Project Overview
The problem:
Busy adults and families face a nightly dinner problem of meal planning and prep. They often find themselves crunched for time and out of ideas while navigating after-school activities or late commute times.
The goal:
Design an app for a local restaurant to solve the nightly dinner problem via advance scheduling.
My role:
UX designer researching and designing the Local Flavor app from concept to prototype hand-off.
Responsibilities:
Research, paper, and digital wireframing, usability studies, low and high fidelity prototypes, user testing, design iteration.
Understanding the User
User research \\ Personas \\ Problem statements \\ User journey maps
I conducted user interviews and built empathy maps to understand the target users for this app. The target users are working adults/parents who lack the time to plan and cook meals each night.
Tests confirmed the assumption that busy adults/parents find it hard to plan and cook meals every night of the week. Research also revealed that users would appreciate being able to schedule meals at certain times on certain days at the beginning of the week, and would also like a way to easily reorder favorites, especially for children.
User pain points
Persona & problem statement
Problem statement: Becky is a busy mom who needs a fast way to order interesting dinners because it’s hard to find choices for good delivery in their area.
User journey map
Mapping Becky’s journey revealed how advance scheduling of dinner delivery would alleviate stress and anxiety.
Initial Design
Paper wireframes \\ Digital wireframes \\ Low-fidelity prototype \\ Usability studies
Paper wireframes
For the home screen, I wanted a large, appealing hero image of a meal to engage the senses and limited options to make ordering and scheduling the most prominent actions for the user.
Digital Wireframes
In the initial design phase, I was focused on ease-of-use and discoverability of the scheduling feature, since it is non-standard.
Usability Study Findings
I conducted two rounds of usability testing. Findings from the first helped clarify the journey from wireframes to low-fidelity prototype, while round two helped refine the interaction with scheduling and introducing saved favorites for quick reordering.
Revised Design
Mockups \\ Accessibility considerations \\ Refined designs \\ High-fidelity prototype
Mockups
Initial usability studies revealed that delivery time was unnecessarily complex. Because scheduling old deals with a week at a time, the interface could be simplified to only make the selected days visible with a time selector, reducing cognitive load.
Another issue revealed during usability testing was that the “Continue Order” wording on the checkout page button was confusing to some users. This simple change helps clarify the all-important checkout process for users.
Accessibility considerations
Refined designs
High-fidelity prototype
The final hi-fidelity prototype illustrates a cleaner scheduling module and slow flow from home page through the scheduling and ordering process. View the Local Flavor high-fidelity prototype
Conclusions
Takeaways // Next Steps
Takeaways
Impact:
Variety delights. The ability to easily advance schedule delivery at small, local restaurants online would be valuable to busy users.
What I learned:
Using recognized language/conventions help ease cognitive load and should be used unless there is a compelling usability reason to deviate or reimagine. Simplification wherever possible can make a process feel seamless to users. Even one click can make a difference.
Next Steps
