BeeZr

Selected Work #3: UX Transformations for a Small Business

Client: BeeZr | Services: UX/UI Research & Design

In 2021, BeeZr - a new local gastropub and brewery collective in Huntsville - approached me to gather user data and design customer-focused solutions. This project encompassed many phases but one of the most important tasks was to redesign their website with a mobile-first approach, to decrease customer frustration. Using a pain-driven design approach, I conducted in-depth user research, analyzed data to uncover insights, and designed several unique solutions to customer pain points. Keeping in mind that BeeZr is a small, resource-conscious business, I delivered easily implementable and sustainable solutions that quickly demonstrated success - markedly increasing customer satisfaction and decreasing staff turnover, exceeding the client’s expectations.

Key Takeaways:

• Conducted and analyzed robust user research including surveys, interviews, and usability testing

• Constructed user journey and site maps to uncover pain points

• Developed personas of both staff and customers to reference for designs

• Delivered a custom brand style guide

• Created wireframe prototypes of solutions discovered to enhance UX for staff and customers

• Designed hi-fidelity mockups of a full website redesign that resolved all of the pain points uncovered in data analysis

• Revealed opportunities to increase profits with new initiatives, like events

• Successfully boosted user satisfaction, sales, and BeeZr brand perception

Project Description

Challenge: In 2021, BeeZr - a unique gastropub and brewery collective in downtown Huntsville, Alabama - approached me with a challenge: customers were frustrated with their digital menu experience. BeeZr operated a QR-code-based system where users accessed menus through the website, but the mobile interface was confusing, visually dated, and difficult to navigate. Since this was the only way to view menus for all four of BeeZr’s microbusinesses (coffee, brewery, food truck, and kitchen), the poor user experience was actively harming customer satisfaction and slowing down service. As a small business with no dedicated design team, BeeZr needed a thoughtful, resource-conscious solution that could improve usability without requiring a full tech overhaul. Adding to the complexity, the space itself was eclectic and community-driven - something the digital experience failed to reflect. My task was to pinpoint the pain points in the customer journey and completely redesign the mobile experience to be more intuitive, accessible, and true to BeeZr’s brand.

Process: Using a pain-driven UX approach, I kicked off the project with onsite research. I observed customer behavior across different times and days, interviewed a mix of first-time visitors and regulars, and talked with BeeZr staff about common issues they saw with the current system. I also ran short surveys to get a wider range of input on usability and preferences. Patterns quickly emerged - users were frustrated by clunky navigation, poor readability on mobile, and a lack of visual consistency. Many customers struggled to understand which menu belonged to which business, and older patrons or less tech-savvy guests often found the QR-only format alienating. I mapped the user journey in Miro to highlight where these friction points occurred and which ones caused the most drop-off or confusion.

From there, I sketched wireframes that clarified content hierarchy, streamlined the navigation flow, and introduced visual cues to help users quickly understand the multi-business setup. I updated the typography for legibility, suggested layout adjustments to better fit small screens, and sourced imagery that better reflected BeeZr’s communal and creative atmosphere. To ensure the design was inclusive, I provided recommendations for adding alternate access methods like printed menus or in-house devices. After validating these ideas with staff and stakeholders, I provided a document of structural solutions, created a Balsamiq wireframe prototype of a redesigned POS system, and delivered a hi-fidelity mockup of a refreshed mobile-first website interface that brought all the updates together. With all of the deliverables ready, I presented my findings to the CEO and began implementation and developing training plans for the new systems.

Outcome: The result was an overall more user-friendly experience for digital users, in-person customers, and staff, that fit BeeZr’s brand and operational needs. Customers enjoyed easier web navigation, reducing friction and improving the overall flow of service, and staff thrived on a more simplified POS experience and customer flow. User feedback reflected a strengthened sense of trust and ease when interacting with BeeZr. While not a high-budget, metrics-heavy corporate project, this redesign had real-world impact - bringing clarity, accessibility, and a more enjoyable experience to the BeeZr’s community - demonstrating how strategic UX design can create meaningful change even in small-scale environments, and establish new businesses as favored and sustainable mainstays in competitive spaces.

Process

Design Approach / Framework: Keeping with the Agile design approach, we followed the Scrumban method, for the Best Internet for Gamers project. Although this product ask was relatively simple, it was just one backlog sprint of a larger campaign to attract the gaming audience to Spectrum Internet. Since this project targeted a specific, niche group of users rather than general internet, mobile, or TV customers, our approach was slightly different. There was a need to gather and analyze significant amounts of user data and competitor research prior to crafting the design. My team navigated daily meetings, evolving product parameters, and several rounds of reviews, feedback, and iterations before landing on a final design approach. Once the mockup was approved, I built the page on AEM and worked with the Dev team to resolve any bugs before pushing it live.

More Deliverables

I provided BeeZr with robust user data including research-based personas of both customers and staff to use throughout the design process, a detailed journey map created with UXpressia, data tables and infographics crafted in Microsoft Excel, a detailed Flowmapp sitemap of the gobeezr.com website, user surveys and interview scripts built with Qualtrics and Microsoft Word, and a style guide designed in Adobe Illustrator.

Reference from Founder/ CEO

"BeeZr owes a great deal of what it has become to Abby’s influence, including its form, function, and feel. Her efforts to mold the experience - from entrance to introduction to enjoyment to exit - play huge into our success. Her ideas to train, evaluate, and empower our employees to communicate our message ensures that time spent at BeeZr by our guests (and colleagues!) is enjoyable and rewarding. Thanks to her, I now know why there is a new field in academic study: User Xperience."

- Ron Jewell, Founder/ CEO - BeeZr