About me
First Table
Redesigning the restaurant booking app for foodie explorers.
Teardown analysis
Usability testing
Behavior insights
Infomation architechture
High fidelity prototype
Insights report
This is an academic project.
An interactive prototype and multiple rounds of user testing gave me the confidence to balance when and where to provide new users hints without annoying them.
Who is First Table?
First Table is a restaurant discovery website offering 50% off the food bill for the first table at breakfast, lunch or dinner at our partner restaurants. It’s the incentive for food lovers to try new and exciting restaurants while saving money by dining during off-peak times.
Three barriers for new users
Current Problem:
What -How -When ?
#1 Card prioritization:
The purpose is to understand the essential 'must-have' and desirable 'nice-to-have' information that influences the decision to book a restaurant, I try to find an effective way to organize a great amount of information on the restaurant detail page.
#2 Comparative usability testing:
Use a paper prototype to understand user preferences between two homepage designs and determine whether users comprehend the meaning of a $10 booking fee and a 50% discount on the food bill.
Evaluation questions
What do you think First Table service is ?
What booking fee of $10 and 50 off mean to you ?
#3 Comprehensive usability testing:
Use interactive screen-based prototypes to create a scenario that is closer to reality. This approach assists researchers in observing whether users can successfully make a reservation and in identifying areas where users may hesitate and need support.
Eight paper cards were provided. All of them are pieces of information about the same restaurant. Participant will prioritize them according to their preferences, and place the most important card at the top and the least important at the bottom.
What is the rationale behind the order in which you have organized this information?
What key factors are considered 'must-haves' when deciding whether to dine in a restaurant?
Find out if users can easily locate a clear path to make a reservation. Identify areas where new users may require advice and support.
1 minute to explore the prototype by themselves
Find the restaurant menu
Make a reservation on Jan 27 Thursday
Special conditions are crucial to know but don't impact restaurant choice.
Participants tend to neglect the information in the Swipe Design because they assume that the information in the slideshow is advertising, not information about the service.
People tend to click on call-to-action buttons without reading the information below them. Therefore, it's essential to arrange important information before the CTA button and keep it on the first screen.
Guide user from top to bottom
Enable both regular and new users to easily achieve their goals
Tap-through designs, as close to real
The First Table has both a responsive website and a mobile application. For this project, the focus is on website services with a mobile-first design.
Three design considerations and insights
Help businesses better onboard regular and new users. The complete report is 27 pages, and below is a peek at it.
It was challenging to conduct paper-based and screen-based testing in a single session. It would be better to have one person managing the prototype and another focusing on observation and asking questions. After this project, I joined one of my fellow's usability testing sessions, taking notes and providing feedback after each session. As a third-party observer, it was much easier to identify problems and reflect on my performance. Additionally, my group members reminded me to slow down my pace and introduce the screen-based prototype before handing the mobile phone to the participants. Finding the balance between thorough testing and providing a good interview experience is critical to receiving high-quality feedback.
