9 Lives Arcade and Cat Cafe Case Study

Project Overview

9 Lives is a fictional cat cafe and arcade, catered towards those with a fondness for retro arcade games and everyone’s favorite feline friend.

The Client

An app for a cat cafe and arcade, used for menu viewing and mobile ordering, featuring a payment system for games and a rewards system.

The Product

The Problem

A more convenient menu and payment system is needed, customers find difficulty in carrying around tokens for games and want to be able to order via mobile devices.

The Goal

A functional, easy to use app, one that will encourage returning customers and allow for a rewards system to be implemented.

Understanding the User

1

Cannot Order Ahead

Pain Points

Customers want to order ahead via mobile device for to go or large drink orders.

2

Payment Method Inconvenient

Customers find carrying around a cup of tokens inconvenient and would benefit from a mobile payment system for games and beverages.

3

Customers Rarely Return

Customers find coming to this cafe as a one-off event! An incentive program to encourage them to come back would help.

4

Menu is Hard to Access

Customers need to come up to the counter in order to look at the menu, this isn't convenient for people in a rush or for people busy playing games.

Personas

Elizabeth often wakes up to cuddles from her kitty companion and stays in bed just a little too long. Oh no, now she's running late for her 8 AM class! She would love to get coffee from her favorite cafe but does not have the time to wait in line. If only there was a way for her to order ahead! Unfortunately, she just has to be sleepy today.

Elizabeth Sawyer

Age: 20 Education: College Student Hometown: Santa Fe, NM Occupation: Aspiring Software Engineer

Frustrations:

  • Can’t access menus online

  • Can’t order ahead

  • No reward system from her favorite coffee shop

Goal:

  • Order coffee to pick up on her way to class

Alexander loves to play arcade games at 9 Lives and has asked a few of his friends to spend some time with him there. When his friends arrive, Alex explains that they have to trade cash in for tokens to play but none of his friends carry cash. They go to the counter and ask for cash back on their purchase, trade in their cash for tokens, and drop them everywhere! What a disaster! Safe to say they won't be coming back anytime soon.

Alexander Santos

Age: 41 Education: Some College Hometown: Seattle, WA Occupation: Musician

Goal:

  • Easily play arcade games with his friends

Frustrations:

  • Tokens are bulky to carry around

  • Doesn’t always carry cash to trade in

  • Keeps dropping his tokens

Starting the Design

Paper Wireframes

Wanted to include:

  • Space for rewards tracker

  • Drink specials

  • Featured games

Notes:

  • Enjoyed image carousel for featured games

  • Liked compact rewards tracker

  • Large order button provided less confusion and promotes user flow

User Flow

Wanted to include:

  • Recent orders section

  • Subsections of drinks

    ~Iced coffees, hot teas, etc

  • Drink details and customization menu

  • Cart listing drink modifiers and price

  • Confirmation screen featuring an ETA and reward tracker to show points earned

Digital Wireframes

Rewards tracker for easy viewing

Large call to action button to minimize confusion

Hero image carousel of featured games

Recent orders section to reorder favorites

Low Fidelity Prototype & Usability Study

Included multiple ways to get to different screens

Changing Call to Action button dependent on screen

Usability Study

Moderated usability study conducted on 25 year old man who orders coffee ahead daily and frequents arcades. He was asked to fill out an adoption application, place a new drink order as well as reorder one of his past purchases, and reload his game card.

Findings

  • Checkout page between cart and confirmation needed

  • Cat adoption page- having to insert cat name is confusing

  • Wants to be able to see what rewards they can work up to

  • Cannot turn off auto-reload

  • Quicker reorder- straight into cart

  • Wants Drink Specials on home page as well

Updated LoFi Prototype

  • Added checkout page before order confirmation

  • Added auto-reload functionality into payment methods

  • Reorder past orders skips drink modification menu

  • Changed rewards screen to show rewards the user can save up for

  • Cat adoption forms customized to cat profile

  • Homepage scrolls to show more drink specials

Refining the Design

  • Color palette inspired by neon retro arcades

  • Bright and fun

  • Blue toned off-white to simulate older screen capabilities

  • Font and icons reminiscent of 8-bit games

Design Choices

Mockups

  • Alternate reward tracker format

    - More interactive

    - Visually appealing

    - Easy viewing

  • Star icon as reward continuity

  • Added how many points used for reward

  • Colored division of sections

  • Darker background to reduce eye strain when page is kept open for long periods

  • Dollar amount conversion to 25¢ token amount

  • Pink as button color continuity

  • Pink in QR code for visual interest

High Fidelity Prototype

Accessibility Considerations

1

Multiple ways of getting to pages, can get to different screens via both icon and text buttons

2

Call to action button changes depending on screen, aiding in direction of user flow

3

Visuals stay consistent throughout design, profile icon, rewards icon, etc stay the same

Key Takeaways

Impact:

The impact of this hypothetical design depends on the scale of the business using it. If 9 Lives was a franchise or another business model with multiple locations, the impact would be much larger than a small business with a smaller scale clientele.

What I learned:

I loved working on this project! While the brand’s retro arcade inspired colors were very fun to work with, I encountered some trouble in maintaining color contrast standards. I learned a lot about color continuity as well as color contrast.

Next

Ann & Leslie's Bakery