Amber Waves Farm is a working farm, market, and restaurant in Amagansett New York.
Amber Waves grows vegetables and serves as a wholesale supplier to local restaurants in New York.
Amber Waves grows vegetables and serves as a wholesale supplier to local restaurants in New York.
Project Type and Scope
This was a group project where multiple designers were provided with access to secondary research and asked to workshop solutions. While research was presented and briefly discussed as a group, all design solutions were created individually. I served as the lead designer for all work shown.
I provided:
- Analysis of data
- A persona focused on the apps target users
- Ideation of solutions
- Low-fidelity mock-ups using logos and brand colors from an existing design kit
-High-fidelity prototype
Project Overview
The ordering process started with a manual process of chefs emailing or texting their orders to the Wholesale Manager. A dedicated wholesale ordering site was built, yet the emails and texts have continued which has created a very complicated process for the business. It has also resulted in customers not always getting what they wanted in their order.
In this case study, I’ll detail my process of improving the Wholesale Ordering site to create a simple, streamlined process for users and Amber Waves employees.
How will improving the Wholesale ordering process contribute to business goals for Amber Waves?
Stakeholder Interviews
Understanding Business Goals
I wanted to learn more about the current process, challenges, and business goals from Amber Waves Employees, so I could better understand how to create an effective solution.
I reviewed a stakeholder interview with Farm & Wholesale Manager, Isabel Milligan to learn more about business goals, current challenges, and constraints.
I reviewed a stakeholder interview with Farm & Wholesale Manager, Isabel Milligan to learn more about business goals, current challenges, and constraints.
Screenshot of User Interview
Stakeholder Interview Takeaways
Understanding User Goals
User Texts
Using Secondary Research to Understand Behavior
One of the biggest challenges for Amber Waves is that orders and requests are sent through texts, emails, and other alternate channels. This makes processing orders difficult and scattered.
I reviewed some text and email correspondence from Amber Waves to understand the nature of the requests being made by chefs and customers.
I reviewed some text and email correspondence from Amber Waves to understand the nature of the requests being made by chefs and customers.
Interview with Chef Jack
Additionally, I reviewed an interview with an Amber Waves Customer to dive deeper into some of the needs and preferences chefs have when placing an order.
I learned some background, how they place orders, and some of the important aspects of ordering efficiently and accurately.
I learned some background, how they place orders, and some of the important aspects of ordering efficiently and accurately.
Chef Jack - Amber Waves Customer
Customer Interview Takeaways
User Persona
From the research, I was able to define a user persona, highlighting key needs and goals in the wholesale ordering process.
User Persona Detailing Pain Points, Needs & Goals
How might we make placing a wholesale order more accurate and efficient for customers without sacrificing efficiency for Amber Waves?
Sketching Solutions
Taking what I learned from stakeholder and user interviews, I did some quick 2-minute sketches of some potential concepts that would support both user and business goals.
I worked on two features that supported the needs of ease and specificity. I called the concepts 'Built-in Specificity' and 'Text-to-Order'.
I chose to prioritize ‘Built-in Specificity’, as it meets business and user goals by getting more details from customers that go directly into the order database, eliminating manual compilation.
Sketches of Possible Improvements
Highlighting Key Features
I created quick wireframes for these features to show the details of their functionality, and how they might support business and user goals in the ordering process.
Aligning Order Options & Restaurant Process
Setting up the user flow & content to mimic how chefs think & talk about ingredients makes the process efficient. This helps meet business goals of getting all information into the order for an organized report. Using categories helps Amber Waves program their database with all possible options for specific ingredients, which allows chefs to get exactly what they want for their order.
Wireframes of Home Page & Pantry Order Redesign Screens
Wireframe of Item Detail Screen
Item Specificity
Building in characteristics for produce allows chefs to order exactly what they want and makes orders for detailed and accurate. Customers can select color, size and ripeness of produce. Additionally, the options to allow substitutions and set recurring orders of items is included. This will help users feel more confident in their orders and Amber Waves to spend less time collating details from original orders and supplemental emails and text with additional details or requests.
High-Fidelity Mock-ups & Prototype
Using Amber Waves brand colors, I moved the wireframes into a prototype that will enable users to test functionality and provide feedback.
Home Screen for Order App
I built out the order process for pantry items to give Amber Waves staff and clients an idea of how the app would flow for users and allow them to make decisions at each step.
The flow allows users to see where they can communicate key into to Amber Waves staff and set substitutions for order accuracy.
Additionally, the prototype allows users to see how the app will allow them to set items to reorder and allow for efficiency in managing their orders
What I Learned
When I learned that the project turn-around time was a week, I was concerned. However, having the UX research to review and analyze helped the project get going quickly. This was my first time using quick sprints to work out ideas that would solve the business and user goals. I was hesitant that it would not produce solid ideas. I feel the results of the low-fidelity design meet the business and user goals quite well.
This project helped me improve my skills with Figma in creating quick low-fidelity wirefames that can be presented to stakeholders to keep the project moving forward quickly.
I took the wireframes into Proto.io to develop the prototype that can be tested with users before building out a full product.
Next Steps
I would like to develop this product further by building an interactive prototype to conduct usability studies. That would allow me to identify any additional changes or features needed before proceeding to development.
Measuring for Success
Once this project is built, to ensure we are meeting business goals, we would measure the amount of time that the Farm Manager spends on compiling her orders to produce a harvest list. Additionally, we would look at the number of orders coming in through the site compared to before the updates.
