The Restaurant of the Future: NCR Voyix

UX Research, UI and Product Design
Design Objective
In partnership with NCR Voyix as a part of Herb Velazquez's Innovation Studio, we were challenged to envision the future of order taking, processing, and management in restaurants 5-10 years out.
Skills
UX research, market research, trend research, interviews, journey mapping, insight analysis, concept sketching, 3D modeling (Fusion), KeyShot 12, Figma prototyping, user testing, business model canvas, brand development, and a lot of teamwork.
Project Info
Innovation Studio - Professor Herb Velazquez and NCR Voyix
Aug 2023 - Dec 2023
Overview

In a team of 4, we identified areas to improve customer experience, optimize operations, and enhance NCR Voyix's ecosystem of products. I am thrilled to introduce the 3 products, OmniVoice, OmniVision, and OmniSense, that create our OmniConnect Ecosystem.

How will restaurants look in 10 years?

Understanding the problem

Our UX research began with 14 interviews and 10 restaurant studies, including 2 full kitchen tours and getting to work behind the counter. Our aim was to gain insights for all perspectives and interactions between customers, front-of-house, back-of-house, and back office.

We sorted our 50+ insights into 3 categories:

Those materialized into the following problem areas:

Order taking errors, order processing errors, and inefficient task management

Define

After identifying those problem areas, we defined out objective and started looking for opportunities for innovation.

We scaled existing solutions for our three problems to solve on a 2x2 matrix. This led us to our innovation opportunity: an internet of things & AI enhanced communication and organization system.

Designing the "Silent Butler"

To guide our ideation and concept development, we developed this design philosophy rooted in invisible technology experiences, also referred to as the "Silent Butler":

Unobtrusive technology that caters to your needs, moving from human powered solutions to seamless technology-enhanced operations

Refining our concepts

We rated our designs with our design criteria to distinguish which ones aligned best with the project objective.

After further refinement, we designed the three products that make up the OmniConnect ecosystem that solves order taking, processing, and management problems.

OmniVoice

OmniVision

OmniSense

Order taking enhancement with AI powered speech recognition technology
Order processing expediter using NCR Halo technology to ensure order accuracy
Task management platform improving efficiency through visible and accessible data analytics
Usability Testing

John Diamond is the operator of 3 Chick-fil-A locations in Atlanta. Using his expertise in managing multiple enterprise locations, we interviewed him throughout the project, implementing his advice. This was his reaction to the final product:

Delivering to our stakeholders

We created this pitch video to introduce the OmniConnect ecosystem and presented our final concept to our stakeholders and mentors at NCR Voyix.

Hear from our mentor:

“Team KAAT showcased unparalleled success with the OmniConnect project, surpassing stakeholder expectations and vividly illustrating the future possibilities for restaurant experiences enabled by NCR's ever-evolving product ecosystem.”

Angelique Dale
Senior Product Designer at NCR Voyix
Hear from our professor:

"I was consistently impressed by [Team KAAT's] creativity, energy, focus, diligence, perseverance, teamwork and other positive qualities that [they] demonstrated throughout the semester. I very much looked forward to seeing [their] progress every time we met."

Professor Herb Velazquez
Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology
Reflection

I strengthened my teamwork and communication skills, collaborating on an unstoppable team.
I conducted thorough UX research from multiple angles to find the roots of the problem.
I analyzed and predicted trends to envision the future of restaurants 5-10 years out.
I worked with NCR Voyix stakeholders to ensure our design aligned with the company's goals.

Attributions

Everyone: Research documentation, interviews, insight generation, sketches, and presentation development
Kate Sheridan: Point of sale and restaurant exterior CAD modeling, video script and voiceover, pitch
Ali Cohen: Spearheaded UI wireframes, screens, and app prototyping
Ava Raterman: Restaurant interior CAD modeling, video compiling and editing
Taylor Hicks: Final sketches, Halo CAD modeling, Keyshot renders