The Challenge
Zippy’s is a popular local chain restaurant serving local dishes and Hawaiian staples. On the cusp of many big businesses changes, including launching a new online ordering system and longer term plans to expand to the mainland, Zippy’s had to support these new endeavors not only in their physical restaurants, but through strategic digital solutions as well. Our team was tasked with helping Zippy’s redesign their main corporate website and assisting with the launch of their online ordering platform.
Revamping Zippy’s main website with historical content, a detailed menu, and the up-to-date information will complement their near- and long-term business goals of launching their online ordering system and expanding to the mainland market.
After initial discussions with the team, I was able to further define the challenge with the 5W1H framework:
5W1H Framework
What am I building? A redesigned website
Why am I building this?
Business Need: As Zippy’s, I want the site to be the main hub for all of Zippy’s digital products.
User Need: As a user, I want to order from Zippy’s.
Who am I building it for? Current, local customers, tourists, people on the mainland where Zippy’s is expanding
When and where will it be used? Home, office, on-the-go, responsive devices. Usually before a meal.
How could I measure it? User acquisition, revenue, task completion time
Zippy’s old website was outdated, featured an inaccessible carousel, and overall not an exciting experience.
The Solution
While mainly for people in Hawaii, because of Zippy’s iconic status it seemed like we were reaching every fan of local Hawaiian food.
We spoke with key stakeholders to understand who they thought the audience of the website would be. I created these user personas to encompass based on those findings:
After doing a content audit of their current site, evaluating the user research from focus groups, and looking into projected financial statements, we decided to prioritize the following goals on the website:
- Keep Daily Specials prominent as this is the most visited section on the site
- Heavily promote their new online ordering system
- Don’t rely on existing audience too much; educate new customers from the new markets on Hawaiian/local food
We used Zippy’s new visual identity and applied it to their new website, while also designing an intuitive and functional user experience.
Using fun graphics and bold colors, we created a design system that was fun, appetizing, and nostalgic.
We created a fun, visual way to explore Zippy’s extensive menu and learn about iconic local foods.
Featured dishes on top of the main Food overview page highlight main Zippy’s staples and special limited time offerings. A carousel on the Food category page helps navigating through the various categories easier.
Various subpages across the site help to show Zippy’s culture.
Collaborating with Zippy’s online ordering vendor
Their online ordering vendor specialized in getting restaurants set up with an integrated online ordering system. In order to assure a seamless digital experience for the user when jumping from the main corporate site to this separate ordering site, we provided designs for various UI components.
Unfortunately, their initial rebranding did not account for accessible colors on digital platforms. So our team picked out additional colors that met the appropriate AA color contrast standards. Below is the addendum we created for their updated style guide.
Results
While completed in pretty much record-breaking time (approximately 3 months from start to launch), we were able to exceed client’s expectations. And we didn’t do it in a vacuum. We had to work with a bunch of different teams and products to ultimately get to the finish before their targeted launch date. From using another agency’s visual identity system as a foundation for us to create unique graphics, to collaborating with Zippy’s online ordering vendor and various Zippy’s internal departments, it just goes to show that collaboration is key if you want to get things done efficiently.