Context

Identifying a client and design opportunities

Finding the appropriate client scope was crucial, ensuring notable areas of intervention and a sufficient customer base for testing. Eventually, we found alignment with Pearl Fever, a six-chain bubble tea company in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, where specific areas of user frustrations within the digital (desktop and mobile app) experiences were identified. With this insight, the team collected preliminary data through ethnographic observations, user reviews, staff interviews, as well as questionnaires, culminating in the early realization of two key design focus areas:

1. To alleviate design friction and user dissatisfaction with Pearl Fever's mobile app. Half of our questionnaire participants responded: never used the Pearl Fever app before. Among those who had commented confusion and a lack of basic features, such as direct payment with a credit card.
2. To enhance accessibility to Pearl Fever's in-person menu by implementing clear and effective visual design. During our site visit, the team observed that the only menu inside the store was displayed on a screen above the order counter. This could pose challenges for customers not directly in front of the screen due to limited viewing angles and small font size.

User Insight

Utlizing user personas and journey mapping for analytical understanding

Two UX techniques were employed to communicate a detailed narrative of user experience and gain a deeper understanding of potential users' experiences. Initially, personas were crafted with minimized demographic data, focusing on expressive and realistic representations. Subsequently, journey mapping centered on these personas, developing scenarios and actions accordingly. I led the team in this process to understand the feelings and actions of potential users. Through these methods, while the frustration with the mobile application persisted, I identified new potential pain points for customers. These included menu accessibility, various types and customizable drink options but with unclear descriptions.

Concept Ideation

Brainstorming possible design solution concepts

Based on these findings, I realized that our team had been too narrowly focused on specific issues, rather than delving deeper into the experiences of Pearl Fever customers. This insight prompted us to shift our design focus towards enhancing Pearl Fever's in-store customer experience, particularly for those who struggle with decision-making or lack knowledge about drink options. Following brainstorming sessions, the team has developed three early design concepts to address these challenges and provide a more engaging experience for Pearl Fever customers.

1. Concept 1 - Bubble Tea Quiz: A bubble tea quiz to help newcomers decide on what to order and for current customers to try something new.
2. Concept 2 - Mobile Application Re-Design : The BobaKit is a fun way to make bubble tea in the comfort of your own home. Different sized kits are available depending on your needs.
3. Concept 3 - D.I.Y BobaKit: The BobaKit is a fun way to make bubble tea in the comfort of your own home. Different sized kits are available depending on your needs.

Concept Finalization

Reframing the design concepts and intervention

From our weekly data collection and activities, three major themes emerged, primarily related to menu exploration and drink selection. Workshops further validated previous concerns about the menu and provided valuable insights gathered directly from customers, guiding our design focus. Regarding the client, Pearl Fever expressed interest in the Quiz concept due to its low cost and potential benefits for staff training. As a result, our design focus shifted towards enhancing Pearl Fever's in-store customer experience through the exploration of unfamiliar drinks and the implementation of a convenient ordering system. In addition to the Quiz concept, two new concepts were formulated:

1. Concept 1 - Bubble Tea Quiz: A bubble tea quiz to help newcomers decide on what to order and for current customers to try something new.
2. Concept 2 - Boba Combo: The BobaCombo focuses on the experiences of in-store customers and exploration of unfamiliar drinks with smaller-sized drinks that rotate on a monthly basis.

Final Takeaway

High-fidelity prototype of Boba Quiz

The final output of Boba-Quiz not only provides a web-based quizzes categorized by the major drinks types but, an experience designed to understand the customers' needs by adding a level of interactivity with an exploration of the different drink options. It also optimizes the experience for users and staff as it allows staff to save time by allowing users to discover their drink preferences and choices on their own. The takeaways of the quiz would be being time-considerate and possible low-rate of second time-users. To minimize this problem, I suggested on adding the Weekly Pick banner for more efficient suggestion, while also helping Pearl Fever integrate promotional drinks.