CupBox
CupBox lets customers build their own cupcakes by choosing sponge, cream, and toppings, then arranging them in a customised box. It makes ordering fun and personal while boosting full-box sales for the business.
My Role
User Research, Wireframing, Prototyping, Usability Testing, Visual Design
Tools
Figma, Miro, FigJam, Maze,
Optimal Workshop
Team
3 UX Designers
2 UX/UI Designers
Timeline
4 Weeks
Problem Discovery
Customers can not easily customize cupcakes online.
Customers who want personalised cupcakes online face a big limitation. Customers can’t easily create their own mix of flavours, creams, and toppings. Many shops only let them pick from preset boxes, or they have to call or email to request custom combinations. This makes the process slow and frustrating, leading to fewer online orders and abandoned purchases.
User Research
Through surveys and interviews, we discovered key frustrations people face when ordering cupcakes online. Customers want freedom to create their own mixes, but current systems make the process rigid, unclear, and time-consuming. These insights guided us to design CupBox as a more interactive, flexible, and satisfying experience.
Findings
1. Users can’t fully customise cupcakes.
“I want to choose my own base, cream, and topping, but the website only shows pre-made cupcakes. It feels limiting and not personal.”
2. Customizing is inconvenient and manual.
“When I try to customise, I have to email or call the shop. It makes the online order feel frustrating and too long.”
3. No real-time customized cupcake preview.
“I can’t see what my cupcake will look like until it arrives. I wish I could preview it while building my box.”
4. Users don’t satisfied with available cupcakes.
“When I order, I don’t feel encouraged to fill a whole box. Sometimes I stop halfway and just leave the site.”
Insights
Lack of flexibility makes the process feel generic, lowering excitement and reducing repeat orders. This decreases users satisfaction and engagement.
No live preview of customized cupcake — users feel uncertain and less motivated to buy, decreasing conversion rate.
Lack of completion cues leads to abandoned carts and missed upsell opportunities. A gamified box-filling flow encourages full-box purchases and boosts sales.
Our Solution
Enable full cupcake customization with live preview and direct box add.
Give customers access to all 3 parts of personalized cupcake creation (base, cream, topping), show a live preview as they build, and let them add each cupcake directly into a customised box.
Usability | Iterations
Customers can’t easily create their own mix of flavours, creams, and toppings. Many shops only let them pick from preset boxes, or they have to call or email to request custom combinations. This makes the process slow and frustrating, leading to fewer online orders and abandoned purchases.
Findings
Scenario 1
We asked participants to create a customized box after selecting their preferred ingredients.
Issue
Many wanted to save their cupcake for future purchases, but the process was unclear.
Our solution
Add a popup that allows users to save the created cupcake. In this popup, they can rename their custom cupcake and store it as a favorite for future orders.
Scenario 2
We asked participants to consider they have already created a cupcake before, and it’s not their first time purchasing from CupBox.
Issue
They didn’t have access to saved cupcakes in the customized box page.
Our solution
Add a tab to directly access the cupcakes users already created and saved as their favorite ones.
It’s a gamified option where people can enjoy creating and choosing their personalized cupcake.
High Fidelity (Some Pages)
Project Takeaways
Great design happens where user needs and business goals meet.
CupBox began as a way to let people personalize cupcakes online. Real insights revealed bigger gaps, limited customization, no live preview, and a clunky ordering flow. By focusing on how users actually want to create and visualize their cupcakes, the design became both delightful for customers and valuable for the business.
