Service Design Research, Brand & Identity
Role: Design Researcher in a team of 2
Timeframe: 4 months
Contributions: Research planning, interviews/observations, synthesis, visual models in Sketch
Overview
Client: Buzz Mill is a lively, well-frequented 24/7 coffee shop, bar, and event space in Austin, Texas with an outdoor space, community events, and strong social values.
Challenge: To increase engagement with Buzz Mill’s Lumber Society program, a grown-up version of scouts, offering survival skill workshops, badges, and group camping experiences.
Outcome: Our research revealed a disconnect between the owner’s vision and the customer experience. We recommended clarifying the brand message, streamlining visual identity, and aligning space design with values, which informed the company’s remodel.
Buzz Mill’s owner envisions his business as a community center and promotes the value “environmental stewardship” as a means of connecting café patrons to nature.
So he created The Lumber Society, an adult-scout-like club that invites patrons to join educational workshops where they can join an animal-themed “troop,” learn survival skills, such as knife-carving, and earn badges.
RESEARCH
Focus Statement: “We aim to identify how Buzz Mill’s service offerings and communication affect participation, perception, and sentiment in the Buzz Mill community. We are specifically interested in how patrons currently engage (or don’t engage) in the Lumber Society activities.”
Contextual Research: Our team spent four weeks gathering data through observation, event participation, photographs, and 20 recorded interviews with leadership, staff, and patrons.
Patrons involved with the Lumber Society loved participating
I’m just really excited to keep learning things and keep collecting patches, or my gold stars, as I call them.
Haley, patron & Lumber Society Member
Haley explaining each Lumber Society patch she earned
However, others did not notice the messaging about environmental activities
I like that there’s coffee and you can actually hang out and be social. I guess, I mostly think of this as a coffee place.
Julie, patron
A flier for the Lumber Society displayed prominently on the register
(Buzz Mill’s mission is) to make money, I assume. And $2 PBR’s, that’s a great deal.
Josh, patron
A poster for “National Take a Hike Day” on the front door
Buzz Mill’s owner was unaware that much of the environmental messaging was being drowned out.
We’re trying to be the number one community center that happens to serve beer and booze and food in Central Texas
Business Owner
A TV advertising liquor flights decapitates local artist’s mural of two men camping
Insights
01
The Structure
Because Buzz Mill is built like a typical cafe, patrons assume it functions like one—and these assumptions limit their awareness and engagement with its environmental stewardship efforts.
02
The Patrons
Patrons ignored or were confused by the number of signs and advertisements highlighting environmental stewardship activities throughout the space.
03
The Leadership
The owner structurally built a bar/cafe, but did not have a clear vision of how to integrate his secondary social values into that system.
Findings
Our findings indicated that the owner himself was confused between the priorities of his business — running a bar and café — and his civic, community and environmental ideals.
His vision was that his venue could do both, but the user experience of the patrons was clearly that of being in a bar.
Design Recommendations
- Reevaluate how all of Buzz Mill’s offerings and values connect.
- Refine branding message, streamline visual branding, and incorporate storytelling elements to resonate with the target audience so that patrons can recognize and form a deeper connection to Buzz Mill’s mission.
Results
While the business owner initially showed skepticism of our findings, a remodel the following year included some of our recommendations — for example:
- Televisions had been replaced with Lumber Society posters and artifacts.
- Advertisements for alcohol were confined to a front door sign and behind the counter.
Our work was instrumental in raising questions and initiating a debate, which led to the remodel.
