Transforming Products with Research-Driven Design
Securing a long term contract worth half a million with itsu by designing a winning Proof of Concept in 48 hours
Summary
Itsu (one of Pepper's existing customers) approached a creative agency without our knowledge to redesign their native 'Itsu app'. They shared the agency's Proof of Concept deck with us, and explained that they liked the agency's new designs so much that they were considering moving to them (from us). Before we could begin the project, we needed to make sure we did not lose Itsu to a competing agency, they were (and still are) one of Peppers biggest brands. We asked them not to make any rash decisions until they see our PoC, which we agreed we could deliver within 48 hours (they wanted to move quickly!).
We asked them not to make any rash decisions until they see our PoC, which we agreed we could deliver within 48 hours
Deliverables for PoC
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I designed a polished, rebranded and testable PoC (within 48 hours)
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We took the team at itsu through the new designs - which was received well and led to a new secured long term contract worth half a million (£)
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Redesigned itsu's locations feature which we then updated for other merchants
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Part 2: Worked closely with Dev to bring the design to life on IOS and Android
The Problem
The first challenge was making sure we did not lose one of our biggest brands
This situation prompted us to create our own design (PoC) pitch, to present how we might improved on the agencies designs, introduce new design solutions as well as providing valid (and strategic) reasons to why some of their ideas were not plausible. I worked closely with our Head of Marketing and in just a couple of days we were ready with our own PoC proposal.
I designed the new required screens in Figma, they were then pulled into our new sales deck template - job done! Completed in under 2 days! (*Great teamwork!*) We won the deal, securing us with a long term contract. Check out that PoC deck here
The competing agency were not specialised in the hospitality sector. We know what our customers need, and what makes their end-users love using our product
The old itsu app
The new itsu app
The old app simply didn't reflect the itsu brand as well as it could
The first problem with the old home screen was that it didn't reflect the Itsu brand as well as it could. The marketing modules felt too static. The sharp corners didn't feel on brand (Itsu is known for their IOS style curves/wave illustrations and 'friendly' rounded edges.
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No deep linking to products from the home screen was a missed opportunity. I jumped on a call with our IOS developer and discussed what was achievable. We agreed that we could include this feature but it would mean restructuring the UX so that users first select the promoted product, then their location. It was straightforward enough to do this on Android also (the same journey)
The previous locations screen - problems
The old 'choose your location' screen was just ok, functional. After some substantial competitor analysis with some of our competing brands, I knew this was a fantastic opportunity to turn this mediocre experience into a stunning feature. Itsu wanted to give their customers a choice between both 'map and pins' views as well as lists, some customers prefer visual solutions rather than a wall of locations to choose.
Other customers were requesting the same
Interestingly GBK a few days prior to this happening, asked for exactly the same info including facilities about the selected venue. This was to help users decide if the venue had what they needed due to a significant number of customers (ie. free wifi, baby changing, outdoor seating, adequate free parking etc.)
Fixing the confusing locations UX
Problems with users ordering food from the wrong location had been reported previously due to a confusing UX. I worked closely with Dev defining how users might toggle/slide between map/list views to solve this problem. We decided that for the list view we'd use a drawer. We had lots (and lots) of conversations around how the actual map pins would behave and what time of micro-interactions we might implement.
Working with GBK on the same solution
I presented back the proposed solution to Boparan (GBKs creative people) and they said the new designs tick all the boxes and are really pleased with the results - so much so that they have already launched!
You can see how the new feature looks and feels for GBK - check that out:
App store here
Time to build and bring this PoC to life!
The Team
1 Product Designer (Me)
1 Operations manager
1 IOS / App developer
1 Android / App developer
1 Product Analyst
Check out the demo
The final deliverables - Key Features
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Home screen redesign: promoting key products (deep l inking), flexible branding (scrolling cube rows), friendly 'curvy' design
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Locations: redesigned to include both map pins and list views (with facility listings)​
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Product upselling: introducing 'buy now' CTAs on each product for faster checkout
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Product search (new) in listings, dietary tags, new search function (users, bar staff and merchants had been screaming for this feature for months) ​
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Redesigned product modifiers: expandable customiser options​
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Introduced single sign on (Google/Apple)
Scan the QR to check out the new app