Springboard UX Capstone Project
Pandemic Coffee Guide
Providing a safe and convenient service during a pandemic for local coffee stores
My Role
• User Research
• UI/UX Designer
Team
YangShan Chou
(Solo)
Tools
G Suite
Microsoft Excel
Miro
Adobe XD
InVision
Timeline
5 months
— PROCESS
Here is the overview of stages and methodologies for the project.
— PROBLEM STATEMENT
During the pandemic with social distancing in full effect, picking up a daily coffee may now happen at a not traditional circumstance.
There are purchase processes now taking on a different procedure.
• How can local coffee stores owners and staff continue to create that friendly experience while following COVID-19 guidelines?
• How might we provide best practices to maintain the easily grab-and-go atmosphere the customers are used to?
— LEARNING
Target Audience
The Capstone project focuses on the local coffee store industry in the Philadelphia city area. The target audience includes store owners, store staff, and customers.
Comparative Analysis: Food Rating System in King County and NYC
King county food safety grading system
NYC restaurant grading system
Street Vendor Guide
After I conducted a literature review on the food regulation and safety area, I decided to narrow down with King County Food Safety, NYC Restaurant ABC Grading System, and Street Vendor Guide to validate some of my assumptions:
Assumption
A grading system provides a powerful incentive for restaurants to perform well on food safety. Posting this information in the front windows makes it more accessible and helps the public immediately understand the food safety records before they walk through the door.
Finding
Posting information such as large signages and guidelines in the open and public space makes it accessible to help the public better understand a coffee store’s practices to keep the easy grab-and-go service.
Comparative Analysis: Heuristic
The Capstone project focuses on the Philadelphia area. I am curious about what stores try to adapt to the pandemic. Therefore, I conducted the observations method at three coffee stores to see the temporary procedures for the pandemic. The three stores are La Colombe, Franny Lou's Porch, and ReAnimator Coffee Roasters.
Finding
Two coffee stores implement large signs to wear masks and legible menu boards in the front doors or windows to avoid the customers' confusion.
All coffee stores separate employees and customers by processing the payment at the side windows or different stations.
Primary research: Interview
I conducted nine interviews with three people who work at local coffee stores, three customers who avoid exposure in the public space, and three customers who try to find the new convenience for coffee pickup. Interviews were conducted remotely through zoom calls for around 30 minutes.
Finding
Overall, three main themes with pain points that emerged were the following:
1. Inconvenience
Employees and customers miss social interaction.
Employees feel stressed to educate/remind people who don’t wear masks correctly.
Customers feel inconvenient of waiting in line. Meanwhile, they are not sure if they can go inside.
Customers are confused about momentary navigation and temporary open hours.
Customers feel uncertain about when to pick up a pre-order.
2. Fear
Employees and customers feel stressed to see people who don’t follow the precaution.
Customers feel risky to go outside to expose themselves.
3. Financial Uncertainty
Coffee stores lose customers. Sale volume drops.
Some stores lose benefits to working with 3rd party delivery companies.
Stores need to spend an extra 2% or 3% fee to execute cashlessly.
— SYNTHESIS
Persona: Who are the users?
After gathering data and information from our user interviews, I created user personas of potential users of the Pandemic Coffee Guide. I assigned each persona to a user story to better understand their goals and objectives. There is a set of behavioral attributes which would show their fear of the pandemic, the willingness to follow the precaution, and the concern of convenience and planning.
Customer
As an industrial engineer, while picking up my daily coffee on the way to my office, if I see a long line outside of the store, I will detour to try something else.
Customer
As a business professor, when I pick up the coffee, I feel nervous inside. I want to be in and out ASAP.”
Staff
As a local coffee store owner, there are no customers. The sale volumes dropped. I force to navigate differently.
Staff
As a local coffee store employee, I feel nervous when I need to be obligated to educate customers. Ask people to put masks on. No cash.
Customer Journey Map
After taking all the insights from synthesis, I created a customer journey map that highlighted the UX before, during, and after purchasing coffees. The map provides the customers’ pain points while purchasing.
— IDEATION
How Might We
Learning all the insights from user journey maps, I defined six How might we statements as follows:
1. How might we make the coffee purchases process with safety and social interaction?
2. How might we make the customers feel safe when they see the waiting line and entertained when they wait in line?
3. How might we make the stores Open and Close times match the online open hours?
4. How might we make the coffee stores' navigation better to avoid the customers' confusion?
5. How might we let people follow the rules to wear masks correctly and keep social distances while waiting in line?
6. How might we improve the communication while employees educate customers putting on the masks or wearing masks correctly?
Sketching + Guerilla User Testing
I create low fidelity sketches for print and digital designs to conduct guerilla usability testing in the march towards high fidelity designs.
— DESIGN
Pandemic Coffee Guide is a 8.5 x 11(in) online PDF resource for local coffee stores.
How is it useful?
A logical precaution procedure that groups together. The groups at the top left illustration provide numbers in a sequence for users to understand the explanation on the lower page.
The PDF has a clear title with the purpose. The design has good accessibility by maintaining a minimum font size of 14 pt and utilizing greyscale colors.
Feedback from the users testing
”This guide is useful to print it on the wall. So, everyone can see it. It’s useful.”
“I will post it up somewhere and everybody will see it. Make sure all of them will implement it . Go through the lists. Post it and make sure everybody is on board.“
“I like the summary to know what happen and spend a little bit time for the right side(illustration). I can read the graph (icons) to understand the contents.”
“I like to browse the numbers to match the bottom numbers contents.“
COVID Response Website Template
COVID Response Website template incorporates COVID response information to the template website as a resource for local coffee stores.
How is it useful?
Make customers easier to understand how much of the safety measure.
Display the store layout with an easily understandable map.
© YangShanChou 2022