Driving Engagement | UNT Dining Svcs
Increasing student satisfaction by 25% by designing experiences for 6+ spaces.
AT A GLANCE
Despite national recognition for its food quality, the University of North Texas' Dining Services (DS) faced outdated, inefficient hospitality spaces that impacted guest satisfaction & service provision rates.
Over two years on the design team, I supported spatial design efforts across 7+ dining locations in Denton & Frisco to improve service provision rate, bolster food safety, & enhance guest experience.
IMPACT
As the only UX Designer in the organization, I:
Optimized spatial layouts for accessibility
Expanded employee tools to streamline workflows
Validated new concepts through guerrilla deployment
I have redacted specific information from this page. Rather than following a single 0-to-1 project, the following case study highlights strategies, research methods, & design thinking I used to support a fast-moving environment.
PLATFORM
Spatial, Real Estate
TIMELINE
October 2021 – September 2023
Multi-sprint redesign & expansion
TEAM
Director of Guest Experiences
Creative Director
Project Manager
5 Graphic Designers
MY ROLE
CX Research
UX/Graphic Design
Spatial Design
User Testing
RESULTS
7% annual increase
in sales across all spaces from 2022–2023
$16,000+
record
for daily sales at one location
25%
increase
in NACUFS customer satisfaction
THE PROBLEM
UNT has nearly 47,000 students. To meet their needs, UNT Dining Services has to modernize.
UNT is the largest university in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex & the third-largest in Texas. Dining Services – UNT’s largest student employer – operates over 20 dining halls & retail locations across 3 campuses.
As students returned to campuses post-COVID, the department faced growing pains. Disorganized spaces & outdated tools made it difficult to serve thousands of daily guests efficiently & inclusively.
These challenges meant:
Busy & hungry visitors faced 15+ minute wait times at high-traffic locations.
Understaffed teams struggled to meet demand while maintaining quality & safety.
Guests with accessibility or dietary needs were underserved & undersupported.
Throughout each spatial design, I focused on 3 goals:
Enhance
accessibility
Improve access to essential spaces & information
Reduce
employee workload
Develop low-cost systems to give back time to employees
Build
customer value
Creating services to nurture loyalty, delight, & satisfaction
SOLUTION
We improved guest & employee experiences across 6+ locations & 3+ events by creating spaces that were welcoming & functional.
Across all spaces, we prioritized what mattered most to users: quality & speed of service.
Each location's design language & spatial configuration was tailored to reflect its unique offerings, helping guests quickly navigate to their preferred dining option.
Eagle Landing | Cibo Fresco's "look & feel" was inspired by classic Italian ingredients, highlighting the pizza & pasta offered at the location.
MCURC All-Members | From custom signage to ice sculptures, I spotlighted MCURC's colors & nutrition symbolism across the event.
HIGHLIGHT FEATURES
Maximizing underutilized spaces increased operational efficiency & expanded service offerings within limited square footage.
We designed & installed compact yet high-impact solutions, including:
Order kiosks
Overhead signage
Small display units
These interventions delivered outsized financial & experiential returns, proving the value of small real estate.
Campus Chat Food Court | Kiosks multiplied the number of guest orders compared to the previous verbal ordering system.
Campus Chat Food Court | This 2-tier unit located within the Campus Chat Food Court averages $1,000 per day.
Custom signage & identifiers created immersive, brand-aligned atmospheres while promoting food safety & inclusivity.
Working closely with production & catering teams, we developed tailored branding for each major concept to celebrate diversity & align visuals with featured cuisine.
Consistent icons for allergens & dietary preferences enabled easy identification, building trust & transparency.
2022 Diwali Event | I developed halal, pork, & vegan dietary identifiers.
2022 Diwali Event | Conversations with Indian students inspired our signage.
Accessible menus standardized food access for all students.
Following the rollout of posted menus, I collaborated with the UNT Office of Disability Access to develop large-print, high-contrast versions for visually impaired guests.
These menus guaranteed every student could navigate dining options with confidence & ease.
By implementing our features . . .
Guests receive food in under 10 minutes 70% of the time – perfect for a meal between classes.
Team members focus on maintaining quality over taking orders or answering guest questions.
Guests with varied needs can efficiently & independently locate meal options.
UNT Dining Services makes sure there is a seat at the table for everyone.
DISCOVERY
We identified key spaces to tackle by analyzing customer inquiry trends & guest responses to annual benchmarking surveys.
