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UX design for digital interfaces ~ 2025
Test. Observe. Repeat.
Problems are only scary when you don’t understand them. My objective is to help you and your business through the power of design, and I can only do that after I have understood the problem we’re tackling and doing relevant user centered research about it.
I do UX design for apps and websites. Check out one of my latest works below!
Starbucks App / 2023 - Present
Redesigning the ritual
that powers your mornings
Why?
The Starbucks team mentioned their app for El Salvador and Guatemala was not only outdated, but was also failing to reflect the Starbucks experience: complete personalization. They wish for the redesign to reflect the physical experience of visiting a Starbucks store.
Metrics
To measure our success, we want to keep an eye on the following:
— Increase sales in digital platforms to 20%. (currently at 5%).
— Increase the market reach of the app up to 30% (currently at 12%).
Interviewing stakeholders
I interviewed several stakeholders to better understand the business model and learn more about the brand overall. We talked about current challenges involving the digital platforms, how they work, the technology used and future plans for upgrading it, our competitors, and goals for our metrics/business in the future.
Benchmark & UX Audit
I was curious to see what others in the industry and our competitors were doing. Are they too facing some of our challenges? And if so, how are they tackling them?
I worked on a benchmark to make comparisons and see what they were up to.
Image of the benchmark, seeing what we can learn from our competitors.
I also worked on a UX audit for the app of Starbucks at the time to test it for myself, see what it’s like to use it and also to keep an eye out for concerns the stakeholders mentioned in our interviews
Image of the UX Audit, classifying findings according to severity in the user experience.
Mystery shopper
One of my favorite research methods! I wanted to see the experience for myself, keeping in mind some key aspects stakeholders mentioned in our interviews.
Just as stakeholders mentioned, people got a little confused with the naming Starbucks has for their different sizes, and that became evident on a conversation I overheard when a group of people made their order. They also asked to see the size of the cup to get an idea. But I also found other interesting things:
Starbucks kept this water station for pets! Clearly communicating they are a pet friendly shop. They also had a sign promoting beverages, but the text was too small and I didn’t notice anyone bending down to read it.
Several stakeholders made plenty of emphasis on Starbucks’ social responsibility. One of their concerns was that the app doesn’t reflect it anywhere. They keep this social responsibility board in the shop, but it is very out of sight and difficult to notice.
Stakeholders mentioned one of the ways people interacted with their brand the most was through photographing it, seeing it as an aspirational brand. I saw someone take their beverage to snap a picture as soon as she received it, prioritizing the picture before tasting it.
Interviewing users
I have plenty of information to better understand what Starbucks wants to communicate. Now it’s time to see if they are effectively communicating to users. I interviewed users to better understand their motives and habits surrounding the consumption of coffee, and their relationship with the brand and its digital interfaces.
All my findings with users helped me map what’s important to them when they’re purchasing coffee, and during said process.
Check out this persona and the emotions at the bottom in their regular day. This persona experiences a slump after noon, which is their cue to get coffee.
Now compare the previous persona to this one! This persona is inspired on the people who need to “survive through the day” (their words, not mine). And they manage to do so thanks to coffee!
Building foundations
We have plenty of valuable findings now to build something meaningful, considering the needs and pain points of users, and the needs of the business.
I built a prototype on Figma of the complete purchasing flow to test with other users. Once the Starbucks team approved it, we were good to start testing!
Usability testing
I performed a usability testing to see how clients use the new design for the app. This exercise allowed me to
- Determine new and relevant findings on user’s needs and pain points at the moment of making a purchase.
- Find points of friction to be able to fix them.
I mapped out each testing to find the average time users were spending on completing their purchase, if they required help, and their overall feelings or frustrations along the way.
App design
The learnings from the usability testing showed us which points of friction we needed to improve in our current design. After that, we were ready to proceed to design the entirety of the app, and if needed, we can run another usability testing again for a specific flow.
Image of the sitemap built for Starbucks App, considering all of my findings.
For the flows I felt the need to explore further, working on some wireframes is sometimes helpful.
2 out of 5 users mentioned they sometimes asked for up to 13 beverages in a single purchase for certain meetings at their workplace. They expressed it was frustrating not knowing which beverage belonged to who, so I proposed an optional input to write down the name of the beverage so that it’s written on the cup when the client receives their order.
Viewing this on mobile?
Double tap the video to view properly. Double tap again to close it/restart it.
Onboarding. Letting users know all the good things of using the Starbucks App. During the user interviews, people mentioned their interest in a loyalty program.
Add to favorites. During the user interviews, people mentioned ordering the same things time after time. You can add your regulars to your favorites and quickly order them next time or simply reorder.
Seasonal! You can view the most trending beverages of the season in the home app and if you see one you like, quickly start your order.
Personalization. Easily order your beverage just the way you like it. With Starbucks Rewards, sometimes you can add an extra shot of coffee for free. Now you don’t have to lose track of whether you’ve already added the extra free shot or not.
Suggestive selling. Review your cart and all your personalization configuration for each item. With the suggestive selling, we can promote items that pair particularly well with the items in the cart.
Happy birthday! [This one is not a video] Everyone deserves to feel special on their birthday, Starbucks Rewards remembers yours and shows you have a free beverage redeemable all throughout your birthday month.
Redeem rewards. Easily claim your reward of choice. I simulated a ticket system in real life so that when you redeem yours, you won’t have doubts whether it was already used or not.
From Starbucks to you. In case Starbucks wants to send a special gift to users, I designed this space to simulate the opening of a gift and deliver the good news.
Your coffee, your space. Starbucks is all about personalization. You can customize your own avatar to match your style, your avatar will be there to greet you whenever you open the app.
Your avatar will greet you and have different animations depending on the time of the day.
I had also proposed that through machine learning, the app learns to recognize which order do you usually repeat and at what time of the day so that it automatically suggests it to you when you open the app and view the homepage.
That's all folks!
That's all folks!
Wrap up
A product is never really finished, instead it’s meant to go through a repetitive cycle of constant improvement.
I also have many ideas that I've pitched to the Starbucks team and we are excited to be working on them!
I am still collaborating with Starbucks in designing new additions and improvements to the app. The metrics will be our compass to know which way we need to go.
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to contact me for any inquiries.
Other brands I’ve worked with
In the midst of chaos, there is research to be done.
Got a problem you think design can help with? Get in touch!