Kuma Sushi
Restaurant Re-Brand
Overview
Kuma Sushi is a Japanese restaurant located at 414 Alvarado Street in Monterey, California. They specialize in both traditional and contemporary sushi dishes, offering a variety of options including nigiri, sashimi, and specialty rolls. Kuma is looking to re-brand!
Project Goal 🌟
Create a minimalist & modern logo.
The objective of this project is to design a minimalist and modern logo for Kuma Sushi that captures the essence of the brand while setting it apart in the competitive sushi market. The rebranding aims to evoke a sense of freshness, sophistication, and approachability, key attributes associated with the culinary experience offered by Kuma Sushi.
My Idea 💡
Create a logo that is simple but can be recognized anywhere.
The logo will feature clean lines and a simple color palette, emphasizing elegance and clarity. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the new logo embodies the values of quality, innovation, and a delightful dining experience, attracting sushi lovers of all ages.
Design Process
Brainstorming
To narrow down my choices I started off with brainstorming and seeing what are everyday things I can improve with this app. I narrowed it down to three choices and ultimately chose the parking app.
Going into this I knew there was already existing parking apps so I had to find ways that would improve the user experience in them. This included thinking of common concerns like finding the location of where you parked your car, how safe the parking location is, i.e. break ins or robberies. After seeing most parking apps already offer efficient paying methods I moved my focus onto other issues like safety.
Research
I conducted interviews with several individuals and asked them a variety of questions related to the challenges they face when trying to find parking. This included delving into their primary struggles and gathering insights on what specific aspects they wish could be improved in the parking experience overall.
Personas
For step three, I created a detailed user persona to better understand the various types of users who would utilize this app, as well as identify specific areas where I can enhance its functionality and overall user experience.
Flow Map
I created detailed flow maps to help me clearly visualize, step by step, what the user will experience as they navigate through and interact with certain crucial elements of the app.
Wireframing
This was my wireframe for my design, which served as a rough layout of my overall structure. In this stage, I focused on creating a simple and intuitive structure that was not too busy or complicated for users to navigate easily. My goal was to ensure that users can interact with the design effortlessly while also enjoying a pleasant experience.
Prototype
The next step after completing the wireframing phase was to begin creating the prototype for my app, which is an exciting part of the design process. This image showcases all the various flows and interconnected screens of my prototype, highlighting how users will navigate through the app and interact with its features.
User testing
Once my prototype was complete and ready for evaluation, we conducted an engaging in-class user testing activity where two of my classmates volunteered to test out my design. Their insights and interactions provided invaluable information about the user experience. To the right is the detailed feedback I received, highlighting their thoughts and suggestions.
sketches & ideas
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"As a woman, finding safe parking in a well lit area is always my concern when I go out at night."
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"I am always scared that my windows will be broken when I visit the city."
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“My main concern is safety, when I go out I want to know I can make it to my car safely.”
FINAL DESIGN
FINAL DESIGN
Landing Page & Map
The very first screen that users encounter is the landing page, where they have the opportunity to select from a variety of options based on their needs and preferences. These options include features such as pay parking, the ability to find parking, and a dedicated section for my parking.
Moving on, the second screen presents a detailed map that showcases available parking spots in the vicinity.
Finally, the third screen reiterates the map, again highlighting all the available parking spots for users to conveniently choose from.
Select & Pay Parking
Once the user has chosen their desired parking location from the interactive map page, the next screen presented will showcase all the essential parking spot information.
Following this, the subsequent screen reveals comprehensive details regarding the selected parking spot along with the payment information required.
Finally, the next screen will display the confirmed parking spot with a live timer counting down the remaining parking duration.
Reviews, Favorites & Widget
For these screens, I added several features including reviews, favorites, and a handy widget to enhance the overall user experience. The first feature is the reviews page, where a user can conveniently look up various parking spots, read through their detailed reviews, and even write a review for any specific parking spot they have utilized.
Next, I introduced the favorites feature; it was particularly important to me to incorporate this functionality so users can easily view, manage, and keep track of their favorite parking spots, ensuring they never lose sight of their preferred locations.
Lastly, I aimed to include a widget that simplifies the process for users to monitor how much time they have left on their parking session. This widget is designed to be easily accessible right on the lock screen, and users can simply press on it to add more time if necessary, making their parking experience more seamless and stress-free.
Takeaways
This was my first UX UI project and I have learned the key elements of UX design. Taking a human computer interaction course has been a great learning experience that has guided me through the necessary steps of design thinking and creating a user centered design. This project was a huge learning experience, once my designs were complete and I had a better understanding of what UX design is, I was able to go back and re-evaluate on what I can improve next time to create a better user centered design.
Interactive Elements
What I would change…
Since this was first time using prototyping software like Adobe Xd I felt like I could have improved some interactive elements like the map and timer. I would have added an interactive map that is scrollable and moveable rather than just an image. The live timer was also something I wish I could have made work to get a live countdown of the time.
Contrast
There is a few elements in my design that would not pass the color contrast test. I focused too much on the aesthetics of things to keep the color palette theme but in return there is some screens that are not as accessible because of the text color contrast.
Research
After conducting my first ever ux project and going through all the steps, I would definitely improve my research methods. I could have done more interviews and tested out other parking apps as well to really see what is missing to improve the experience of finding parking.
Design
Overall I was happy with my designs but I did notice I focused too much on the aesthetics of the app rather than focusing on the issue I was trying to solve and improve. Next time I would definitely focus more on the feedback that the user interviews gave me and put more of that into my design.