Good Times Jazz
Revamping Good
Times Jazz
Overview
Over ten weeks, my team and I redesigned the website for Good Times Jazz Bar & Restaurant in Savannah, GA, creating a digital experience that captured the vibrant atmosphere of jazz and southern cuisine. We restructured the site to make it more user-friendly and accessible, while also delivering a fresh, cohesive rebrand.
As the UX researcher, I led efforts in gathering insights through A/B testing, competitive analysis, and user interviews. My research played a key role in shaping design decisions and ensuring the new website aligned with both user needs and the restaurant's lively ambiance.
My Role
Research Lead – Led competitive analysis, stakeholder interviews, user flows, wireframes, moderated/unmoderated testing, and UI handoff.
Team
Madeline Bay
Zach Hoedl
Andrew Botkin
The Problem
Overwhelming and outdated
The Good Times Jazz website lacked the excitement and charm of the in-person atmosphere. The reservation process was confusing for both patrons and performers and needed to be streamlined.
Design
Fragmented Reservation Process
The website lacked a comprehensive reservation process that made it confusing for patrons and performers alike. Reservations were outsourced to third-party services like OpenTable.
Overwhelming UI
The UI was confusing and overwhelming for users to navigate. The information architecture was disorganized and the site was not WCAG AAA compliant.
Outdated Branding
The website branding felt dated and dull compared to their exciting in-person experience.
Research
Building the foundation
Before redesigning the Good Times Jazz website, our team conducted extensive research to build a solid foundation moving forward. This research would be used to guide our design process.
Design
Feature Prioritization
After determining our customer-base, we created an activity based on new and existing features of the website. We allowed users to sort these features into categories and rank them by importance.
Sitemap
Mapping it Out
Following the card sorting activity, we created a new site map based on the results. We grouped similar content and made higher ranked features more accessible.
Competitive Analysis
Looking at the competition
In addition to card sorting and site mapping, we conducted a thorough competitive analysis. We looked at both local and global competitors to see what features were being prioritized.
Design
Good Times Reimagined
After collecting valuable insights from our primary and secondary research, we were able to move on to the design phase.
Low Fidelity
We started our design phase by producing rough sketches of our UI. Using those sketches, we designed multiple iterations of low-fidelity wireframes in figma.
Mid Fidelity
After presenting our low-fidelity wireframes we gained valuable insights and a clearer direction for the UI. We then began developing our mid-fidelity wireframes which would later be used for A/B testing and a graffiti board activity.
User Testing
Using our mid-fidelity wireframes, we conducted a series of user testing exercises to identify any necessary changes in the UI. The collected information would help us make decisions about the high-fidelity prototype.
A/B Testing
During our A/B testing, we launched a survey that allowed users to select preferred layouts, design elements, and features. Our goal was to determine which options would work best for the high-fidelity wireframes.
Graffiti Board
For the graffiti board activity, we produced large scale printouts of the mid-fidelity wireframes and gave users the opportunity to point out and write desired features and potential changes. Our goal was to find specific elements that needed improvement.
Refine
Making some adjustments
Based on the feedback that we received from the A/B testing and graffiti board activity, we revisited our design and made changes to align with our user needs.
Design System
One important component to our final design was the design system. Creating a system allowed us to have a standardized look across all of our wireframes. Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to focus on accessibility for our older audience. All components adhered to the WCAG AAA accessibility guidelines.
Final Design
The New Good Times Jazz
The final design is a greatly improved reimagining of the original Good Times Jazz website. It emphasizes accessibility, contemporary design trends, and the excitement of live entertainment.
Reflection
Award-winning Design!
.Our final website received extremely positive feedback from users and went on to win two gold awards for conceptual products and event product design at the International Design Awards 2023!
