Grounded
Making It Easier for Coffee Drinkers in Los Angeles to Find a New Spot and Do Their Best Work
Brief
Client
DH199
User Experience Research
Duration
10 weeks
Spring 2020
Roles
Solo: Research, Wireframing, Storytelling, Sketching, UI/UX, Interaction Design, Visual Design
The Problem
People currently find their go-to coffee joints by word of mouth and social networking, which is limited to auditory cues and one's own memory.
The Solution
An outlet for accessible coffee shop knowledge to help to bridge disparities in coffee expertise while making the coffee community inclusive and welcoming.
The Research Question
How might we make coffee culture in Los Angeles more accessible to local residents while promoting social connectivity, productivity, and inclusivity in diverse coffee communities?
Literature Review
Coffee Shops Are Third Places, a Place Between Home and Work
The coffeehouse first emerged as a place for people to gather and drink coffee, learn about the news of the day, and discuss matters of mutual concern with other local residents.
We Seek to Find the Story in the Spaces We Take Up
When choosing these places, human behavior shows we look for positively experienced bonds over time with a socio-physical environment.
Coffee in LA
Third-Wave Coffee a.k.a. “Specialty Coffee Shops”
(n.) a movement led by both consumers and manufacturers to consume, enjoy and appreciate high-quality coffee.
Los Angeles Is a Spread-Out City & So Are Its Coffee Shops
519 coffee shops in LA
13.0 coffee shops per capita (100k people)
1.1 coffee shops per square mile
Current Digital Tools
Social Community and Aesthetic Design Play a Major Role in Human Behavior in the Everyday Coffee Shop
Current digital tools lack a community and social experience, failing to assist the user's decision-making through aesthetic and visual cues, which are major design considerations of human behavior when choosing third place attachments.
User Interviews and Findings
The Weight of Coffee Shop Features on Decision-Making Is Dependent on the Goal and Motivation for Going to a Coffee Shop
When the goal is to study, either independently or with a group, features such as seating, the number of outlets, and size/capacity guide a user's choices.
When meeting with friends or a mentor, the interior aesthetics and type of environment help a user gauge their future experience within a space.
Difficulties and Pain Points Remain Consistent Across Coffee Expertise
- Having to scour customer reviews for seating/capacity
- Having to refine a search based on the context of use (e.g., available outlets when working)
- Arriving at a coffee shop after closing because of an inconsistency between the current location and closing hours
The Average Coffee Shop Goer Views Features of a Third Space in Functional Groups
- "Services" (e.g., customer service)
- "Environment" (e.g., seating, noise)
- "Coffee" (e.g., menu, price)
- “Aesthetic/Vibe" (e.g., ambiance, background music)
Understanding Users
Coffee Shop Goers Come in Various Knowledge Levels
I created two user personas representing typical coffee shop goers in LA on the high and low end of coffee expertise and knowledge based on my user research.
More Coffee Knowledge → More Visits → Longer Time to Find a New Coffee Shop
Coffee Expert
- 1-2 coffee shop visits per week
- 10 minutes per coffee shop search
Coffee Novice
- 1 coffee shop visit per month
- 5 minutes per search
Specialty Coffee Shops Give Angelenos Choice, Variety, & Purpose (Experience > Price)
According to the Specialty Coffee Association, 18% of customers take taste or other physical qualities of the coffee into account.
In 2018 alone, specialty coffee shops increased in magnitude by 3.8%.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, coffee prices were 26.95% higher in 2018 than in 2000 – a little over a $5 difference in value.
“The purchase of a drink comes with a space for motivation and increased creativity. ”
According to research published in the Journal of Consumer Research, a moderate level of ambient noise like the cling of cups and the hiss of the steamer can boost performance on creative tasks.
User Journey
User Interface Design
Because I identified that a coffee expert is searching for coffee shops to work at, I made sure that the coffee cards in the search results display the coffee shop's interior as opposed to the coffee or food.
Coffee experts & novices want to know how busy a coffee shop is in the present; therefore, I made sure to integrate red/yellow/green capacity markers to plan their visit accordingly for a more pleasant coffee shop experience.
A coffee novice is usually exploring with friends and asked to suggest a coffee shop. To answer questions and concerns efficiently, I created a functional icon list to minimize scrolling through reviews.
Coffee experts & novices are looking for aesthetic pictures to document their coffee journey through social media; therefore, I organized store pictures in a Pinterest-like grid with left-right navigation to easily toggle between the categories.
Evaluation
5-second impression test
Task completion
Perceived productivity, social connectivity, and accessibility
System usability scale (SUS) score
Results & Metrics
80% completed all 4 tasks
80% agreed the coffee shop met their study needs
Prominent elements of the design include the grid-style layout, the location-based navigation, and the color scheme.
Participants, on average, agree that using the app would help improve their productivity and future experiences in coffee shops, promote their opportunities for social connectivity, and increase their accessibility to coffee communities.
Reflection & Future Work
Make the Visual Design More Consistent and Accessible
- Implementing minor design changes to maintain visual consistency and ensure that colors are AA WCAG compliant
Coffee Knowledge Is Associated With Experience and Personal Value
- Reconsidering the "What is your coffee knowledge?" feature
- Results in accordance with a user's coffee knowledge would be reflected in the variety in a menu and the quality of the coffee
Immersive Technologies to Recreate the Coffee Shop Experience
- Exploring how I can make the app experience more immersive, incorporating sound, interactive imagery, and motion to recreate the coffee shop experience