Enhancing the User Experience for a Pastry Chef’s Website

Rodyanko | E-commerce

Project Overview

Ever tried booking a cooking class through Instagram DMs? Yeah, it's not ideal. That's the challenge facing Rodyanko, a talented pastry chef whose Instagram-based business was bursting at the seams. Despite her amazing creations and popular masterclasses, she was losing opportunities due to clunky booking processes.

My Role

I stepped in as the UX designer to build her first real home on the web. The goal? Create a website that works as beautifully as her pastries look. This meant tackling three main things:

Making class bookings a breeze (no more DM chaos!)
Setting up smooth payment processing
Creating a gorgeous space to sell her recipe collections

Working solo and with a tight budget, I focused on designing something that would make life easier for both Rodyanko and her customers. Because let's face it - when you're craving to learn how to make those perfect cakes, the last thing you want is a frustrating booking experience.

Outcome

The design successfully addressed the key challenges by creating a user-friendly, visually appealing website that simplifies the process of booking masterclasses, making payments, and purchasing recipe collections.

This case study highlights the importance of a user-centered approach in design, where understanding the needs and behaviuors of users leads to actionable insights that drive business growth.

Design Process

Research

Ideate

Prototype

A Strategic UX design initiative to elevate a renowned pastry chef's digital presence and streamline business operations.

Complexity in Booking Masterclasses:
The booking happened in direct messages on Instagram that caused overbooking and extra steps to check availability and give spots on a first come first serve base.
There was no clear sense of urgency or exclusivity, which could potentially limit the number of sign-ups.
Lack of Payment Integration:
The absence of an integrated payment system created friction in the user journey
Selling Recipe Collections:
Placing recipe collections on Instagram highlights hasn’t brought sales

Research

User Interviews:
I have conducted interviews with existing users to understand their pain points. Key insights revealed the need for a straightforward booking process for masterclasses and a desire for easy access to digital recipe collections.

Competitive Analysis:
Then, I have analyzed competitors' websites to identify best practices in booking systems, payment integration, and digital product sales. Noted that simplicity and clarity in design were crucial for user engagement.

Prototype

Based on the research insights, we outlined the key features needed to address the identified challenges:
Simple Masterclass Booking System: A clear, easy-to-navigate interface that displays only a few upcoming masterclasses, emphasizing limited availability to create urgency.
Integrated Payment System: A secure, seamless payment process that keeps users on the website.
Dedicated Recipe Collections Page: A visually appealing and easy-to-browse section dedicated to selling recipe collections.

I have created low-fidelity wireframes to map out the user flow and layout of key pages, including the homepage, masterclass info page, and recipe collections page.

After gathering high-level feedback due to limited budget for this project, I have developed high-fidelity mockups incorporating user feedback.

Integrated clear CTAs like “Reserve” and “Buy” buttons, strategically placed to guide users through the booking and purchasing process.

Stripe was selected as an integrated payment solution that made the booking and payment process organized and trustworthy.

The design was clean, with a focus on high-quality images and easy-to-read typography to reflect the premium nature of the chef’s offerings.

Learnings

The Rodyanko project was an interesting initiative for me. It was the first time this brand created a website to expand its online presence. With a limited budget, it was challenging to follow all design process best practices. However, I was able to maximize all resources available to me to create an MVP to improve the interaction with the brand and simplify the crucial business processes.