Overview
cheapshots
UI/UX Design
Case Study
cheapshots is a happy hour finder app that highlights active drink & food deals nearby. It was designed to simplify the search process, with the goal of helping users discover new spots while empowering them to save money.
Role
Sole Designer
Tools
Figma, Lottie, Framer, Lucid, Google Docs, Procreate, & pen + paper
Skills
User research, wireframing, prototyping, animation, & interaction
cheapshots introduction screens
Background
Problem Statement
Users struggle to find reliable happy hour information.
Deal data is scattered across apps, website, & word-of mouth. Even once a deal is found, it is often outdated or incomplete. This results in wasted time, frustration, & missed savings for users.
Opportunity
Build a simple & reliable way to help users discover accurate deals & specials.
The goal for this case study is to address this data visibility gap by developing a tool to quickly and efficiently source happy hour deals.
Process
The timeline to complete this case study is as follows:
Research - User interviews, competitor analysis, & synthesis
Designs - Iteration from low fidelity mock ups up to final designs
Prototypes - User flows of various features
Conclusions - Reflections & next steps
Research
User Research
Based on 5 user interviews, the following pain points were uncovered & served as the foundation of the study.
Based on the interview insights, a general persona was constructed.
Name: Nick Hill
Location: NYC
Age: Mid Twenties
Job: Strategy Associate
Goals
Save money or cut back on the drinking
Impress his coworkers with the 'best bar'
Find a reliable & cheap spot for his friends
Problems
Deals he knows are outdated or no longer exist
He doesn't have time to search for deals for hours
Saving money is tough with his current lifestyle
From there, a journey map highlighted key frustrations and touchpoints - revealing areas of opportunity.
Journey map for Nick Hill
Competitor Analysis
Between interviews, research was conducted on players within the space.
It was discovered that there are a lot of players in the restaurant searching, reservation, or reviews market, however very view of them fall into the niche of reliable happy hour finders.
In order to accurately compare each potential competitor, key features were identified and used to analyze in the matrix below:
Competitive analysis matrix of major competitors
Research Takeaways
The investigation confirmed a gap in accessibility for happy hour data.
Design Process
User Flow
To translate research insights into structure, I created a basic user flow.
Starting with pen & paper, then refining in Lucid, I created a process flow diagram that outlined how users would navigate the app. This helped define scope and visualize where key features should live to directly address the persona's pain points.
Basic Proposed User Flow
Low Fidelity Designs
After a draft flow for the user, low fidelity designs were sketched by hand.
These quick iterations allowed me to experiment with different layouts, test early ideas, and focus on solving for speed and clarity without being constrained by visual polish.
Iteration of low fidelity mockup
Mid Fidelity Designs
The next step was to bring in the strongest concepts into into Figma for mid-fidelity wireframes.
This stage emphasized structure and hierarchy, giving me room to fine-tune how information should be presented. Iterations here focused on streamlining navigation and making happy hour details immediately accessible.
Mid fidelity designs via Figma
High Fidelity Designs
After multiple rounds of iteration & feedback, the designs were finalized in Figma.
At this stage, the focus was on clarity, consistency, and visual hierarchy—ensuring that users could quickly scan, compare, & act on happy hour deals. The final designs represent a streamlined experience that feels both intuitive and reliable.
High fidelity designs
To highlight how the designs matured, the evolution of key screens were documented.
Early low-fidelity wireframes emphasized structure and functionality, while mid-fidelity designs focused on reducing clutter & clarifying hierarchy. The high-fidelity version refined typography, spacing, & visual accents—creating a clean, intuitive experience for quickly scanning deals.
A small reusable component system was created for core components.
Alongside screen layouts, I iterated on core UI components to establish a consistent visual system. Within this mini component system, various cards, buttons, & input fields were developed. This system supports scalability and ensures future screens can be developed faster while keeping a consistent look & feel.
Component System
Icons were essential for allowing users to identify categories, actions, and general information at a glance. Two sets of icons were created - a larger set for actionable items such as buttons & filters while a smaller set was leveraged for informational components such as descriptions.
Custom Icons
Prototypes
Card Navigation
Users can scroll through cards to see previews of key happy hour related details
Details View
To see more details, users can click into a card to perform a number of actions
Leaving Reviews
Reviews will allow users to provide their own feedback in order to ensure the data stays as up to date as possible
Search , Filter, & Profile
Users can leverage the top components for search for a specific place, apply filters, or review their activity in their profile
Conclusion
Reflection
There's a lot of Importance in keeping Nick Hill at top of mind.
Keeping a user centered approach throughout the design process guided a lot of the decisions made. By considering the desires and pains of the persona, Nick Hill, it allowed me to remain focused on the key challenge.
Design should be iterative.
It is crucial to not be married to a single idea or concept very early on. Flexibility in iteration brings new and creative ideas to the forefront. A simple change in perspective can change the reality of the entire project.
Find creative ways to highlight key information
When thinking of the persona and his goal, it is first essential to ensure you are solving the core issue. In this particular study, the issue revolved around access to a specific type of information. The challenge then became how best to structure the information architecture in a way that solves the core issue without creating new problems unintentionally. This turned out to be a very fun part of the study!
Next Steps
The design process is never over. Here's where I want to focus on next for cheapshots.
Circle back and get more feedback with my interview group to drive iteration.
Explore potentially crowd sourcing via a reviews/rating user journey
Flesh out the map and navigation experience
Thank you!
Thank you very much for taking the time read this study.
A lot of time and thought was put into the research and the designs of cheapshots. Any feedback to make it stronger would be greatly appreciated. You can reach out to me using the link in the footer below.