Case Study | Website Redesign
3 Wise Monkeys
The 3 Wise Monkeys is an iconic Sydney pub that has been around since 2000. There aren't many who are not familiar with the famous 3 Wise Monkeys statue on the corner of George Street in Sydney!
A digital experience to cater to both ends of the market
3 Wise Monkeys required an update of their digital presence to better reflect their ever-growing customer base. I worked on the 3 Wise Monkeys website alongside stakeholders to research & explore how we could design a digital experience that would equally cater to both the night time party goers and the corporate function patrons.
My role
I worked on the 3 Wise Monkeys project from initial kick-off through to development. I acted as the UX designer and digital producer for the project. I was the key contact for the client and communicated project goals and requirements to designers and developers.
Empathise
As a customer of the venue, I needed to ensure I wouldn’t lead with my own biases. With the client brief in hand, I first sought to decipher their unique and wide customer base to understand potentially what their digital experience with 3 Wise Monkeys was lacking.
Exploring the human context of the digital experience
I conducted two weeks of research with 3 Wise Monkeys staff and customers. At meetings with the clients, I sought to get their interpretation on whom they think their customers are what they think might be pain points for them in terms of their digital experience. In addition to this, I also conducted a contextual inquiry at 3 Wise Monkeys to observe the customer at different times of the day. I had the opportunity to have informal chats with some patrons and staff behind the bar which provided rich and raw insight for me to work with. Concluding the discovery phase, I complied my research to create two different personas that represented each side of the 3 Wise Monkeys customer base to present back to the client.
Requirements
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Ability for people to enquire and book tables & functions online
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An intuitive and easy-to-manage backend for staff to manage & upload content
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A highly visual and engaging design
Pain Points
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Some corporate customers are put-off by the 'backpacker party' image before giving 3 Wise Monkeys a chance
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Patrons want easy access to menu's, photos and social links of the venue
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Existing website is a more like a brochure
Ideate
More than just visually pleasing design and engaging content, this particular project had the scope to explore much more functionality than most hospitality projects. Different processes were discussed with the clients and the staff of 3 Wise Monkeys to see what could be improved and what could be taken online.
We explored what else could be done to improve and encourage a digital experience with 3 Wise Monkeys
Test, learn, iterate
For 3 weeks I tested concept user flows and wireframes by giving testers a goal or task to complete. From there, I iteratively updated the user flows and wireframes based on their feedback and my observation.
Some Discoveries:
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Patrons were keen on the idea of utilising an app to order food & drink - they already wanted a more digital experience
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Hiring and finding staff is a large component of the business which was implemented on the new website build
Design
After a five-week period of discovery research, defining and wireframing the project went into visual design with detailed wireframes to guide both design and development.
Success factors of
3 Wise Monkeys
My GuestList Integration
Allowing for customers to enquire about the venue and book tables and function rooms online
There were some clear success factors of the 3 Wise Monkeys Project
Re-Usable Framework
Templates designed to be flexible across 3 different brands including 3 wise monkeys under the Brickfield Hospitality group
Vibrant Design
Bringing the design up to a modern standard to attract 3 Wise Monkeys wide customer base.
Consistency across multiple digital channels
Ensuring content across the website and multiple social media channels were consistent and up to date
Retrospective
The 3 Wise Monkeys was an exciting and enjoyable project to work on with very cooperative stakeholders that enjoyed participating in the design process. The 3 Wise Monkeys redesign is now live, although there are a few kinks being ironed out with plugins to completely implement what was intended for the new website. In retrospect, watching different staff manage the website, I question whether WordPress was the right option in terms of CMS for staff to manage.
