November 2019 — April 2022
November 2019 — April 2022Overview
Art director and product lead, from pitch to launch. Over two and a half years I designed two versions of the Panda Express app and its marketing site, working at Hathway.
Role
Art Director + Product Lead
Scope
- Product Strategy
- Product UX
- Product UI
- Brand & Marketing Site
- Design System
- Presentations
THE CHALLENGE
An order placed on a phone has to be true in three places at once: the platform that takes it, the restaurant that cooks it, and the guest standing outside waiting on it. Most of the hard design work lived in that pipeline, making backend data, store operations, and the guest experience agree with each other in real time. The answer was not one app but a system: two apps and a marketing site, built at the same time.
One order, three systems
Menus, pricing, item availability, and order status originated in the backend, were acted on in the restaurant, and were promised to the guest. Every screen had to be designed around what each system actually knew — and when it knew it.
2,300+ restaurants, each their own source of truth
Store hours, regional menus, sold-out items, kitchen throughput at peak. The UI had to absorb per-location variance without ever making the guest do the reconciling.
Zero margin for confusion
COVID made the order pipeline the business. Contactless pickup and delivery only work when the status a guest sees matches what the kitchen is doing — designing that trust was the job.
2020 PIVOT
When COVID hit, mobile ordering went from roadmap to lifeline. We changed plans: ship a minimal ordering app in three months, then a full rewards app the next year. The marketing site ran in parallel the whole time.
MVP FAST-LAUNCH
The fast launch emphasized core ordering and prioritized the web experience.
FULL REWARDS APP
The full set of features, a better native app experience, and the rewards functionality was added as a follow-up to the core app.
MVP FAST LAUNCH
The MVP was focused on streamlining barebones ordering, with other features like curbside pickup as a fast follow.
Core UX
The UX for ordering was mapped for 4 core scenarios, ensuring each scenario was simple and clear to the user.
COMPONENT LIBRARIES
Component libraries included everything from icons to larger, complex components, along with a consistent set of illustrative iconography.
Seamless Simple Reordering
Designed every page to factor in the unique ordering style of Panda Express.
THE LAUNCH
Fast launch, shipped everywhere
THE PLATFORM
Panda Delivers
One ordering experience, designed in lockstep across the phone app and the web — the same flow, the same checkout, wherever a guest started.
App and web shipped together, mirroring the in-store order to the dish.
THE RELEASE
On the App Store
A native iOS app, shipped to the store — menu, pickup and delivery, locations, and catering, all in the guest’s pocket.
AHEAD OF PLAN
0 mo
Pulled forward from a one-year roadmap to meet the pandemic pivot.
LOCATIONS AT LAUNCH
0+
A national rollout that followed a successful multi-city pilot.
OPERATING MODEL
Web-first MVP, features as fast-follows
Core ordering first, with the web prioritized. Curbside, rewards, and the native app experience landed as deliberate fast-follows.
FULL REWARDS APP
The rewards app came in two phases. First, a better, more native version of the launch app. Then a full rewards program: planned, designed, tested, and rolled out to every location.
Panda Rewards · Loyalty Pilot
LOYALTY QR ENROLLMENT
An example of how thorough and complex the UX work could get. Scanning a receipt QR to enroll in Panda Rewards looks like one tap — but behind it the flow resolves channel, location, account state and membership, branches into six variants, and stitches four backend systems together across app, mobile web and desktop.
- 3 platforms
- 6 flow variants
- 4 backend systems
- 25+ screens
- End-to-end UX architecture
Flow 1 · Mobile · receipt scan
Full Rewards App
Every order moves the bar
Members earn Panda Points on every order and watch the next reward get closer. The home screen leads with progress, not fine print.
The points bar fills as orders add up — 0, 210, 520 and on toward the next reward.
Good fortune, every month
A surprise gift unlocks with the first order of each month. Small, recurring delight that gives members a reason to come back.
Points, redeemed for real food
Points convert straight into menu rewards. The ladder runs from a small upgrade to a full meal, so there is always a next goal in reach.
- 200Upgrade to Premium Entrée
- 250Upgrade Bowl to Plate
- 300Small Appetizer
- 325Medium Drink
- 500Bowl
- 1000Bigger Plate
A whole lot of program.
A rewards program worth coming back for
Earning, surprises, redemption, and a way to pay — a complete loyalty experience designed end to end.
Designed, tested, and rolled out to every location.
- Panda Points earning
- Milestone reward tiers
- Monthly Good Fortune surprise
- Reward store redemption
- Scan-to-earn at the register
- Receipt-QR enrollment
- Exclusive member offers
- Stored value & reload
- Order again & favorites
- Profile & taste preferences
- Birthday rewards
- Real-time points balance
A brand site as good as the food.
The brand needed more than an app. The marketing site was rebuilt end to end — every page, from first wireframe to the live experience guests use today.
One system, every page
Before a pixel of brand art, the site was designed as a system: a shared page architecture and component set that every template inherits.
Cohesive Site UX
The focus: communicate the brand while driving orders. Every page shares one structure and voice, with the path to ordering always a tap away.
OUTCOMES
A platform born in a crisis became the backbone of Panda’s digital business. The app, the rewards program, and the site now carry a measurable share of one of America’s largest restaurant brands. Two apps and a marketing site, designed in parallel by one lead, during the busiest stretch in the brand’s digital history.
0.0★
App Store Rating
Across 574,000+ ratings on iOS — sustained while the app scaled to millions of guests.
0M+
Rewards Members
Panda Rewards members since the program launched on the platform.
$0B+
Member Sales
In sales generated by Panda Rewards members through the digital experience.
#0
Digital Ordering, US
Ranked first of 26 brands in Ipsos’ 2024 Digital Ordering Performance study — highest score overall and for app benefits.
0×
Delivery Growth
Delivery business more than tripled after Panda Delivers launched through the app and site in 2020.
0M+
Android Installs
Google Play downloads, alongside the iOS install base that anchors the rating above.
STILL SHIPPING
Live on iOS and Android
Years on, the app the team launched is still the one in guests’ pockets — continuously updated on both stores.
