About the project
The Problem
Users were frustrated with various aspects of the location selection process during pickup flows, including the location cards, the more details page, zoom/panning logic on the map, and search logic.
My Solution
Employ a more minimalist design to lessen cognitive overload for users, expand map viewport and functionality, and define map & search logic for developers.
Finding my location is a guessing game
In March of 2025, the new Whataburger® app was launched with a fresh look and feel. Key changes were made by a previous design team to enhance the user experience within the app’s most important flows. One of them was locations, which a user must first select to see the menu during the ordering flow. However, the previous team had not defined the logic for various aspects of the locations screen, such as:
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How many locations should populate on the map? What is the radius distance by which stores are seen?
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What happens if a user types in a large region as their search input, such as a zip code or state?
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When a user selects a pin on the map, how does the list of locations reorganize (if at all)?
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Should more locations auto-populate as a user scrolls? If so, how many?
As you can see, these get pretty in the weeds. If done correctly, nobody should think twice about the way they’re interacting with the locations page. However, feedback suggested otherwise:
"I don't understand how a place I haven't been to in weeks pops up instead of the place I was at last week. [...] Include a LARGE map showing the store location."
"Your location doesn't find the nearest location. Instead, it finds a location in a different town. I entered 78415 zip and it gave a location in Sinton TX."
"Your app won't let me pick up other locations and won't let me scroll the map."
Layering Design Over Logic
Our team knew we’d have to produce extensive documentation to account for every scenario and edge case as it related to this flow to avoid some simple mistakes. But while we were at it, we decided to touch up various aspects of the visual design as well.
Testing and competitive analyses showed that we were overloading users with written content and colors on our location cards. User behaviors while panning and scrolling around on the map also showed that our interface didn’t match their expectations.
In this video, I'll discuss the largest pain points users faced with the existing design:
Key Design and Flow Changes
Our redesign reimagined the way locations would be displayed for users. Based on their feedback, we wanted to increase the size of the map and decrease the size of the location cards in order to maximize visuals. We asked users to rank the most important information related to a location and featured their top results in the location card. Anything extraneous was shifting to a separate "more details" page.
Our location list and map pins also interact with each other through subtle animations that inform users where each location is on the map. The location cards no longer reorder themselves, as this confused users. Our team also wrote out specifications for search functionality to address user feedback. For a full walkthrough, check out the video below!
A Placeholder for future data
The flows related to locations are very challenging to test, as they are all contextual to a user's location and pins cannot populate within a prototype the way they can post development. Thus, it is challenging to receive true 1:1 comparative feedback between the current locations flow on the app versus our Figma design. Many of the tests we ran involved static images and videos showcasing the new flow, which led to positive reception from our testers.
These flows and UX enhancements are slated for development in 2026. Post production, this section will (hopefully!) be updated with a series of positive comments as to how the new designs and updated map logic addressed the most critical user pain points.