Cedric Ingram
UX Designer/Editor
Menu Management System
Re-imagining how menu items are added and maintained
(Sep 2019-Apr 2020)
Project Description
As part of my senior capstone project, our team was tasked with redesigning a back-end menu management system for a major fast-food chain.
Our main stakeholders were the corporate administrative menu managers for the food-chain. We were tasked with designing a system that’s fast, efficient, and user-friendly
We wanted to design a system the admins could easily pickup and understand while also offering the freedom of customization
My role was UX Designer/Editor. I worked with:
Charlotte Wittels
Gabrielle Sirota
Grace Badagliacca
Research
Research Methods Used
Comparative Analysis
Purpose: To compare how user-friendly and efficient other analogous interfaces were
Key Takeaway: There are other food management sites/interfaces that use similar language while also more intuitive to the user. And the interfaces themselves favor UI formats that are popular and current, adding to the familiarity
Card Sorting
Purpose: To receive feedback on comprehension of menu management system terminology
Key Takeaway: Language used on menu management system is somewhat intuitive, but would require knowledge of food industry jargon
Interviews
Purpose: We interviewed the two Menu Management Administrators to build empathy for the users (admins) and understand their process, pain points, sentiments towards system
Key Takeaway: Admins found navigating through the the system difficult and counter-intuitive at certain parts of the adding, editing, and deleting process for products as well as product modifiers (toppings, extras). Took around a year for both admins to learn the system, and hoped we could make something more efficient with a shorter learning curve
Deliverables
Persona
After we gathered all our research I made the persona to capture the goals, setbacks, and feelings of menu admin.
User Journey Map
We created a user journey map illustrating the thought process of the admins from action start to finish in this scenario.
UX Requirements
Once gathering our research and thinking about the needs and wants of our client we created our UX requirements that we would follow as we moved into the design phase.
Design
Low-fidelity Wireframe
With consultation from the whole group, Charlotte and I created our own initial wireframes to start. Here was my original prototype.
High-Fidelity Prototype
After discussing each other's initial prototypes we came to a team consensus on what parts of each prototype we would like to keep. Moving forward with those changes, and after reiterations with consultation from our stakeholders we landed on a final prototype!
Feedback
Great use of color theory
navigation is simplified
user-flow is more intuitive
“Bonus points if you could fit everything on the screen without making me scroll.”
“I hope this gets implemmented!”
Key Takeaways and Reflection
Learning the scope quickly is important!
An issue we ran into in the beginning was not having a definitive scope to guide our research or our design. Having clear and transparent communication with the client and stakeholders is important to understanding their expectations and making the most of your timeline.
Interviews are important
The interviews we conducted were with our main stakeholders: the menu management admins. They provided invaluable insight to the system, how they feel about it, what they’d like to see, and how the system fits into the grand scheme of the business, which was vital to our findings and our designs.
The unexpected can happen at any time!
There was no to predict nor prepare for a global pandemic that would keep us in our homes in the middle of our capstone. Adjusting and sitting grounded through uncomfortable times was important for our group.
Self-accountability
The school year came with its share of challenges for me both academically and personally. Some weeks were easier than others to accomplish tasks. And I held myself accountable for the times I wasn’t living up to my expectations. Luckily, my group was good at being transparent and understanding when things were ramping up for one of us, and were reassuring when it was needed, so I felt supported.
Ambiguity… is good!
There was much ambiguity for the duration of this project. Many firsts. Many twists and turns in terms of this project, school, and this current times. Still, I feel the more I’m exposed to ambiguity, the more I’m able to perform comfortably within it.
Great experience overall!
I had a great team and we were able to accomplish everything we set out to do! And our client was very pleased about our final product!