Rethinking
Digital Adoption
Gamifying Starbucks Barista Training

 

A refreshing update to Starbucks’ Barista Training that combines gamification with tailored learning. Scroll to take a look at how our team did it.

 

UX/UI Design

The end result of this project was a user-focused product that centered around the needs of Starbucks Baristas. Our interface designs integrate the needs of the end users while helping to achieve larger business goals.

User Research

We worked with baristas of different skill levels, as well as other retail employees to find a smoother solution to digital adoption. By using their input, we made sure our decisions were well-informed and backed by data.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Problem

Interviewing with Starbucks Baristas uncovered that training and onboarding is boring, and the current structure feels more like a chore to get through which leaves new hires with a bad taste in their mouths.

The Solution

Our team used agile design processes to push out successive iterations to test with our end users in order to restructure barista onboarding so that it fits in seamlessly with Starbucks’ brand image.

Highlights

The final round of user interviews indicated sure success, one barista had this to say of our prototype; “It was definitely a 5 [out of 5] for me, I found this to be the easiest training I have had at Starbucks...I think you guys should get this seen by someone from corporate. The games specifically would be so fun to play and learn at the same time!”

PROJECT SUMMARY

The Need

Currently, Starbucks’ training relies heavily on visual and audio queues
to teach its new hires. My team wanted to create a training system that caters to different learning styles while being visually appealing.

The Result

A refreshing update to Starbucks’ Barista Training that combines gamification with tailored learning. Scroll to take a look at how our
team did it. Another really good sentence, I’m so good at writing copy.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

My Roles

UX Designer
Graphic Designer
Team Player

What I Did

Visual design
Style guide
Sketching
Brainstorming

FRAMING THE PROBLEM

Problem Statement

The current state of digital adoption has only one type of training implemented for all types of learning styles and is boring to learners. Existing products fail to meet the needs of different types of learners.

Our solution will address this gap by implementing different learning styles into the training process, as well as breaking down the training into smaller sections to help employees retain information better.

Hypothesis

We believe we can increase productivity and generate more profit by creating a more adept workforce through the implementation of targeted training for each unique learning style.

PERCOLATING

Problem Evolution

The start of this project came about when we collected survey responses from front line workers. Over the past three years, this group has been widely impacted by the pandemic and changing needs. My team wanted to develop a product that would make their jobs a little easier,
as a way to say thanks.

We chose to sample data from the largest group, food service and retail. Finally, in order to hone as much as possible, we set our sights on Starbucks Baristas.

DESIGN ARTIFACT: FRUSTRATIONS CHART

 

DESIGN ARTIFACT: USERS ABBY AND ASHTON

 

User Groups

The majority of our survey responses were completed by individuals in the 18-25 age bracket. We created two strong personas that evolved with the project to most accurately reflect our intended audience.

 
 

PROJECT DETAILS

Constraints

This project was completed by a three-person team of students over the span of four months. We relied on our personal connections to get data from our target users and designed everything together over Zoom.

We chose to sample data from the largest group: food service and retail. Finally, in order to hone as much as possible, we set our sights on Starbucks Baristas.

Scope

The team went through the process of pairing down our problem by focusing in on service industries and on-boarding for new hires until we finally settled on updating Starbucks’ training for baristas.

 

BREWING IT OVER

Brainstorming

In total, we completed four primary user interviews to guide our initial design. Three were conducted in a traditional manner while one was guerrilla style where a prompt was posed to users on a sheet of copy paper to answer as they pleased. From these interview tactics, we gathered some crucial information.

DESIGN ARTIFACT: PROPOSED DESIGN SCHEMATIC

Ideation

The next step was to come up with the story for a solution to these problems that would implement the key features we had outlined. We created a journey map to lay out the experience of our solution over the course of one shift.

DESIGN ARTIFACT: JOURNEY MAP

 

GRINDING IT OUT

Design Iterations

By far, the most exciting part of this project was adapting Starbucks’ visual library to our design system. My team chose to work on an iPad screen size to mimic the look of a POS system in a friendlier, and more approachable manner. We began with roughing out some sketches.

After linking up all of the sketches into an information architecture map, we began digital wireframes. During this step my team knew we wanted to expand out from the current training features, so we went wide with our initial plan.

DESIGN ARTIFACT: IA DIAGRAM

 

This map was then used to develop our testable prototype. We completed interviews for each phase of our iterations to make sure we were hitting the mark with our prototype. Our interviewees consisted of front-line workers in our target demographic.

With each step in the process, we were able to take the time to polish up the graphics and pull in more aspects of the house style, altogether creating a cohesive and familiar interface that we knew was shaping up to fit right into the current training program.

 

DESIGN ARTIFACT: ITERATIONS

User Interviews

In each interview phase, our three-person team sat down with one person each who fell into our target group. We asked them to complete a selection of tasks to put our prototype to the test. Following this, we would open a discussion about the prototype by giving them a few prompts to elaborate on. The tasks and prompts were slightly different each time, allowing us to refine targeted sections of our prototype.

A large portion of the feedback we received from our interviews was that our copy writing needed refinement. In order to make this prototype as simple to use as possible, our team needed to ensure that the text accompanying each interaction made the most sense in the minds of our target users. In each iteration, we were able to make tweaks with our wording and task flows to smooth out these bumps.

 

INFUSED WITH STYLE

Design System

Working on a multi-person team can make it harder to manage the small details of design. To combat this issue, we collaborated to create a design system and style guide which would be applied over the whole prototype and help streamline the design process. This step helped to elevate the prototype further.

Our design system is a slightly modified version of Starbucks’ house style. We sampled colors and type directly from their products but added some design flair to make our system unique.

Through implementing this design system, we were able to focus more on the interactions between the screens in any given user flow. This resulted in a more fully-realized system that moved like a functioning product. In user testing, our interviewers were intrigued by the animated flow and clicked around to explore more.

ORDER UP

The Final Solution

Circling back to our hypothesis, by generating more interest in training, our team believes there will be an increase in productivity. The specific use of rich and appealing graphics that target visual and hands-on learning has already proven to pique the interest of baristas who trained on MyLearning, and are accustomed to the current training system.

Additionally, our final round of testing indicated to us that we had achieved our ultimate goal of usability as all three of our user testers rated our prototype as a five out of five for ease of use.

From the start of the project we had intended to build out a larger system that factored in more than just visual and hands-on learning, however, with limited resources we had to reign in our scope. This proved to be a good strategic decision for our team as we were able to build out a fully realized interactive prototype.

SPRINKLES ON TOP

Next Steps

For the next stretch of this project we have our sights set on redesigning the training recipe cards. At the start of this project we had sketches in the works to add a flash card learning element into our redesign. However, these were phased out as we honed in on our final design scope. Ideally, our team would focus on this section next with the result being a new set of flashcards utilizing the same style guide we had developed, modified for use in print form.

What I Learned

Some of my key takeaways from working on this project are the importance of creating a design system and the impact that regular user testing can have on the outcome of your designs, moving forward I believe it would be beneficial to implement these tools into my design process for future projects.

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