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Lava Lounge
CASE STUDY · UX DESIGN · CONCEPT REDESIGN
Helping customers browse, select, and order pizzas offered by Lava Lounge through a centralized website
Roles & Responsibilities
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User Research: Competitive Analysis, User Interviews, Persona Mapping, Journey Mapping, Empathy Maps
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UX Design: Sketches, Wireframing, Usability Testing
Project Context
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Autumn 2023
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Concept Redesign
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Team: Brooke Walz
Tools Used
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Figma
Lava Lounge is a local favourite pizza restaurant and sports bar in Niseko, Japan, but lacks a strong online presence. The primary objective of this project is to enhance the user experience of Lava Lounge's website by addressing several critical issues.
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Revitalizing Lava Lounge
The primary objective of this project is to enhance the user experience of Lava Lounge's website by addressing several critical issues. Unclear call-to-actions (CTAs) and ineffective navigation have been identified as barriers to user engagement and conversion on the website. Our goal is to create an intuitive, user-friendly interface that will improve user satisfaction and increase user interactions.
THE PROBLEM
How might we improve navigation within the site for users?
THE SOLUTION
Implementing an intuitive interface to drive engagement and conversion
Friction free language translation
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Accessible switching between English and Japanese (native language to Niseko, JP)
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Flag icons illustrate to users which language they can switch to
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Consistent throughout website, easy switching when needed
Information icon for allergens
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Allergens clearly communicated when users expand the information icon within the menu and ordering page
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Additional information such as calories and preparation standards communicated here
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Emphasis on ease
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New search bar includes microphone for audible instructions
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Expanded suggestions for faster navigation
RESEARCH
Exploring the User Experience
01
Define
Understanding the problem
Defining project goals
Planning methods
02
Research
Contextual inquiries
User Interviews
Persona creation
Empathy mapping
Journey mapping
03
Design
Paper wireframes
Feedback session #1
Digital wireframes
Feedback session #2
Prototype designs
04
Evaluate
User testing
Takeaways
Contextual inquiries
Examining the intentions of users, discerning their sought-after information
User Interviews
Understanding the user journey, needs, observing their navigation patterns and discover their pain points
Mapping
Using research findings to illustrate the experience of the user
The research portion of this case study will be broken into phases. The first phase consists of defining the objective and investigating common frictions in the user experience of restaurant sites. The second phase is creating a series of user interview questions and conducting said surveys and interviews with users that belong to our target audience. Finally, the third phase is creating a user persona, empathy map and user journey map based on collected data.
In summary, we are identifying our stakeholders, conducting formative interviews, mapping out the user's journey, and taking a look at some successful competitor's solutions present online.
Current state of the site...
Seasonal Workers
Groups
Restaurant Staff
Lava Lounge's patronage is dominated by young seasonal workers in Niseko, Japan. These foreign workers also constitute Lava Lounge's personnel. With this audience in mind, our approach to this redesign is aimed at upholding the new brand identity throughout the entire experience. Our goal is to present Lava Lounge in a playful, yet functional way, fostering a stronger connection and accessibility to a younger audience with diverse lifestyles.
By aligning with this demographic, we intend to enhance the user experience and effectively capture leads by implementing data customization tailored to their preferences and behaviours.
Putting together what we discovered
We synthesized the collected data from the interviews and contextual inquiries into an affinity map, user persona, empathy map, and user journey map to help form insights and brainstorm design ideas to solve higher order problems.
Key insight #1
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Time is valuable.
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users want intutitive and efficient design system
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Key insight #2
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Users can identify poor functionality.
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note Jakob's Law (consistency and standards across multiple sites)
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Key insight #3
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Lack of accessibility is noticed
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accessible features benefit every user
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Using the information collected from our research, we began the design phase. We created paper wireframes, digital wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes. After completion, usability studies commence.
Initial Sketches & User Feedback
New brand identity
to reflect Lava Lounge's audience
Improve visuals
focus on quality images and optimizing whitespace
Additional information
provide users with allergen information, optimized pages to better organize and display relevant content
Factoring Jakob's Law
consider users spent most of their time on other sites, there must be consistency and standards on Lava Lounge's site in comparison with others
Weaknesses
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Translation CTA button not on main page
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Large menu (can optimize space with individual cards for easier browsing)
Strengths
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Expanding info icon with allergen information
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More tabs create distinct pages to better locate relevant information
REDESIGN
Key Accessibility Features in Redesign
By adding a translation button (offering English and Japanese) on each page, we streamlined the language-switching process, reducing the number of steps for users.
Inclusion of a social media link to encourage user engagement with Lava Lounge's profiles and enhance its online presence.
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The addition of an info icon, when expanded, provides users with allergen information. This information is crucial for users who suffer from allergic reactions and has the potential to not only alleviate discomfort but also save lives. Making this information easily accessible and in clear view reduces the risk of it going unnoticed.
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An optimized search bar now includes "voice input." This allows users to speak their search queries instead of typing them. This feature is designed to assist users with vision impairments and those who may prefer or find it more convenient to use their voice rather than typing.
As we concluded the initial design stage, we recognized the importance of ensuring our designs aligned with the user's needs. To achieve this, we created a prototype to test and gather feedback from Lava Lounge's target audience, which helped us to fill in any gaps from our research and gain insight into the user's behaviour.
Our research indicated that users highly value intuitive navigation and "short cuts" to save time. However, upon reviewing the search bar, we recognized the need to incorporate more guidance into the flow to help users select pizzas. By expanding the search bar and including drop-down suggestions, we were able to create a more user-friendly experience that resonated better with Lava Lounge's audience.
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Dropdown pizza suggestions streamlines the selection process for users, especially for those intending on selecting Lava Lounge's most popular pizzas.
Enabling Accessibility Features to Streamline Navigation
We aimed to enhance the search bar by balancing guidance and flexibility, incorporating a dropdown suggestions bar and "voice input" for a user-friendly experience.
The translation CTA button, persistently available, allows users to switch between English and Japanese based on their preferences, catering to a diverse audience.
Our third enhancement involved strategically placing informative icons across menu and ordering pages. These icons offer detailed insights into ingredients and allergens, empowering users to make informed choices that align with their preferences and dietary needs. This addition emphasizes transparency and customer well-being, contributing to an enhanced user experience.
CONCLUSION
Things I'd do differently...
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Personalizing the user journey: I would incorporate a profile page for users to easily access their previous orders, favourites, and recommendations to streamline reordering from Lava Lounge.
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Collect more data: To measure my solution's impact on helping improve first time fix rates, I'd like to watch the site's analytics, specifically look into the site sessions (and compare the previous design to redesign).