UNT Dining Services gathers input through a variety of sources, including:
The “Text & Tell” real-time feedback system
Phone & email communications
The annual NACUFS benchmarking survey
All feedback was centralized through a shared platform, allowing us to spot recurring issues & opportunities across locations.
NACUFS guest satisfaction results for the Campus Chat Food Court.
We collaborated with team members at each location to learn about their workflows, challenges, & ideas.
Frontline staff shared observations about customer interactions, revealing operational insights that helped us identify immediate, high-impact solutions.
This helped teams adapt to rapid inventory changes while improving clarity for guests.
On-the-floor employees provided valuable information about customer interactions, revealing common struggles that needed to be addressed.
Design at scale required shared ownership – & a system to support it.
Few features were owned end-to-end by a single designer. Tasks were frequently passed between teammates contributing to multiple phases across several projects.
We developed a detailed documentation system using Asana to record progress, avoid knowledge gaps, & list outstanding needs to ensure smoother handoffs.
DESIGN
I used blueprints & crossflow mapping to guide strategic feature placement & improve user flow.
After identifying necessary changes or new additions, I analyzed existing blueprints to map user movement & determine optimal placement.
Once a location was selected, surrounding features were meticulously measured to ensure I created integrated & accurate mockups.
Campus Chat Food Court | Initial kiosk placement planning.
Eagle Landing | Identifying guest user flows to find a condiment bar location.
We developed 100+ 2D mockups per project to rapidly visualize, test, & refine additions.
Initial iterations were shared with the Creative Director for feedback & finalized in Photoshop to accurately reflect real-world environments.
These efficient visualizations enabled us to explore multiple layout ideas within actual spaces without relying on time-consuming 3D modeling or physical prototypes, streamlining collaboration & accelerating decision-making.
Campus Chat Food Court | Verde Everyday soup bar real estate
Bruceteria | Exterior summer signage
VALIDATION
We conducted low-cost guerrilla testing to gather early feedback & validate user interaction with proposed concepts.
Spatial additions were soft-launched & tested using simple paper or cardboard prototypes, placed directly in context to assess 2 key questions:
Did the user notice & act on the addition?
Did the user understand the intended message or function?
Eagle Landing | Testing condiment labels for a small real estate bar. These lo-fi, hi-rez prototypes were created with paper & tape.
Campus Chat Food Court | Initial testing revealed the need for additional cues encouraging guests to use kiosks rather than order food verbally.
Employee feedback ensured we built systems that worked in practice – not just on paper.
Observing guests was only part of the equation – we needed insight from the employees operating & maintaining our features.
With each implementation, we gathered feedback to understand how new features impacted their workflows. In some cases, systems that improved the guest experience unintentionally created friction for employees, requiring us to adjust our solutions to also better support staff.
DINING SERVICES, TODAY
UNT Dining Services continues to smash records & break barriers in college dining hospitality.
As of April 2025, UNT DS has:
Won 3 Grand & 1 Silver Loyal E. Horton Prizes in a single year, the most recognitions earned by any participating institution
Won #1 Best College Food in Texas by Niche 3 years in a row
Won #4 Best College Food in America by Niche
The groundwork my team enacted continues to propel UNT DS forward, paving the way for more thoughtful service provision supporting employees & guests alike.
“I know I am far from alone in feeling the calm, warm, positive tone [Dining Services] sets the minute we walk in the door."
– Sophie Egan, Co-Director of MCURC
© Town Hall Seattle | Utilized under Fair Use for scholarship & research
RESULTS
Designing smarter, more inclusive spaces helped UNT Dining Services scale for growth & serve students more meaningfully.
With enrollment rising, UNT Dining faced growing pressure to meet increasing demand. My work helped the department proactively adapt by streamlining systems, enhancing guest experiences, & supporting staff efficiency. The impact was tangible: we broke daily revenue records ($16K+), boosted student engagement by 15%, & increased overall sales by +7%.
My time at Dining Services wasn’t just about building spaces. It was about building more welcoming experiences for everyone who walked through them.
MY TAKEAWAYS
Champion collaboration
Work with those around you to build more thoughtful solutions
Support the outliers
Creating for the underserved makes things better for the masses
Think in 3D
Design extends beyond one user flow – consider your surroundings
Other Projects
Currently
Completing my BFA in UX Design @UNT while doing freelance & contract work. Advocating for the value of design thinking. Always down to chat (reach out anytime!)