Barscape

A smart mobile app that helps bar-goers search for bars based on their preferences.

Role: Researcher & Designer; Team project TimeBox: 2 weeks: March 04, 2020 - March 18, 2020
Tools:Miro, Figma, Trello

Design Challenge

According to the user research done, most people have a tough time finding good bar experiences in their own city and cities that they visit during business trips or vacations. The main reason is that they often only visit the same few bars and miss out on new experiences or end up in a bar which they don’t like. Users want to search for new bars that match their preferences while they are on the go.

Design Opportunity

Design a smart mobile app that can help the users to find an entertaining bar which matches their preferences and gives them live updates from the bar that they choose.

The Solution

Our design solution is a smart mobile app that allows user to search for a bar on the go based on the location and personal preferences regarding drinks, music level, activities, and scheduled events.

Features

Filters

Users can search for bars by location. Various filters such as bar type, drinks, music level, crowd levels, activities, and entertainments are available for the user to place.

Live Updates

Users can choose to get live updates for a quick peek inside the bar. They can also check the reviews and live posts from other users .

Target Users

• Users in age groups 21-40 years who enjoy bars or hanging out with friends.

• Users that are in new cities due to business trips or vacations.

• Users that are bored of visiting the same few bars and cannot find the right ones based on their interests.

Research

As part of our research, we have interviewed 5 people and surveyed 18 people asking 8 questions about their preferences when choosing bars.

Goals:

• Understand why bar goers aged 21-40 choose the bars they frequent

• Understand the types of activities bar goers like to do when they visit bars

Sample User interview questions

Research Analysis

Based on user insights, I created an affinity map. It was Interesting to know what every person classifies as their own unique bar experience, how important the atmosphere of a bar is to them, and how much they cared about knowing the specific activities at a bar.

Once we gathered the data and categorized the responses, it was time to prioritize the features . Used I like, I wish, What if brainstorming method.

3 features we identified as high priority/high impact:

• User interviews identified noise level and crowdedness as important characteristics of a bar’s atmosphere.

• Price was another important factor when choosing a bar.

Competitive Analysis

Based on the user insights and data gathered from the interviews, I looked at popular suggested apps to identify any gaps that can be filled.

Above are some of the frequently used mobile apps that help to search for bars based on ratings, distance, and activities. Some of them provide additional information on active deals and details on activities. Most of them limit opportunities to search by bar type, music levels, crowd levels, live reviews, and updates .

Ideation

Storyboard - Used a storyboard to empathize with our targeted users. In this scenario, Lester looks for a good bar to go on a date.

Persona

Interviewing millennials showed me that they work hard but also prioritize enjoying their life. This helped me to understand the way they think and how we can tailor our application to their needs.

Prototype

I came up with the final user flowchart after a few iterations. A series of discussions about the features like “Coaching Screen”, “Location Services”and “Bar Preference Quiz” and their order of sequence has given us a new thought process.

Wireframes

After few iterations of user flow, we got a better understanding of what we wanted to do and the issues that we should tackle. We discussed what we wanted to represent in the sketches. We took some time to sketch layouts and tried different design approaches, each one designed independently of their own sketches. Each teammates sketches allowed us to consider many ideas and iterate quickly. We used our low-fidelity layouts to receive feedback from each other and normalized before designing high-fidelity wireframes.

Initial Sketches

Individual Wireframes

Each one of us in the team has came up with individual designs.

Final Hi-fi Wireframes

Usability Testing

Test Plan and Notes:

Conducted testing with 3 different subjects. Following are the findings from the user test results: 

Objectives

1. Can a user find a bar with their preferences at a given location?

2. Would the users like to take a preference quiz when they first download the app?

3. What are the difficulties that users find while accessing this app?

Tasks

1. Create an account/login

2. Take the preferences quiz

3. Find a bar that is quiet, not crowded, and has a happy hour deal 

4. Rate the bar

Usability Testing feedback & Iterations

We iterated through the designs incorporating the suggestions and feedback from the users to build the final product prototype.

Hi-Fi clickable Prototype

https://bit.ly/2XY8oFa

Future opportunities / Next Steps

• Roulette shaker - After logging in the user will have an opportunity to “shake things up a bit” by shaking their phone and being provided with a random local suggestion for them to discover

• More iterations - We’ll continue to provide occasional surveys and guerilla testing to hash out different areas of improvement

• Implementing AR Component - We want users to be able to hold their phone up towards a bar they’re about to enter and be provided with fun, interactive notes about that bar to help them with their decision making

Thanks for reading!

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