“Domino’s user interface features an upgraded builder for pizza artists everywhere, but the most appreciated feature is the one-tap ordering—a busy parent’s best friend.” —juror Ginny Golden
“I used to work on this platform, and it continues to get smarter and raise the bar for online food ordering innovation. A great example of inventive, data-driven interactive design.” —juror Winston Binch
Overview: CP+B and Domino’s set out to create the most beautiful, appetizing, easy-to-use and profitable digital ordering channel ever with a new iPad app. The iPad platform presented the opportunity to showcase Domino’s ordering process in the most vivid way yet, targeting not only existing Domino’s customers, but also new customers from the rapidly expanding tablet universe. The goal was to make ordering more fun and more fluid, and the app includes a first-in-class 3-D pizza builder, high-resolution retina display product photography and a gestural interface. * After launching in April 2014, the app had the highest conversion rate, and the highest average ticket value of any Domino’s ordering channel and a rating of 4.5 stars in the Apple App Store.
• Sales were above $1 million in the first four weeks after the app went public, with no promotion.
• More than 200 unique images of food, beverages and employees were shot for the iPad imagery, and dozens more were used to generate the textures for the 3-D pizza builder.
Comments by CP+B:
What are the core features of the project?“A new 3-D OpenGL version of the pizza builder creates the most realistic ordering experience yet by putting customers in the shoes of a Domino’s pizza maker. We even included steam to show that the pizza is piping hot. A personalized landing page makes customers’ favorite orders and recent requests easily available for fast ordering, and it also provides contextual local coupons. We audited all of Domino’s existing e-commerce experiences to create a standardized product menu structure and included a redesigned version of Domino’s Tracker, currently exclusive to the iPad, to demystify the wait for the knock on the door.”
What was the most challenging aspect of the project? “Creating a 3-D pizza builder that actually made the pizza look appetizing, not cartoony or rubbery, while balancing load time and varying iPad processor power. The approach to asset creation for the pizza builder was hotly debated, as we were evenly divided between whether we should use photographic or 3-D imagery. After several tests, we found that low-fidelity shoots to capture texture maps for 3-D assets yielded the best results. Prototypes gave us confidence that the assets would not be too heavy from a load perspective.”
Are there any other technical features you’d like to call attention to? “The build was executed as a universal app for iPhone and iPad, so there was only a single product available in the App Store. The universal app strategy allowed us to capitalize on reviews and generate momentum. We spent a lot of time reducing the app download size and creating super-fast content distribution systems for assets—to ensure we had an app that could download over 3G—while still maintaining the beauty we were looking to achieve.”
