Vue de Monde, awarded three Chef’s Hats in Australia, wanted to simplify their website to boost bookings. I led the UI design, improving user interactions and the reservation process for both mobile and desktop.
Contribution
User research (Guerrilla interviews, 1:1 Interviews)
Personas, Customer Journeys
Wireframes
Information Architecture
Lo-fi, Hi-fi Prototype
How might we
How might we enhance VDM's pre-dining experience to encourage more bookings?
Brief from the clients
As one of Australia’s top restaurants, Vue de Monde must have an impressive website that reflects its excellence. We needed to ensure that VDM's website is easy to navigate and facilitates straightforward reservations for customers. Our client requested a simplified design to enhance booking conversions.
But.. What do the customers think and want?
Every morning, we kicked off our day with a stand-up meeting to discuss what we had accomplished, what we were currently working on, and our plans for the day.
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As a first step, we distributed a survey and received 67 responses. We then conducted 17 one-on-one interviews and performed 24 user tests on both the VDM website and its competitors.
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Through the survey responses, numerous interviews, and ongoing user testing, we gained valuable insights that informed the creation of our personas and customer journeys.
There was more than what the clients expected
to hear from the customers
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Users found the website to be text-heavy but appreciated the imagery.
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They reported difficulties in discovering more about Vue de Monde, and the calendar on the booking page was confusing.
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Downloading the PDF menu was seen as an inconvenience, and having two hamburger menus was confusing.
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Additionally, users felt the booking process was lengthy, and needing to call to modify or
cancel a reservation was frustrating.
Putting yourself in the user's shoes
It helped us understand their needs and frustrations, identify pain points, and enhance the user experience, ensuring that our design decisions prioritize what matters most to users.
User flow
The primary goal of these sketches was to outline multiple flows and explore the various ideas generated during the design sprint.
Low-fidelity prototype
We developed low-fidelity prototypes for the ideal flows on both the web and mobile sites. These prototypes were reviewed by the team, and adjustments were made to streamline the scope.
The key changes included:
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Adding a hamburger menu
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Adding a "Make a reservation" button in the footer
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Reducing the reservation process from 11 pages to 5
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Simplifying access to the food menu (no PDF download required)
User Testing
We conducted internal testing to ensure there were no significant usability issues
After many rounds of user tests, we started building a high-fidelity prototype.
From earlier user testing of the VDM website, we discovered that users appreciated its elegant look. As a result, we maintained a similar font and focused on simplifying the website, particularly the booking process.
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Key Changes:
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Simplified the header
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Emphasized the beautiful imagery
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Reduced the booking process from 11 pages to 5
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Added more videos to replace text-heavy content
Fun Features:
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Virtual restaurant tour
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Chatbot (24/7 concierge)
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Sustainable food map
User testing continued throughout the high-fidelity phase, providing valuable feedback that ensured the website functioned smoothly.
New website launch and..
Our client was extremely pleased with the project and has since indicated that they plan to implement most of the recommendations. They also treated us to an amazing lunch!
