The Cake Gallery Hawai'i
Creating brand awareness and the opportunity for untapped revenue
Project Brief
Overview
The Cake Gallery Hawai'i (TCGH) is an artisanal cake, pastry, and confectionery company. Initially, the company's sole focus was on wedding cakes. Over the years it expanded to creating celebration cakes and high-end pastries and confections (e.g., French macarons, meringues, madeleines, and salted caramels).
The Problem
Currently, existing customers can only place orders by contacting TCGH directly via email or phone. New, potential customers don’t have access to information about the brand or its products.
Role & Responsibilities
UX/UI Designer – Research, Interaction and Visual Design, Prototyping, and Testing
Discovery/Empathize
Stakeholder Interview
To better understand the stakeholder's pain points and goals, these questions were asked:
User Interviews
Qualitative data was gathered through informal one-on-one user interviews with six people through phone calls, emails, and Facebook. Users were a mix of The Cake Gallery Hawai’i (TCGH) customers and non-customers. Sample of questions asked:
* Due to client confidentiality, these details cannot be shared.
Analysis/Understand
User Personas
After working through the discovery/empathize research phase, I was able to synthesize that research and develop three user personas. These personas will keep the focus on creating a solution for this target audience.
Solution & Hypothesis
Through the research, I came up with the following solutions:
Concept/Ideate
“How Might We” (HMW) Statements
With a hypothesis in hand, I prepared the following "How Might We" statements to help keep me on track towards designing a solution for the user:
Information Architecture/Sitemap
In order to provide that delightful, low-stress, and positive experience, I believe that taking a minimal approach to the site would help users to easily place orders without being overwhelmed by too many options/choices.
Initial sketches and final digital image of sitemap. Click image above to enlarge.
User Flow
In order to provide that delightful, low-stress, and positive experience, I believe that taking a minimal approach to the site would help users to easily place orders without being overwhelmed by too many options/choices.
Initial sketches and final digital image of user flow. Click image above to enlarge.
Design/Iterate
Sketches & Low-fidelity Wireframes
Once I synthesized the information I gathered from the stakeholder interview, user interviews, and user stories, I began doing quick sketches and low-fidelity wireframes. These were presented to Katrina to get her approval.
Initial sketches and final digital image of sitemap. Click image above to enlarge.
Branding/Style Guide
I created the following User Interface (UI) style guide to ensure that the web design worked seamlessly and was cohesive with the company's preexisting branding.
User Interface (UI) style guide. Click image above to enlarge.
High-Fidelity Screens
Once the sketched-out/low-fidelity wireframes and UI style guide were approved, I created high-fidelity designs for mobile and desktop.
A selection of mobile-sized screens of the website. Click image above to enlarge.
A selection of desktop-sized screens of the website. Click image above to enlarge.
Animated screen details: (1) desktop navigation, (2) mobile add-to-cart, and (3) an example of the responsive experience of the same page on different screen sizes.
Prototyping/Testing
Prototype
The mobile version of the website was shared with three out of the six users initially interviewed. Please feel free to test out the prototype here.
All mobile-sized screens of the prototype, shown with and without hotspots. Click image above to enlarge.
Usability Testing
Usability testing took place remotely through Zoom and Skype. Testing was done within nine days. Some user feedback received:
Concluding Thoughts
Various screens in different sizes—desktop and mobile. Click image above to enlarge.
Outcome and Next Steps
The Cake Gallery Hawai'i website has currently been paused. There were many factors contributing to that, mainly COVID-19 and its current effects on the hospitality industry as a whole. In addition, there are still many details that are needed to launch the website (e.g., hiring a copywriter to create engaging content, along with new product photography and video.) Also the logistics of product production and shipping need to be solidified before the site can be launched.
Lessons Learned and Next Steps
Despite this project's current status, it was a project I enjoyed working on nonetheless. Here are a few things I'd like to note in terms of lessons learned and next steps:
Thank you for reviewing this case study. If you have any feedback, questions, or comments you'd like to share, you're more than welcome to!