Callersmart - Eric Harrison

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Callersmart

Visual design
UX review
Redesign

My responsibilities

Understanding

Problem

People are unable to book tables at high-end restaurants due to overwhelming demand, while the restaurants themselves lose out on additional revenue

Target audience

Customers who want primetime access to dining, but find these spots are usually fully booked. Restaurant owners looking to monetize their waitlist

Solution

Developing a web application that allows guests to bid in auctions to reserve tables, along with a platform for restaurant owners to set up and manage auctions

Success criteria

The design of the web application for customers and owners, which has been submitted for development

Discovery

At this step we focused on data collection where we defined the vision of the project by gathering data on user needs, market trends, key business objectives and many more

Desk research, Competitive research, Interviews

We validated the idea of monetizing high-demand dining waitlists and assessed the risks of relying on guests to bid through an external app instead of a restaurant-linked platform. Through desk research and analysis of articles, news, reviews, market trends, we confirmed that guests are willing to pay for such a service, particularly in cities like New York, where fine dining is often booked months in advance.

We also analyzed competitors, evaluating key features like auction functionality and guest experience to address user needs and come up with better solutions/features.

Moreover, we conducted interviews, focusing primarily on restaurant owners to formulate hypotheses to understand potential fears and risks owners might associate with using a third-party solution.

Produced Design artifacts

UJM and App Flow → Acknowledge the stages users go through and key interaction parameters, including touchpoints, emotions, objections and more

Use Cases → Provide a structured approach to understanding user interactions with the system, aiding developers and future testing

Personas → Distinguish information between two different user types, recognizing their motivations, risks, objectives and mental models

Visual design

At this phase, the product's visual part is crafted, encompassing the concept of design, production of imagery, high-definition interfaces, and other critical components that deliver user experience

visual design justification and benchmarking

We analyzed competitors' designs and found issues like poor composition, inconsistent hierarchy, outdated typography, and cluttered layouts with excessive accents and low contrast, affecting readability.

We chose to differentiate from competitors by taking the opposite approach, focusing on clarity and conciseness to communicate certainty to users. To emphasize a high-end experience, we incorporated the feeling of sophistication into the design. We defined our guiding principles — Minimal, Effortless, and Elegant — based on that we created design concept

visual design justification and benchmarking

After developing the design concept, we created high-fidelity screens and illustrations to bring the vision to life. We also prepared detailed layouts, ensuring they were fully aligned with the design concept and user journey.

These layouts included all necessary details for development, such as spacing, typography, color codes, and component specifications