OVERVIEW
City Fun Center, a family-owned arcade in San Diego, needed a website redesign to improve its credibility, usability, and appeal across age groups. The goal was to strengthen the arcade’s online presence and make it easier for families, kids, and event planners to find essential information and book visits.
This project was developed as part of my senior capstone course. My team and I partnered directly with owner Steve Kongrad to understand both the business objectives and the diverse needs of City Fun Center’s audience.
DURATION
January - March 2020
10 weeks
MY TEAM
Kevin Sy, Andrew Nguyen, Yuanhao Zhu
MY CONTRIBUTIONS
User research and testing, wireframing, prototyping, branding and typography
PROBLEM
The original site suffered from inconsistent content across mobile and desktop, unclear site architecture, and a lack of visual appeal and brand personality.
Traffic data from the WordPress backend indicated that approximately 75% of new visitors exited the site after viewing only the homepage, suggesting low engagement and potential shortcomings in homepage design or content relevance. This project aimed to restructure content, establish responsive design, and craft a more compelling digital experience that communicates what sets City Fun Center apart.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Our goal was to create a mobile-first, user-centered website that reflects the vibrant, welcoming spirit of City Fun Center. We focused on three key initiatives:
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Develop a distinctive brand identity that highlights City Fun Center’s unique blend of fun and inclusivity.
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Redesign the homepage to give users an immediate sense of what the arcade offers—entertainment, food, and event hosting.
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Restructure site architecture to streamline navigation, reduce bounce rates, and improve accessibility across devices.
By prioritizing content hierarchy and user flow, we aimed to increase engagement and encourage more bookings.
DESIGN PROCESS
Understanding the Business
We began with a stakeholder interview with owner Steve Kongard to align the redesign with his goals. His top three priorities were:
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Create an inclusive and welcoming space for families of all backgrounds.
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Reflect the full experience online—food, games, and attractions—in a fun, trustworthy design.
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Promote group-friendly features like customizable party packages and dietary accommodations.
This conversation set the foundation for our user experience and visual design decisions.
User Research
To better understand how different users interact with family entertainment websites, we interviewed nine individuals across three core user groups: parents/guardians, kids, and event planners. Their feedback directly shaped our content priorities and visual direction.
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Parents: Focused on legitimacy and information access
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Parents wanted quick, reliable information to help them make decisions. Their main concerns included operating hours, food options, and whether City Fun Center felt like a legitimate, trustworthy business.
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“Websites to me, unless it’s something I’m specifically looking for, is like Yellow Pages. I just need to know that it exists and if it’s open.”
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This quote reinforced the need for clear service descriptions and visible, up-to-date operating information on the homepage.
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Kids: Drawn to visuals and games
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Kids cared most about the entertainment value. They were less interested in text and more motivated by visuals—especially images of games and peers having fun.
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“Show kids having fun in the photos! [Kids] want to go if they see other kids there.”
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As a result, we prioritized strong imagery and game showcases in our hero section and content blocks to capture attention quickly.
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Event Planners: Prioritizing space, budget, and value
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Event planners looked for practical considerations like venue size, pricing, and promotions. Their goal was to find a space that balanced cost with experience.
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“I look for the price-to-activity ratio; if one place is a little more expensive but has a lot more activities or games, then I think it’s worth it.”
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This insight led us to feature bundled packages, group rates, and clear amenity breakdowns more prominently.
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COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
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To identify opportunities for improvement and differentiation, we analyzed five comparable entertainment venues: Boomers, Chuck E. Cheese, John’s Incredible Pizza Co., Dave & Buster’s, and Ultrazone Laser Tag. We evaluated each competitor across five key criteria: branding, functionality, content, site architecture and navigation, and overall design.
Key Findings:
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Chuck E. Cheese featured the most kid-friendly branding and visuals, with bright colors, character mascots, and child-oriented language. However, it lacked appeal for older audiences.
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Dave & Buster’s, on the other hand, leaned more toward an adult experience, emphasizing nightlife, bar offerings, and corporate events with a sleek, darker aesthetic.
