While working at Starbucks in 2018, the product design team explored creative ways to increase engagement in the Starbucks app. One idea was to help users understand when their order would be ready for pickup, while sharing small snippets about the coffee-making process. The end result looks similar to what Uber Eats introduced a year or so later with its food prep animation.

Looking back, I can see how this idea could come to life with more approachable tools, like Lottie animation, which might have solved our storage and loading issues at the time. Here was some initial thinking.

The current experience alerts users to prepare to drive and pick up their order within an estimated time frame, which hits the UX benchmark but still leaves something to be desired.

Starbucks has always prided itself on creating a third place where coffee is romanticized and celebrated. In 2020, the world changed, and that third place was no longer available. With this in mind, Starbucks could bring the romanticism of coffee into the app by offering in-house tutorials, coffee equipment, and an enhanced ordering experience. In relation to the animation, while these concepts illustrate a pour-over, they could easily apply to lattes, cold brew, and Frappuccinos.