Mau Loa Sweets
By Connor Steffens UX Research and Design
Executive summary
Mao Loa Sweets is a local Minnesota bakery owned and operated by one woman. She specializes in custom cookie designs, cookie decorating events, and pop-up shops around holidays. Mau Loa Sweets values her Hawwian heritage and sustainable and locally sourced ingredients.
As part of a team of three UX researchers, we started by conducting a heuristic analysis. We then used our findings to write a script for usability tests. We ran nine usability tests in person and on Zoom, lasting 30 minutes each. We had users complete specific tasks to gain qualitative and quantitative data. I took this data and made a findings and recommendations report.
Goals
Evaluate design usability using predefined success criteria
Propose methods for evaluating designs/prototypes
Plan and facilitate in-person and remote usability tests
Synthesize research findings for meaningful insights
Visually present design recommendations supporting key goals
Roles: UX Design and Research
Usability Test Moderarter
Methods: Heuristic Analysis
Think Aloud Test
Usability Test
Affinity Diagram
Key Deliverables: Findings and Recommendations report
Problem
The focus of the project was to evaluate the usability of the Mau Loa Sweets website. Its goal is to attract and inform potential clients and customers while encouraging custom cookie orders, holiday pre-sales, and sign-ups for cookie decorating classes.
Evaluate
Heuristic Analysis
To find the pain points of the website, we conducted a heuristic analysis.
I created a severity scale to help gauge the priority of the pain points.
example pain point
Findings
The ordering process was straightforward and intuitive, but getting there was difficult.
Poor design and aesthetics. Multiple pages had lots of disorganized text, which made it hard to find important information.
Error prevention: multiple aspects of the website can lead you in the wrong direction. For example, you can order up to 99,999 cookies, and it’s unsure if the quantity is in dozens or per cookie.
Usability Test
Goals of the usability test
To better understand the overall usability of the Mau Loa Sweets website,
Can the users identify the company values of Mau Loa Sweets?
Gain insights into any user pain points during the ordering process.
Identify any opportunity areas for improvement for the overall usability of the Mau Loa Sweets website.
Affinity Diagram
We compiled all of our raw data into an affinity diagram.
This helped us categorize and digest the data.
Key Findings
Pain Points
The home page was a big issue. There was lots of disorganized text, and many users just opted not to read large chunks of information.
The “request custom cookie” page had lots of similar issues. Along with some usability errors, mainly relating to the mood board section. 7/9 users didn’t know what this was, so they went to the FAQ page, and when they returned, it deleted everything they had on the form.
The last pain was confusion with the term pre-sale. 9/9 users had some kind of issue or confusion relating to the term “pre-sale.”
example slides
Positive Findings
We found out that 9/9 users interviewed loved this scrolling image of her past work.
Also, all users were able to complete each task we gave them.
Recommend Solutions
cut down words to need-to-know information across the whole site. Also, add a separate “about’ and “contact” page so it doesn't get lost on the home page.
On the custom cookie page, I would change a few things for usability. For example, add a little question mark next to the mood board so that when you hover over it, it explains what a mood board is.
Last but not least, I would change the name “pre-sale” to something more intuitive, like “holiday sale.”
Example slides
Next Steps
I would like to move into the prototype phase of the design process. I already started slightly with one low-fidelity wireframe, but I would like to make a few more wireframes in higher fidelity.
Learning
One interesting thing I learned is that what someone says during user testing isn’t always a reality. During one test, I asked a question about getting to the pre-sale page. The user got stuck, and I had to direct them where to go. After the task was completed, I asked them to rate how easy that task was for them on a scale from 1 to 7 (1=not easy, 7=super easy). That user rated it a 6/7 and said it went fine when, in reality, they did know where to go.