Discovery Phase
User and Audience
Research Methods
User Stories
User Personas
Interviews
With customers
With the Stakeholder
WALID LOUTFI
Owner and Manager
Barmacy Bar and Grill
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
Crazy Eights
USABILITY TESTING
DESIGN CHANGES AFTER TESTING
PROTOTYPE IN MOTION
The research methods I will use include user Interviews, surveys, Competitive Analysis, and usability testing. I plan to share the interviews and surveys with customers, potential customers, and regulars at the bar. I plan to get together with them either at the bar or in the Highland Square area.
The goal of the surveys is:
To find out how having an application can increase sales at a bar
To find out what attracts customers and potential customers to a certain bar
To find out what would make them choose one bar over others
Reasons behind conducting interviews include:
To learn if people are interested in using an application for a bar
To find out if that application would help increase sales at the bar
To Find out if having an application would bring in more people to the bar
To find out what would attract potential customers to the bar
Interview Screener Questions
Are you 21 years old or older?
Do you live in Highland Square?
Do you go to the bars in Highland Square?
If the answer to question 3 is “yes”, which is your favorite bar in Highland Square? How often do you go there?
Have you been to Barmacy Bar and Grill before?
PARTICIPANTS
I interviewed 4 people, including:
A regular at the bar who drinks at the bar every single day
A person who drinks at the bar frequently, but not every day
A person who goes to the bar occasionally
A person from Highland Square who has been to the bar once or twice before
After interviewing regulars and potential customers at the bar, I can conclude that:
Regulars love Barmacy because they are friends with the owner and other regulars at the bar and they enjoy the fun atmosphere and the large variety of drinks
Regulars would not change a thing about the bar. They occasionally complain about one of the bartenders but love their experience there overall
Potential customers spend time in other bars in the area to enjoy the good weather as they hang out on their large patios
Karaoke Night is Barmacy Bar and Grill’s most popular event
Potential customers would go to Barmacy more often if the bar come up with more fun events
Customers and potential customers think that having an app for the bar is a cool idea
Stakeholder Interview Questions Include:
1- In your view, what is the objective of this project?
2- Why is this project important?
3- What does success look like for this project?
4- What concerns do you have about this project?
5- Who is the target audience for this project?
6- Are there any brand guidelines that should be followed for this project?
After interviewing the bar owner and stakeholder, I learned that:
The bars in the area compete with one another by promoting, coming up with new events, offering good food, offering a variety of liquors and beers, having entertaining bartenders, and just maintaining a nice and fun atmosphere
No other bar in the area has its own app
The goal behind the app is to create a sense of belonging to the bar and informing customers and potential customers about new events and in turn that should help increase sales
The problem the bar is facing is that the happy hour is sometimes slow
The app will be designed mainly for people who live in Highland Square (the bar area) and the areas nearby
The bar already has its logo and brand colors that should be used in the app for consistency
DEFINE PHASE
User Flow
User Journey Map
Mood Board
Solution Sketch
Preliminary Prototypes
Overview
Problem
Statement
Barmacy Bar and Grill, in Akron Ohio, is located in in Highland Square, a busy and vibrant bar area that is frequented by people of all ages. It is known to be a liberal area that welcomes everyone. The bar has a drink menu with medical names for shots and cocktails that are meant to heal anything. Barmacy is a bar for everyone who wants to have a good time. The name Barmacy is a combination of “Bar” and “Pharmacy” because the good vibes and great drinks are like medicine for the soul.
The users of this application will be people of all ages, genders, and races living in or near Highland Square, and people living in other areas of Akron Ohio, who are willing to drive to the area and take part in some of the events.
Age: 21 and above
Gender: Male, Female, Trans…
Race: Any
I was not able to find any other application for a bar, so there are no direct competitors. Indirect competitors include Domino’s Pizza, Crumbl Cookies, Untappd, and Beer Buddy. Since they are all totally different applications with very different goals, I found the pluses and deltas for each in order to improve the Barmacy application by learning what works for users and what to avoid, including any irrelevant information that does not help users.
Sketches of the main menu for the Barmacy App
3 Different Ways to Layout the Main Menu
DESIGN PHASE
TESTING
The Method
I would like to conduct a qualitative moderated remote usability test to understand any problems a user might run into while using the application. I chose 4 participants from my target audience that includes people living in or near Highland Square, who actually drink and spend their free time in Highland Square.
The Scenario
It's finally the weekend and you want to decide which bar to go to. Since you live in Highland Square, you don’t want to drive to a bar, as It’s better to walk there. You are not into social media so you have no idea about what’s going on in the square. You would like to know what’s going on at each bar so you can decide where to go.
You just call a few bars to check what events are taking place tonight. You heard that Barmacy Bar and Grill has it’s own application so you decide to download the application to find out what’s going on. After downloading the application, you need to figure out how to get access to the events and choose the one you would like to attend. It is also a good idea to check out the draft beers to find out if your favorite beer is in the list.
