UX Research & Design For My Major Project
User Experience Design (UXD) is a crucial aspect of creating meaningful, user-focused digital experiences. I am developing a website centered on my users’ needs but also have optimal functionality. I am creating firstly for my target audience of Millenials and Gen X but aim to create something accessible for everyone.
My major project must have a very broad spectrum of user personas. Just like all websites it is important to keep in mind that anyone could be accessing your website, but with my particular website of wine bars in East London I could be reaching various ages, cultures, genders, income; the list goes on. Similar to the user persona workshop project we did in class with Chris How, I am going to work to create a handful of users with broad needs so that I am not just fulfilling one category of people or just the audience I know personally (Bruton). In doing so, I can broaden my horizons in research and make the site’s accessibility more comfortable to the user in my research but hopefully simplifiy actions to help other users along the way.
Strengthening the Unique Selling Point
My project’s unique selling point (USP) is its focus on creating a centralized platform dedicated exclusively to wine bars in East London. This concept does not currently exist. While blogs or search engines may list a handful of wine bars, they often fail to provide comprehensive, well-organized, and detailed information specific to this niche. My platform fills this gap by making wine bars more accessible and offering users an alternative to generic search results, often highlighting only the most popular venues or pubs that may not align with their desires.
By curating a list of wine bars organized by neighborhood, the platform ensures that even smaller establishments with less SEO visibility can reach a wider audience. This benefits users, who gain access to a broader selection of venues, and wine bar owners, who can attract more customers and grow their businesses. By combining thoughtful design with a clear focus on user needs, my platform offers a solution that simplifies the process of finding wine bars and fosters a stronger sense of community within East London’s vibrant wine culture.
Journey Mapping
Journey mapping will help me understand how users interact with my Major Project site. I will be able to identify users pain points by going through their step by step journey. For instance, if my site includes a feature for exploring wine bars in East London, the journey map will help me visualize how a user might discover the site, browse for options, and eventually decide to visit a specific wine bar. I will be able to pinpoint missing information or unclear navigation. Addressing these issues before launching and anticipating multiple users perspectives, having others test out my site beyond my personas, will create a more satisfying experience for everyone.
Example Customer Journey
Empathy Mapping
I will be creating empathy maps as well as journey maps so that I can address not only the logistical but also the emotional side of the user’s journey. I will explore what the users might think, feel, say, and do when using the site. Taking into account the user demographic will also give me a deeper understanding of the emotions, needs, and motivations of my target audience (Brown).
Within this, I constantly need to come back to my personas and maps I have created. How might I reframe the question and explroe the problem further. Using “How might we” questions will help create new solutions to problems and pathways that might not have seemed obvious before or that will align better once I revisit issues within my design. Seeking out my competitors sites and looking at their designs; finding what is and is not working within them will be key to my success.
User Personas
User personas will serve as a foundational tool for defining and designing for my target audience. By creating detailed personas based on hypothetical users, I can better understand the needs, goals, and behaviors of people interacting with my website (Bruton). For example, one persona might represent a young professional looking for trendy wine bars to visit with friends, while another might reflect an older wine connoisseur seeking more traditional venues. Considering each persona within my target audience will help me tackle what features are necessary to my site. I will be able to make guided decisions about design and expectations by remaining user-focused and addressing personas challenges, motivations, and needs. I am designing for will use the site but how also work out the flaws to make it intuitive and inclusive for others.
Persona Empathy Map
Seeking Out My Competitors
Researching competitors will provide valuable insights into industry standards, design trends, and user expectations. While there may not be an identical site focusing on wine bars in East London, similar websites exist—either focusing on other cities or showcasing comparable themes, such as food and beverage guides or local event hubs. Analyzing these competitors will allow me to identify strengths in their designs and functionality, as well as potential weaknesses or gaps that my project can work to address.
I will examine how competitor websites organize their content through search filters, map integrations, or curated lists. With that I can see what content they consistently add to their sites so that I might note to add it into my own. Tracking what works—such as clear navigation, engaging imagery, or useful customer reviews—will help me adapt my site to users needs. On the contrary, looking for pain points like poor layout, lagged loading, or general inaccessiblity will be key to note and avoid (Paget).
In future critiques, my peers will be able to point out flaws I may have within my path and personas and vice versa. I will be able to gain my peers’ point of view and their own persona on how they might approach the maps–therefore, I will create further questions to further my design. It will help with efficiency in going through the issues I would like to work to solve, gaining their perspective on solutions and my own blind spots.