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Boomers and John’s Incredible Pizza struck varying balances of food, entertainment, and family-oriented messaging but had inconsistent user experiences across devices.
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Ultrazone Laser Tag had a niche focus but demonstrated a strong booking system and clear pricing structure, especially useful for event planners.
City Fun Center, by contrast, lacked a cohesive identity and had major inconsistencies between mobile and desktop views. Essential features—like the About page, Attractions list, and booking options—were either buried, broken, or absent entirely.
Strategic Direction:
Kongrad expressed a desire to position the brand squarely between kid-centric and adult-oriented, offering entertainment for all ages. He emphasized the need for:
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High-quality, inviting photos that highlight fun for everyone
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A clean, clearly labeled menu hierarchy
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An easy-to-find booking feature to streamline event planning and visits
These insights helped us identify specific content and design gaps to address in our redesign strategy.
Client feedback on competitors:
One big point Kongrad brought up was that all his competitors were chain restaurants and corporations. Since he is a small family-owned business, he does not see the need for a menu with numerous options.
Putting it all together: Wireframe and functional specs
Creating a grayscale wireframe allowed us to focus on the content and navigation aspects rather than the aesthetics. The wireframe's goal was to test the functionality of the site.
User Testing & Feedback on Wireframe
Due to time constraints, we conducted usability testing with two users. Despite the small sample size, the sessions revealed meaningful insights into how users navigated the prototype to find key information.
Key Findings:
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Misplaced Pricing Table
Users expected pricing details to appear under the "Games" section, not within "Visit Us", which they interpreted as being limited to location and hours. -
Laser Tag Pricing Confusion
The dual pricing system for laser tag (money vs. points) was unclear and created unnecessary cognitive load.
Design Iteration:
In response, we made the following updates:
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Separated “Pricing” into its own page to avoid crowding the “Visit Us” section and to align with user expectations.
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Clarified pricing structure for laser tag, presenting it in a more visual, simplified format to reduce confusion.
Limitations:
With only one fully completed test, we acknowledge the limited generalizability of our results. While the session helped identify pain points and usability issues, the insights may not reflect broader user behavior. More extensive testing would be needed to validate final design decisions.
Enhancing First Impressions & Information Flow
The homepage design needed to solve two primary issues:
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Poor first impressions
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Unclear content hierarchy.
Problem:
Initial wireframes used a static photo of the laser tag room—empty and uninviting. This gave users the impression that City Fun Center lacked energy or popularity. Visitors couldn’t immediately tell what set this arcade apart, nor what entertainment options were offered.
Solution:
In the final design, we replaced the static image with a dynamic video gif showcasing the arcade in action. This instantly communicated liveliness, fun, and community. We also shifted "Announcements" and "Specials & Deals" to a secondary placement in the layout, recognizing they were less critical for first-time visitors.
Improved Content Hierarchy:
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Game attractions and a short welcome blurb were moved to the top of the homepage, providing immediate context and helping visitors understand City Fun Center’s offerings at a glance.
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This decision was driven by user priorities discovered during interviews, while still honoring the client’s request to include promotional content—just in a more strategic location.
FINAL DESIGN
REFLECTION
Final Thoughts, Challenges, and Future Considerations
This project marked my first time collaborating directly with a business owner to redesign a customer-facing website. As a designer, my instinct was to prioritize user convenience—but this experience taught me the importance of balancing user needs with business goals. For example, while simplifying the pricing table would make costs more transparent for users, it could unintentionally hurt the business, which relied on group bookings for profitability.
One of the limitations we encountered was the inability to fully support accessibility and customization. Early in the project, Kongrad emphasized the importance of highlighting personalized service, especially for group events. However, the booking page is managed through a third-party platform that he preferred to keep, which limited our ability to add features like a “Special Requests” field. In the future, this could be addressed by working directly with or replacing the third-party system.
2020 Update:
Our team had planned to help Kongrad implement the prototype on a live site. Unfortunately, as of May 2020, City Fun Center closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
SPECIAL THANKS
To Steve Kongrad, who tirelessly answered our interview questions with great enthusiasm. It was truly an eye-opening experience to balance the needs of the business versus the needs of the customer.