Wow Bao is a technology-driven, fast-casual street food restaurant chain based in Chicago, IL. Wow Bao’s menu focuses on hot asian steamed buns, potstickers, and rice & noodle bowls.
Though they have self-service kiosks in-store and a mobile app, their website did not support online orders as of June 2019. Our team was tasked with filling this gap to achieve channel neutrality. Our focus was designing an online ordering system for Wow Bao’s website. We then applied this new system to refresh Wow Bao’s existing catering system, and we redesigned their home page to better promote online orders.
I led the creation of our visual design system, wireframes, and interactive prototype. I also helped conduct and synthesize research.
While designing our ordering system, we balanced three goals: 1) consistency, 2) delight, and 3) conversions. Our solution combined the branding and content of Wow Bao's existing platforms (freestanding kiosks and mobile app) with the streamlined UI and consistent flow of 3rd party platforms (DoorDash and GrubHub).
We organized menu items into a two column grid, using a modal popup for additional choices and customization options. An always-present shopping cart is anchored to the right of the screen as users build their order. For complex items (such as "The Wow Factor" catering packages), a set of expanding and collapsing drop downs allow the user to remain on the same page.
Moments of delight include a bao progress bar as users construct that item, a visualized tray on the payment page, and animated elements on order confirmation to reinforce the in-store experience.
In addition to online orders and catering, our team refreshed the Wow Bao landing page, simplifying the navigation and redesigning calls to action to encourage conversions.