Introducing Mental Models in My Design Process
Understanding mental models is a key part of my design process because they directly influence how users interact with digital platforms. Keeping in mind users expectations based on their previous experiences and how it might align with my website with these models to ensure it feels intuitive and easy to navigate. During the design phase, prioritizing familiar pattern layouts, such as clear navigation menus, recognizable icons, and search filters, will simplify the layout and help users quickly find the information they need.
A user exploring wine bars will likely expect features such as location-based maps and detailed descriptions of what is happening and included at each featured wine bar. Including a filtering option for specific preferences like ambiance location in a simple manner will be key for a users success. Understanding mental models of easy accessibility, I can create a website that meets user expectations while maintaining quality design. Enhancing usability and making users more likely to return and recommend the site to others.
Mental Models
User experience is key to a site’s success. It needs to look nice, but if it is not compatible with users’ needs, no one is going to want to revisit it. Engaging mental models will bring users’ prior experiences into the site, so navigation is simplified based on assumptions of where things should be located and what should be included. Anticipating users’ needs in functionality is critical to ensure my site is intuitive and revisited.
For my major project, I will analyze the mental models of potential users to align the site’s structure with their expectations. Visitors to a site structured around wine bars are most likely seeking features like location maps, curated lists, and detailed descriptions. By incorporating these elements in a predictable manner, I can reduce the confusion users have in achieving their goals. If users expect to find filters for wine types, ambiance, or pricing, but those options are missing or hard to locate, they may become frustrated and leave the site.
I will follow common web design conventions to further align with mental models, such as placing navigation menus at the top or side, ensuring prominent call-to-action buttons, and using universally recognized icons. At the same time, I will carefully test any unique or innovative features to ensure they are easily understood. Balancing user expectations with my design ideas, I will be able to create a website that feels familiar and engaging; enhancing both usability and overall satisfaction.
To make the platform truly valuable to users, I will incorporate detailed attributes for each wine bar, such as price range, wine origins (e.g., Spanish, Italian), and additional services like wine tastings or pairing events. This information will allow users to find venues that match their preferences and expectations, making the site a go-to resource for wine enthusiasts in East London. Together, these elements create a project that embraces the local neighborhood and provides users with meaningful and engaging content, fulfilling the feedback’s call for a distinctive and community-centered approach.
Refining the User Experience
A core component of my project is creating a user-friendly platform that caters to the needs of both wine enthusiasts and casual wine drinkers. Offering quick and easy accessibility to wine bars in East London. To achieve this, I plan to emphasize the local neighborhood aspect by organizing wine bars into distinct neighborhoods or boroughs within East London. This will not only make it easier for users to find venues near them, but it also does not limit the search to types of wine bars first; excluding casual wine drinkers. Each wine bar will be described with key details such as price range, the origins of its wine selection (e.g., Spanish or Italian), and unique offerings like wine tastings or pairing events. This approach ensures that users can quickly identify venues that match their preferences while gaining a deeper understanding of the unique qualities each bar brings to the table. Being inclusive to multiple audiences invites users to become more involved in the wine industry.
The platform will also include visuals like quality photos and hand-drawn illustrations that evoke the ambiance of each wine bar. Including photos and art will give even more insight into what the wine bars ambiance is, so that the user may make their own conclusion as to whether they would like to visit. Applying these photos to social media will be vital to my sites success as that will draw in a large portion of my audience. Social media integration, including Instagram stories and reels, will offer a dynamic and engaging way for users to connect with the site while promoting special events and unique features of each bar.
Materials:
References:
Brown, J. L. (n.d.). Empathy mapping: A guide to getting inside a user’s head: UX booth. Empathy Mapping: A Guide to Getting Inside a User’s Head | UX Booth. https://uxbooth.com/articles/empathy-mapping-a-guide-to-getting-inside-a-users-head/
Bruton, L. (2023, November 28). What are UX personas and what are they used for?. UX Design Institute. https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/what-are-ux-personas/
Example Customer Journey: Travel planning [Miro visual workspace]. (2025). Retrieved from www.miro.com/app
Paget, S. (2024, July 12). Local consumer review survey 2024: Trends, behaviors, and platforms explored. BrightLocal. https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/
Persona Empathy Map [Miro visual workspace]. (2025). Retrieved from www.miro.com/app