Perch
Find your perch -- a space to land, work, and connect.
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A mobile app that helps remote workers find cafes with reliable wifi, outlets, and the right vibe—because a 5-star latte doesn't guarantee a productive workday.
Role
UX Researcher​
Team
2 UX Researchers​
2 UX Designers
Duration
10 weeks
Tools
Figma, Wireframing, User Testing/Interviews
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The Problem
Remote workers and students constantly struggle to find suitable workspaces. Tools like Google Maps and Yelp focus on food quality and general ratings, burying the details that actually matter for productivity: outlet availability, Wi-Fi strength, and noise levels. This leads to "workspace roulette" wasting time visiting multiple cafés only to find them too loud, too crowded, or without power.
Research Approach
We used a mixed-methods approach to understand workspace selection from both sides of the counter: observations at 4 Chicago cafés, interviews with 6 remote workers and students, and Reddit outreach to ~50 café staff on r/barista and r/coffeeshop.
Cafe Observations
4 Locations
30-60 mins each
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People scan for outlets before they even look at the menu or choose a seat.
User Interviews
6 Participants
5 Cities
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Everyone relies on Google Maps but finds its reviews useless for work needs.
Reddit Research
2 Subreddits
~ 50 Responses
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Most staff welcome work customers, but expect regular purchases and social awareness.
Key Findings
Power is Power.
Outlets dominated every other consideration, yet existing tools buried this info beneath food reviews.
Discovery is broken.
No existing tool surfaces the information users actually need to assess work-friendliness, leading to costly trial and error.
People want presence, not interaction.
Users valued the energy of working near others but were wary of direct social features, leading us to deprioritize the co-working buddy feature.
Information Architecture
Tree testing with 8 participants revealed users think in actions (i.e. "Save", "Review"), not categories. Profile tasks had 85%+ success, but users got lost between "Home," "Favourites," and "Reviews." We recommended restructuring navigation to separate Discovery from Management using verb-based labels.
Task
Success Rate
Find & Save a Workspace
50%
62.5%
Review a Saved Workspace
Find All Written Reviews
87.5%
Turn on Notifications
Change Profile Photo
100%
100%
Profile and settings tasks scored 85-100%, but workspace discovery and saving tasks dropped to 50-62%, revealing confusion between Home, Favourites, and Reviews.
Design & Iteration
We conducted moderated usability testing on our Figma prototype with 2 scenarios: Finding a Cafe & Leaving a Review. Based on our findings, we recommended three changes:
No save confirmation: Users tapped the heart icon but weren't sure it worked. We recommended adding toast notifications for immediate feedback.
Review button too small: Participants missed the "Write a Review" button. We recommended increasing its size and prominence.
No review submission confirmation: After submitting a review, there was no confirmation message, so participants weren't sure if it posted.
The Solution
Perch is built around attributes, not stars. Instead of relying on generic 5-star ratings and food-focused reviews, the app surfaces the workspace details that matter most, like Wi-Fi quality, outlet availability, and noise level, at every level of the experience.
Scenario 1: Finding a Cafe
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Each café card shows work-first attributes upfront so users can compare at a glance. The expanded Café Attributes section uses tags like "Free WiFi," "Quiet," and "Power Outlets" to help users quickly assess work-friendliness without scrolling through written reviews.
Scenario 2: Leaving a Review
The review flow prioritizes quick attribute-based ratings over written input, making it faster to contribute. A prompted notification encourages reviews after visits, and a confirmation message addresses the missing feedback our usability testing identified.
Reflection
I led the full research cycle across a tight 10-week timeline. The pivot to Reddit for café staff perspectives was a key win, giving us ~50 candid responses we couldn't have gotten through formal interviews. With more time, I would have tested the review flow more rigorously and explored the co-working feature's privacy challenges through concept testing.