
Research
Interviews
The first research stage helped me understand the needs of our users. After conducting user interviews and surveys, I discovered that our users were individuals with busy schedules who needed an intuitive system that would optimize their time.
Therefore, sketches, mock-ups, crazy 8 exercises, wireframes, and more were created to brainstorm solutions. Out of this, many features such as “note to baker,” customization screens, and price/occasion filters were born.
Competitive Audit
After completing a competitive audit on four distinct bakeries, I learned that these other companies were not providing users with certain accessibility features, such as language options.
Additionally, I found that offering progress monitoring of a purchased cake was beneficial, as well as providing a way for the customer to be able to communicate his/her vision to the baker.
Usability Testing
As I began to develop solutions and conduct further user research through usability studies, I found that many of our solutions to the user problems were valid.
However, we learned that we needed to make features such as saving orders more intuitive and customization…well, more customizable.
Technical changes to items such as buttons and flow were also addressed and tweaked after this research was conducted.
User Pain Points
1
Time
Users don’t have time to order a cake over the phone all in one sitting.
2
Reliability
Users struggle with cake directions being messed up and having to take the time to fix it or deal with what has happened.
3
Price Options
Users have a hard time seeing prices online. They want options. Budget is important.
4
Customization
Users want customization and to see what options are possible.
What Users Are Saying
“When I’m trying to get my concepts and ideas, they don’t really have prices. I really like to be able to see what I want and how much it costs.”
— Susan
“It was frustrating having to call them, because you're taking more time out … I can multitask if they're online because I cannot be putting my full attention on it necessarily or wait on it to load while I do something else.”
— Kimberly
“I was frustrated when they got my order incorrect…I had to use a middle person to help make it happen.”
— Morgan
“I don’t like to give my requests to the tech because they may not be there the next day or there might just be a discrepancy that I need to follow up with, whereas the manager will have notes.”
— Jacinta
User Personas
Starting the Design
User Flow Maps
Paper Wireframes
Low Fidelity Prototype
Usability Studies
Paper Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
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.
The goal of our usability studies was to figure out if being able to customize & schedule a cake on our app truly saves a user time when ordering a cake. We found that there are certain issues related to buttons, customization, and saving orders that could inhibit the success of our users with the app.
Round 1
Lo Fidelity
Round 2
Hi Fidelity
Before and After
Refining the Design
Mockups
High-Fidelity Prototypes
Accessibility
Accessibility Implementations
Takeaways
What Users are Saying About the Bespoke Bakery App
“I think it’s easy to understand, and you can navigate clearly.”
Kimberly A. |Associate Strategy Manager
Disney Global Product Creation
“That (the Order Tracker) would be really beneficial, so that I wouldn’t have to call them.”
Morgan | Stay-at-Home Mom
“Well, that wasn’t hard!”
Susan | Registered Nurse
User Feedback Overview
Successful Wins
Overall, users find this app intuitive and easy to operate.
Not only can users navigate smoothly through the flow of the app , but usability tests reveal that users are also able to save progress easily so that they can come back anytime, which (according to research) is very important to our busy user-base.
Other features such as the Order Tracker and price filters also showed to be valuable to our customers.
Valuable Insights
I found that users need an intuitive look and feel to “saving their progress.”
Users need full-proof, clear wording for buttons and categories (testing out your wording is vital to the success of your app in the hands of the user; if they can’t figure it out, you have lost)
Hierarchy matters. You need to lead the users directly through your app in the most clear manner possible. Users were more apt to go on the defined path when the design went above and beyond to make the path intuitive.
Personal Takeaways
This project has given me an in-depth understanding of the word PROCESS.
Without research, testing, and the willingness to set aside designer bias, the product will never reach its full potential.
It is only through this awareness that we can produce the innovation needed to bring a fully developed product to our users.
My Responsibilities
Lead UX Designer, UX Researcher, UI Designer
User research/interviews
Sketching
Wireframing
Storyboarding
User Journey Mapping
User Flows
User Personas/Stories
Design Mockups
Prototyping (Lo & Hi Fi)
User testing
Surveys
Creating UI Style Guide