Pizzeria Diavolo
Summary
3 minutes. Those were the words by Marco, owner of Pizzeria Diavolo, a local restaurant chain, that echoed repeatedly in my mind. With keystrokes and clicks, I started drafting the wireframes of a pizza delivery app where customers can order and customize their pizza in under 3 minutes.
Timeframe
4 weeks
Chapter 1
Research
The Problem
Marco finds that existing pizza apps, especially larger chains, overwhelm their customers with too many choices and coupons, leading to slow and frustrating experiences. He doesn’t like that. Ordering pizza sounds simple and it should be.
Building a pizza from scratch sounds fun. I mean customers get to create an only-pineapple-allowed pizza or a fancy-expensive pizza. And they eventually find a coupon to go with it. But just because they have this much freedom doesn't mean they will always have the time to do this.
How do people order pizza?
User Interviews
I conducted interviews to get a better understanding of:
- How people who are short on time and hungry order pizza
- Why people customize their pizza
- What slows people down during their order
Insights
Quick and Intuitive
Participants expressed that they don’t want to think too much about what to order when they are hungry after a long day. An average of 4-6 options to choose from is ideal.
That One Topping
Participants choose to customize their pizza because they want to add one topping they love that preset pizzas don’t offer.
Visuals Are the Standard
Participants shared that they are more likely to give up their order if no image and a lot of text are present.
I also took note of two keywords that were frequently mentioned: “cheap” and “good deals”.
Competitive Analysis
Since Pizzeria Diavolo is a local chain (and Marco isn’t fond of large pizza chains), I focused on similar competitors and compared them. I also wanted to know how easy it was to order pizza through these restaurants.
Strengths
They offer a smooth customization process, collapsing the optional items and only expanding when they are needed.
Weaknesses
They attract price-conscious customers well with their deals but seem shy to highlight them when it comes to ordering.
Opportunities
While they have images accompanying their menu, it’ll make decision-making faster if toppings have them too.
Chapter 2
Define
Target Audience
While doing my research, I noticed that people love deals and are happy when they see them. Not only do they love saving money, but they also love saving time. As they say, time is money.
Thanks to Anna, I was able to understand further why Marco requested the 3 minutes ordering process. The man was cooking something. This leads me to ask myself:
How might we...
show good deals for price-conscious customers so that they don’t get overwhelmed?
make the ordering process quick and efficient for customers so that they are more likely to return?
reduce the time to choose and customize a pizza for busy customers so that they can order quickly?
Chapter 3
Ideate & Sketch
Now it’s my turn to cook. I looked at my notes and created a user flow to ensure I create a seamless navigation when drawing wireframes. How do new users order pizza? What is the fastest way to order pizza?
User flow for guest users ordering a custom pizza
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
This is where the keystrokes and clicks happen. I focused on 4 key features that will improve the ordering process time:
No to Account Creation
Customers can fill out their delivery or pickup address and continue as guest first.
Simple Deals
Savings will only be available through running campaigns.
Customize from Preset
Customers customize from a preset pizza to save time.
Quick Reorders
Customers can reorder their past order or their customized order.
Chapter 4
Branding
Were you wondering why this project was also labeled as “personal project”? Well, you’ve finally reached it. I designed the brand so that I could create high-fidelity wireframes.
The Brand
I created a new logo and colour scheme so that I can test the
pizza app in its real state.(Marco was open for rebrand suggestions.)
I wanted to make the brand feel bold to represent the word
“Diavolo”, which means “devil” in Italian, while balancing out
its high-energy to make it feel more welcoming.
Colours
To make Pizzeria Diavolo stand out among other famous pizza brands, I used neon orange paired with beige to tone down the intensity, avoiding overwhelming users.
Typography
While pizzas are usually a fast and casual meal, I used Noto Serif Display to give the brand a premium feel, showing that Marco’s pizzas are carefully crafted. To balance this font, I paired it with Montserrat for a cleaner and modern feel, ensuring legibility on screens.
Logo Design
I wanted to incorporate the devil’s features with pizza elements into the logo. Devils are associated with sharpness. And a slice of pizza came in handy for this. I also need to thank serif fonts and the fact that the brand name starts with a “D”.
(I challenged myself to create a typographic logo since it wasn’t my forte.)
Graphics
I went with collage design to make the brand stand out and feel more human.
Chapter 5
Usability Testing
My goal was simple. I wanted to see how easy it was for users to order a pizza, and if there were any confusions. Of course, with Marco’s 3 minutes in mind. To avoid pressuring the participants, I didn’t mention that I was going to time them.
User Feedback
Participants were able to order a pizza under 3 minutes. Some even took their time to browse around. (Marco, I did it!)
They also suggested to have options selected by default if ever they simply want to eat the preset pizza.
“I like how the overall design is soft to the eye.”
“I love the little icons, labeling the pizzas.”
“Will I have to restart my order if I hit cancel?”
“Options should be selected by default.”
Iterations & Refinement
Replacing the “cancel” button
Seeing as the participants were confused about the “cancel” button, I replaced it with a “go back arrow” button to keep similar interactions consistent.
Adding indicators on options
To make it faster to order a pizza, I added indicators to show that the options were already selected based on the preset pizza.
Redesigning the stamps
The stamps in the reward page caused confusion, making it look like customers need to order a slice of pizza instead of a whole one. I revised the stamps to make it look more like a traditional one.
Enlarging the Order Details button
To notify customers that they can still access their order, I turned the Order Details button into a banner covering the whole screen width since it was not being noticed. I also added a small text updating the state of their order so that customers can be quickly informed.
Takeaways
As someone who rarely orders takeout, this was a fun project to work on. I enjoyed analyzing competitors and identifying the common functions of food delivery. While there can be more features to add (nutrition, reviews), I think the current ones are simple enough to place an order. Anything more can affect the users’ decision differently (and most importantly, Marco’s 3 minutes). Although, I did add a reward system to help Marco keep customers coming to order pizza.