August 2022-May2023
Vision Workshops and Concept Testing
As all good projects start, this one started with sticky notes and room full of stakeholders. Everyone wrote ideas down and we begin grouping them into categories in order to form high-level concepts. Once concepts and features were agreed on, I designed 10 concept cards which UX took out to 25 Casey’s guests in Illinois and Oklahoma to get their feedback on the ideas. I primarily took notes remotely because I was unable to travel with the team. However, we had one participant who requested to participate virtually, and I was able to moderate his interview. Once interviews were complete, we compiled our learnings into infographics and a PowerPoint deck. We also pulled video clips from the recordings and cut together highlight reels of common themes. We presented to business partners, and they aligned on which concepts we could pursue based on time and technology constraints. Below you can see one of the concept cards that made it into the final design; a savings tracker in the account section of the app.
Modernized UI & Prototyping
It was agreed that the Rewards app needed a UI update. The UX team did some whiteboarding and mood boards, as well as compiled screenshots from competitors that inspired us. We proposed new styles and created a new digital style guide. I designed a one-page slide that was used internally to familiarize business partners with the changes. I helped build the new components for our component library and helped build out the new app prototypes. The changes consisted of removing the chalkboard background (the image background dragged down the loading times, especially for rural guests where Casey’s are a staple), using typical Bootstrap round buttons instead of custom image-based hexagonal buttons, using a font-based icon set instead of the chalky images or SVGs when possible, updating text styles to reflect current design tastes, and rounding corners on images and banners for a more modern look.
My key areas of focus for prototyping the new app design were the account section, the locations section, and school donations sections, though we all collaborated and helped each other with various pieces across the app. Due to time and resources some of the screens we redesigned have yet to make it to production. Since this initiative was Casey’s Rewards focused, those screens and features were prioritized.
Usability Testing
Because we hard pressed to meet a May release, we were limited in the functionality of the app that could be changed. Therefore, there were only small pieces of the app that required usability testing. There was discussion among stakeholders about whether the small link on the offers section of the home page that says “View all” and takes users to the offers page should be changed to an end card at the end of the Offers slider. To help facilitate a decision, I was tasked with running a usability test on both options and presenting a research-based recommendation to our business partners. I used our usability testing platform, UserZoom, to build and run an unmoderated usability test with 30 participants that were screened to be people who shopped at Casey’s stores. 15 participants took the test for the text link design and 15 took the test for the end card design, but the task instructions were the same for both, “Navigate to the full list of offers or limited-time deals. Once you’ve found it, complete the task.” I watched all the video recordings of the participants’ screens, timed precisely how long it took them to complete the task, and listened to their verbal account of the experience. I combined my observational data (including cutting two video highlight reels) and timings with their survey responses into a PowerPoint deck with my design recommendation, and I presented this to the business stakeholders. I recommended that we do both the link and the end card, instead of one or the other. Stakeholders readily agreed with this recommendation. The UX team created several end card designs, and one of mine was ultimately selected to be the final design that appears in the app.
Final designs
The app is available for download in the iOS App store and Google PlayStore. I designed the images used to showcase the app in the Google PlayStore and iOS App Store. The app re-design for Rewards Refresh was launched in May 2023, with the final feature being added in October 2023 which was one of our original concept cards that was tested in October 2022 – getting double rewards points on pizzas. The new app is much lighter and made lots of improvements that will hopefully speed up load times, especially when guests are using the slow, free internet in Casey’s stores.