Sushi Sakura Website
Project Overview
The product:
Sushi Sakura is a high-end sushi restaurant that offers omakase (chef’s selection) course meal. Their customers are diverse in age and professional background, but they all come to Sushi Sakura to have extraordinary dining experiences.
The problem:
Because Sushi Sakura is a small business run by sushi chefs, they did not have a website. They also needed a website in English for foreign tourists who are food enthusiasts so that they could make reservations online.
The goal:
Design a Sushi Sakura website with strong branding. Design the website to be user friendly by providing clear navigation and offering an easy reservation process.
My role:
UX designer designing an app from conception to delivery.
User Research
Summary:
A primary user group identified through research was working adults who enjoy international travels.
This user group confirmed initial assumptions about the website’s main user group, but research also revealed that language was not the only factor preventing users from dining at high-end restaurants in Japan. Other user problems included a lack of local phone numbers to make phone calls, some restaurants simply not having official websites, or limited reservation spots causing competition with local customers.
Pain points:
Language: Most visitors require language assistance when visiting Japan.
Web infrastructure: Establishing online presence is not always the first priority for small to mid size Japanese businesses.
Accessibility: Many websites are text-heavy and are often difficult to complete a task.
Initial Design Concepts
Sitemap:
I wanted to design information architecture as minimal as possible so that the branding is maximized to attract customers who appreciate the restaurant’s sophisticated aesthetics. This IA also intended to make the reservation button stand out.
Digital wireframes:
As the initial design phase continued, I decided to use a full-screen hero image in the site’s homepage to communicate the sophistication and extraordinariness users can anticipate before visiting Sushi Sakura.
Digital wireframes:
Screen size variations
I designed the site’s mobile view with a call-to-action button that’s always visible.
Low-fidelity prototype:
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype using Adobe XD.
Refining the Design
Mockups:
Based on the insights from the usability study, I made changes to improve the site’s reservation flow. I added a stepper to indicate where in the flow a user currently is and how many more steps to expect until completion.
Mockups:
To improve the overall tone of the site, I also reworked on UX writing on each screen. I focused on “sounding more human” and what users would be able to do if they visited each page instead of what the page is about.
Key mockups:
Key mockups (screen size variation):
Going Forward
Impact:
The website allows users to explore the unique culinary experiences in Japan.
It also helps the business owner to attract more customers by providing an accessible introductory point to the business.
Next steps:
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed.
Conduct more user research to determine more needs.
Reach out to the businesses owner to see if the site can help fill any gaps to help make their side of business easier.