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End-to-end product design including UX research, UI design wireframing, and prototyping by Elizabeth Kupchella
PROBLEM
Patio dining is a summer staple in Chicago, but outdoor reservations carry more uncertainty than indoor ones.
In Resy’s current booking flow, the two can look nearly identical, making it easy for users to miss whether they’re booking a guaranteed table or a weather-dependent one.
OPPORTUNITY
This feature fix explores a simple opportunity: how might we make reservation availability more transparent at the moment users choose a time slot?
By clarifying seating labels, distinguishing patio reservations from guaranteed indoor tables, and shifting the hierarchy toward booking, Resy can help users reserve with more confidence.
THE CURRENT BOOKING FLOW
A pixel audit of the current booking screen revealed a heirarchy mismatch: the screen prioritizes visual branding and promotional content over actionable reservation information. Almost half the screen is imagery, while important details like seating type, availability, party size, date, and time receive comparatively little space or clarity.
The reservation flow prioritizes restaurant marketing over the users need to confidently choose a reservation.
Redesign Objectives
1
FUNCTIONAL BOOKING
Functional booking requires isolating the data a restaurant needs to understand in order to accomodate a reservation. This includes party size, date/time, and indoor vs. outdoor seating preference.
If these things don’t align, the rest of the booking flow as a whole isn’t possible. This part has to work for anything else to matter.
2
DISCOVERY
Resy includes elements of discovery and learning about a restaurant by having reference points for pricing, location, cuisine type, and reviews on their current booking screen, but we'll add context for these discovery elements such as how the prices compare to other restaurants in the area, relative distance as measured by various modes of transportation, and more.
3
CONSISTENT VISUAL IDENTITY
Resy uses pictures to convey the atmosphere of a restaurant, but ambiance is what happens in the background.
We'll be sure to convey the kind of dimly-lit, moody vibe that the current photo elicits, but we'll integrate it into the background of a more efficient screen through blurring, opacity changes, and color selections from the images themselves.
A BETTER BOOKING FLOW
This redesign shifts the screen from restaurant discovery to reservation decision-making.
Instead of compressing all available times into one undifferentiated row, it separates indoor and patio reservations into distinct sections with clear labels, icons, and reliability cues like “guaranteed” versus “weather dependent.”


This redesign manages guest expectations before anyone clocks in for the day, making the booking moment more transparent: users can quickly understand not only what time is available, but what kind of reservation they are choosing.
Supporting details like price, reviews, and transit stay available, but they no longer compete with the primary task of booking a table.