Here's where I would like to know what you’re looking at and what you are thinking. I am interested in what you’ll do if you don’t have anyone next to you.
BEER BUDDY
Crumbl Cookies is an indirect competitor that sells cookies.
The purpose of the application is to:
Inform customers and potential customers about the cookie flavors
Allow online orders
Sell gift cards and vouchers
Provide nutritional information
Make ordering cookies easy
Give customers a sense of belonging
Strengths
Nice Design
Informative
Easy to use
Nice use of icons
Allows gift cards sales
Weaknesses
No bar related content .
Different Target Audience
Untappd is an indirect competitor:
Untappd is an application about beer to share all beer related information in different locations
When users go to a bar, they can check in at the bar using the app, mention the name of a certain beer and rate it
Untappd shows users where beer venues and breweries are located nearby
Untappd shares information about upcoming events, nearby venues, trending beers and more
The app for Barmacy Bar and Grill will share the names of the new draft and canned beers available weekly
Strengths
Informative
Easy to use
Related to alcohol
Keeps beer lovers
informed
Beer Buddy is a social app for beer drinkers
Users can order a beer and share their picture drinking it on social media applications
Users can add drinking buddies on the app and let them know when they are hanging out somewhere so they can join them
Users can open the map and find friends on the move
Friends can like and comment on pictures
What To Do
Nice, clear Design
Informative
Easy to use
Nice use of icons
Allow gift cards sales
Allow saving information to avoid repetition
Allow notifications for users to stay updated when it comes to bar news
What To Avoid
Including irrelevant content
Sending too many notifications
Adding design elements that are not necessary
Not saving a users information
Not being clear
Pluses and Deltas
After discovering the pluses and deltas for each application, here are a few points that I would like to include in the Barmacy application to make it more user friendly and some things that I would like to avoid because they do not add anything to the user experience.
Weaknesses
No bar related content
Different Target Audience
Strengths
Easy to use
Fun
Helps people socialize
Is an beer related social media app
Weaknesses
Different Target Audience
Limited to beer
Task 1
I want you to find the “events “ section and select the event you would enjoy the most
Start from the main page
Either sign up or continue as a guest
Either way, you will end up accessing the main menu
Click on “new this week” to find out what’s new this week
Go to “Events” to choose and event you would enjoy
Task 2
would like you to find the draft beers section so you can figure out whether or not your favorite beer is in the list.
1- Start from the main page
2- Either sign up or continue as a guest
3- Either way, you will end up accessing the main menu
4- Click on “new this week” to find out what’s new this week
5- Go to “Draft Beers” to choose your favorite beer
6- Click on it to know more
What I Would Like To Know
I am asking you to use an application so I can check whether or not it is user friendly and whether or not there’s room for improvement. Please give me your feedback very honestly because any comments can help me improve this app. They will only be seen by people working on this project.
Can you please sign a form that says that I have your permission to record you and the recording will only be seen by people working on this project?
Questions
What do you think of the experience of using this app?
Is there anything extra you think should be added to the app?
Do you need guidance to use the app?
How pleasant is the app to use?
Which parts of the app are frustrating and which parts are satisfying?
What would you add to the application?
Is there anything extra that should be included to help you find out more about the application?
Give your feedback on each screen
Results
Buttons can be bigger and can stand out more specially in the login page so they are clearer
The left and right arrow on all pages are too small. They should be larger
It’s a good idea to add a button on the top right corner that would take us back to the main menu or the Events
Having the the explanation on top with a white box behind it gives the impression that the box is clickable when it is not. It can be removed and the text would still be legible.
Bookings
Add a part for payment information
Add the number of people who will attend the event
Add the time of the day when they want to book an event
Add description of space
Band Night:
The information on top of the ad for the band night is confusing.
Add weekly drinks specials
21 and over
Karaoke Night:
Add weekly drinks specials
Add one drink minimum
Magic Show
The first Friday of the month
Participants will get drink coupons
Different Magicians every month
Draft Beers
Add that there are 20 Taps
Add prices
Add a star near the beer that is recommended
Add a page after login as guest where the guest can add in his phone number to start using the app
Under Barmacy, add “contacts and location” as a subtitle
Here’s what the design looks like after implementing the necessary changes:
DOMINOS PIZZA
The Domino’s Pizza app’s main purpose is to allow users to order pizza in the easiest and fastest way possible
The app saves a users information so they can order food quickly without having to fill in their information every time
The app keeps customers informed about the new things going on at Dominos and allows them to find coupons, track their order, purchase gift cards, and talk to customer support.
I would like the Barmacy app to include gift cards, bar news, coupons, address information, and more
Strengths
Informative
Easy to use
Makes ordering the product easy
Saves users personal information
Weaknesses
No bar related content
Different Target Audience
Different product
