SERVR App UX
This was a UX design exercise that I did as an example of very high level UX design process. Normally, work like this would lay the groundwork for further iteration and polishing and is not itself a finished product, but I’m including it as is, because it provides a window into the process.
The instructions were as follows:
Wait Staff Reviews
While there are many ways to rate and review restaurants, these are not focused on evaluating individuals servers. Design an experience where diners can submit positive comments and constructive suggestions for the wait staff, and servers can use this feedback to both improve and help to secure new employment. Provide a high-level flow and supporting wire frames.
Initial User Data Collection
For the purposes of this exercise, I started by interviewing three friends who either work now or have worked in the past as full time servers in the restaurant industry.
Some key takeaways were:
- Reviews can often get mean spirited or personal
- Communications are unilateral with the goal being to get patrons to leave a comment. There is no way for servers to leave comments & no ability to respond
- The claim that Yelp! reviews cannot be bought or changed for money is seen as dubious. ‘Sponsor’ businesses do seem to have that kind of control over their presence on the platform
- The average diner has little exposure to or knowledge of how restaurants actually work. Their feedback is often largely unhelpful even if intentions are good
- It doesn’t take long for a server to feel like they’ve mastered the basics and become much less receptive to criticism - no matter how constructive...
- For most servers, the truest measure of their job performance is the size of their tip at the end of a meal
- Keep Patron feedback simple - only star ratings to avoid mean spirited reviews
- The ability to rate and leave feedback on customers – only visible to servers. Besides being cathartic, this feature could become like a cheatsheet for other servers when a new reservation comes in.
- Send/Receive Tips
- Transparent, anonymous info on salary and workplace conditions
- A quantifiable measure of overall success
- Opportunity for career advancement
SERVR App, basic interaction
User Personas
I established the three basic user personas as Patrons looking to find nearby places to eat that have excellent service, Servers wanting to advance their careers and make more money, and Restaurant Owners looking for ways to promote their business and attract more Patrons.
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SERVR App, User flow: Patron
SERVR App, User flow: Restaurant
SERVR App, User flow: Server
User Flows
I created high level user flows for each of these personas to visualize how the app might work for each user type.
1. For Patrons, the Servr app experience would be much like Yelp! They can search for great restaurants by area and rating, check in, leave ratings, tip individual servers directly and message other patrons.
Servers can receive tips for excellent service, ‘high-five‘ patrons to say thanks for a tip or great rating. Servers can also choose to rate patrons and leave notes - this info is only visible to other servers and restaurants.
2. For Servers, the Servr app experience is more like a hybrid of LinkedIn and Glassdoor. They can use the network to quantify their performance, make connections and further their careers, as well as get transparent information about payscale and working conditions at specific restaurants they might be interested in.
Servers on the platform can message restaurants and each-other directly and are also able to leave anonymous salary info and reviews on the working conditions, etc. at their own workplace.
3. Restaurants can manage their own restaurant’s profile, update their contact info, business hours, menu, list of servers, deals and other basic info, but they cannot leave ratings for anyone but their own servers.
Restaurants can reward their own good servers with tips and reach out to high performers at other restaurants about employment opportunities. Restaurants can also promote their restaurant by extending deals to Patrons for being loyal customers and can award them ‘regular‘ status.
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SERVR App, Wireframe (1/6) : Onboarding flow
SERVR App, Wireframe (2/6) : Patron Home Screen Options
SERVR App, Wireframe (3/6) : Patron Home/Map Search
SERVR App, Wireframe (4/6) : Restaurant Profile
SERVR App, Wireframe (5/6) : Server profile
SERVR App, Selected rough wireframe (6/6) : Patron Profile
Rough Wireframes
Above are a number of rough, hand drawn wireframes that constitute a rough draft of some of the major aspects of the user experience flows for a Patron using the Servr App. For the purposes of this exercise I chose to focus on fleshing out just the Patron experience and did not draw wireframes for the other two user personas.
SERVR App, Home / Map search, Restaurant Profile & Server Ratings
Clickable Mockup
Finally, I used my rough wireframes to create more polished wireframes and a draft of a clickable prototype of the Servr Patron experience.
Please try out the clickable prototype below, or visit https://invis.io/TXBENQGVR to view.
SERVR App UX
Year: 2016
- Walker Design Did:
- Product
- UX
- UI
- Visuals
- Logo
- Webdev
Please try out the clickable prototype below, or visit https://invis.io/TXBENQGVR to view.