A mobile app concept for discovering independent businesses, tested in a 50-user pilot.
- Role
- Product Designer
- Timeline
- 2019 - 2022
- Skills
- User ResearchUI | UX DesignUsability Testing
Golden Wok Kitchen
PopularOrange Chicken
PopularFried Rice
PopularChow MeinPopularPork Dumplings
PopularSpring RollsPopularCombo PlatterSaved
1Golden Wok Kitchen
Get two orange chicken plates with fried rice. Dine-in or takeout.
Independent businesses often lack the resources and reach of larger brands. Glimpse's founding team contracted me to design key parts of the experience, focusing on three challenges:
- Making a dense map easier to scan
- Supporting discovery through search
- Encouraging repeat engagement without paid promotion
50-user pilot in Costa Rica
Tested the discovery, map scanning, and engagement workflows with 50 users before development. The CEO's local business connections made Costa Rica the pilot market.
Making a crowded map easier to scan
Downtown areas pack dozens of businesses into a small area. In testing, participants found the original map hard to scan: every category had its own pin color, and dense areas turned into competing colors.
What should color communicate on a crowded map?
Color for every category
Each business type keeps its own pin color.
- +Category readable from color alone
- +Nothing new to learn
- −Dense areas turn into competing colors
- −Every new type adds another color
Color for groups, icons for types
Related businesses share a group color, such as food & drink or shopping, while icons identify the specific type.
- +Patterns visible at a glance
- +Fewer colors, clearer hierarchy
- +New types fit existing groups
- −Depends on icons staying recognizable
- −Grouping has to be learned
During the pilot, participants described the regrouped map as easier to scan, helping them recognize patterns across an area instead of decoding individual pins.
Search as discovery
Search isn't always about finding a specific business. Sometimes users know what they want, but not where to find it.
Search takes both business names and general terms like "sushi" or "coffee." The map's pin types double as filters, so users can narrow results without leaving search.
Golden Wok Kitchen
PopularOrange ChickenPopularFried RicePopularChow MeinPopularPork DumplingsPopularSpring RollsPopularCombo PlatterRepeat engagement without paid promotion
Chains stay in front of people with TV spots, billboards, and sponsored posts. Most local businesses can't afford any of that. So before designing how users save and follow businesses, I had to answer a simpler question.
What gets you to try a place you’ve never heard of?
- TV spots
- Billboards
- Sponsored posts
- Social media
The answer was deals, a promotion independent businesses can offer directly. That shaped saving: rather than a static bookmark, favoriting subscribes users to a business's updates, and opening a favorite lands on the Updates tab rather than the menu.
Saved
1Golden Wok Kitchen
Get two orange chicken plates with fried rice. Dine-in or takeout.
Notifications stay opt-in: they only come from businesses a user has chosen to follow.
Reaching interested customers with deals
A favorited business opens to its latest updates and deals: reach without paid advertising.
Where it landed
Glimpse was designed to help people discover independent businesses while giving those businesses a way to stay connected with interested customers. My work ended at handoff, with the map, search, and saving flows tested through a 50-user pilot in Costa Rica.
The most important decisions weren't about individual screens. They were about how the product could help people make decisions: recognizing patterns on the map, finding businesses through search, and giving users a reason to return to places they were interested in.
- 50
- Users in the Costa Rica pilot
- 3
- Core flows tested: map, search, and saves
What I took away
Color for groups, icons for detail
Pilot participants found the regrouped map easier to scan: group colors carried the patterns, icons preserved the specific type.
Notifications only from followed businesses
Updates only came from favorited businesses, keeping notifications relevant and giving owners an audience that opted in.
Deals built on what owners already do
Promotions are already how many independent businesses attract customers. Building saving and updates around deals used something owners already knew how to create.