CASE STUDY
Ooni Dough Calculator Redesign
Balancing power user needs with new user accessibility
Overview
As the new Senior Digital Product Designer at Ooni, I inherited a project already in motion - a redesign of a core feature used by thousands to create perfect pizza dough. After diving in, I quickly realised that the in-flight enhancements weren’t focused enough to have their intended impact. I then worked with stakeholders to re-prioritise and reiterate the designs, allowing us to launch a new version that met our goals in a more meaningful way.
Making dough is a precise science, requiring careful calculations of ingredient ratios. While Ooni's original Dough Calculator was useful, user feedback revealed significant opportunities for improvement:
Beginners found the interface confusing and struggled to understand how adjusting ratios affected their dough
Power Users wanted more flexibility and ingredient options for diverse dough varieties
The interface had accessibility issues issues with small tap targets
Data showed that these challenges led to a lower retention rate than the business desired, with struggling users either using competitor calculators or reverting to pre-made dough.
The original Dough Calculator
Goals
Business Objectives
Increase app usage and user retention
Support power users while improving new user experience
Create a foundation for future advanced features
User Needs
Simplify calculator operation for beginners
Provide more complex calculations for experienced pizza makers
Improve tap targets and overall accessibility
Discovery & Analysis
Upon inheriting the project, I:
Reviewed the existing calculator and mapped pain points in Miro
Used the calculator to make dough
Analysed user research, testing footage and competitor solutions
Evaluated the proposed design changes
I found that the proposed redesign was aesthetically improved and added new dough styles, but it:
Didn't add enough functionality to satisfy power users
Maintained the small, difficult-to-tap inputs
Kept confusing terminology that alienated new users
Featured ambiguous navigation that created uncertainty when adjusting settings - everyone asked was certain they knew what would happen when they changed an input on the calculator tabs - yet they all had a different answer
Lacked sufficient user testing
The inherited redesign
Strategically pivoting
I went on to pitch a new strategy focused primarily on the new user experience, demonstrating how this would create a stronger foundation for future power-user features. To do this I:
Created visual comparisons and prototypes in Figma, enabling me to show my concerns and solutions effectively
Presented data highlighting user confusion and how retaining new users would have a greater impact on growth metrics
Redesigned the navigation flow to create clear expectations about what changes when values are adjusted
Rewrote the features copy in collaboration with our dough experts and customer experience team
Partnered with engineers to identify quick accessibility wins
User Testing
I reached out to experienced and new-to-dough bakers within the Ooni community to test a prototype of my changed design in Maze. The feedback from these tests showed that:
Users wanted even more education added to the calculator
Users missed the advanced options when hidden in drop-downs
Design distractions in the prototype caused frustration and a potential for inaccurate results to questions
Based on testing results, I:
Added step-by-step instructions for dough-making
Exposed 'advanced' options within dough styles
Planned in-person testing of a build before public launch to gain more accurate feedback (though this couldn't ultimately proceed)
The solution
I delivered a comprehensive redesign that included:
Intuitive navigation with a calculator home page allowing users to access all calculators easily and space for future educational content enabling them to find help in context
Save functionality that preserves presets between app updates, reducing user frustration around having to re-enter inputs
Enhanced accessibility with enlarged touch points, improved spacing and visual hierarchy reducing mis-clicks
Improved interactions stopping users from having to tap 100 times for 100 dough balls
Educational copy explaining how input changes affect the dough, enabling users to change inputs confidently
Retained original calculator for power users, enabling to continue to calculate in a familiar way
Step-by-step method for making dough, giving new users the additional instructions they need to make the calculated dough confidently
New dough style with designs for future types awaiting implementation. This removes the need for users to leave the app to learn how to customise the app inputs to make the style they want
E-commerce integration with links to the grocery shop, highlighting the store and increasing ingredient sales
The shipped solution
Results
Quantitative Impact
Reduced new user drop-off rates by 10%
Increased return visits from new users by 6%
Maintained strong engagement from power users
Grew overall user base while preserving power user satisfaction
Qualitative Outcomes
Positive feedback on educational components
Power users expressed excitement about previewed features
Improved accessibility ratings
Better understanding of pizza mathematics among new users
Key Learnings
Project Management Insights
Importance of clear stakeholder communication when shifting priorities
Value of data-driven decision-making in feature prioritisation
Benefits of maintaining legacy features during transition periods
Need for adequate QA time before public release
User Behaviour Insights
Pizza mathematics complexity was a major barrier to entry
Educational content significantly impacted user confidence
Power users tolerated parallel systems when future improvements were clearly communicated
Next Steps & Impact
The team's next steps will be to:
Monitor power user engagement with original calculator
Plan phased introduction of new dough styles
Develop migration strategy for transitioning power users to new system
Continue gathering user feedback to inform feature prioritisation
This project demonstrated how thoughtful prioritisation can successfully resolve competing user needs. By focusing first on accessibility and education while clearly signalling our commitment to advanced features, we created a pathway that served both immediate business needs and long-term user relationships.
Some of the skills I used during this project:
UI design
UX design
Accessibility design
Prototyping
Copywriting
Information architecture
Product strategy
User testing
Data analysis
Tools I used during this project:
Miro
Collaboration & wireframing
Figma
UX/UI design & prototyping
Notion
Project management
Jira
Project management
Lysanna (Usabilityhub)
User testing
Maze
Usability testing & insights
Typeform
User research
Google Analytics
Analytics
Google Workspace
Documentation, reporting & analysis
Zoom
Collaboration & interviews
Google meets
Collaboration & interviews
Slack
Team communication
Adobe Creative Cloud
Graphics & marketing material