- Client: Katchup (Pitch)
- Role: Lead UX Designer
- Tools Used: Figma
On-Demand Staffing for the Restaurant Industry
Katchup is an innovative staffing app designed to help restaurants quickly find qualified workers to fill temporary or last-minute shifts. Developed as a solution to staffing challenges in the restaurant industry, Katchup allows managers to search for and request staff on a short-term basis, with filters for specific positions, experience levels, and availability. My role involved creating visual assets over a 30-day project to showcase the app’s potential to attract early investors, focusing on a clear, engaging interface and seamless functionality.
Problem Statement
Restaurants face chronic staffing shortages, particularly for short-term needs, which disrupt operations and reduce customer satisfaction. Existing hiring processes are slow and ineffective for filling immediate gaps, leaving restaurant managers with limited options.
Project Goals: Design a user-friendly app that enables restaurant managers to find, filter, and book qualified workers on demand, enhancing operational flexibility and reducing downtime.
Process & Research
To create an effective staffing app for the restaurant industry, I focused on user needs and industry-specific requirements:
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Market Research:
Analyzed common staffing challenges in the restaurant industry and identified features that could simplify the hiring process. -
User Needs:
Conducted interviews with restaurant managers to understand hiring criteria and preferences for short-term staff, such as experience, certifications, and availability. -
Feature Prioritization:
Prioritized functionalities like profile browsing, reviews, filters for qualifications, pay rate customization, and immediate availability.
Key Insight: Managers needed the ability to quickly assess candidates, focusing on specific skills, experience, and availability, to make quick, informed hiring decisions.
Design Iterations
1. Initial Sketches and Wireframes
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Low-Fidelity Sketches:
Outlined core app functions, including staffing requests, filtering options, and candidate profiles with ratings and reviews. -
Wireframes:
Developed mid-fidelity wireframes featuring a clear request flow, profile browsing, and filtering tools based on experience, certifications, and availability. -
Feedback:
Initial testing revealed a need for refined filtering options and a more intuitive, simplified request flow to minimize hiring friction.
2. Prototyping and Testing
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Component Testing:
Key components like the staffing request interface, filtering system, and candidate profile layout were tested for usability and clarity. -
Figma Prototyping:
Created an interactive prototype in Figma to demonstrate the request workflow and filter options, allowing potential investors to experience the app’s functionality. -
User Testing and Refinement:
Feedback from stakeholders and prospective users guided refinements in the navigation and profile layout, ensuring easy access to important candidate details.
3. High-Fidelity Designs
- Final designs highlighted a clean, intuitive interface with prominent filtering options and candidate profiles showing experience, ratings, and availability. This version was crafted to appeal to investors and demonstrate Katchup’s potential impact on restaurant staffing.
Outcome & Impact
The assets developed for Katchup successfully showcased its potential, attracting early interest from investors. The app’s ability to offer a flexible, rapid staffing solution for restaurants resonated well with industry stakeholders, who saw it as a practical approach to a common problem. The project demonstrated the viability of a quick-staffing solution in a challenging labor market, laying the groundwork for future development and funding.
Reflection
This project highlighted the importance of understanding industry-specific needs in UX design, especially for a high-turnover sector like hospitality. The focus on usability and clear candidate filtering options was essential to ensure a streamlined experience that supports quick decision-making.
Next Steps: Further development to incorporate more dynamic filtering options, expand candidate profiles with additional details, and introduce features like automatic rebooking for preferred candidates.