Survey Studies

There are many reasons to eat out but one of them is socializing, we enjoy the company of others and having a meal together creates a great time for bonding. Some interesting findings in online survey showed that people tend to eat out quite often.

• 56% of American's dine out at a restaurant.
• 10 percent said they eat out 4 to 6 times a week, and 6 percent said they eat out everyday.
• The average American household spends about $3,000 a year dining out.
• Younger people are more often to eat out then their older counterpart.

Interview Insights

In order to get a better understanding of what factors affects our choices, I asked a few friends about why they eat out, and how do they decide where to eat? And here are some key takeaways:

• They usually go to places due to photos from social media.
• Looking to try something new, and willing to travel.
• The atmosphere and what the location has to offer.

Personas

Through my research and interviews, I learned a lot of about who my users are. I wanted to further empathize with them, so I developed a persona with similar characteristics and pain points as my users. This is Kevin and he's foodie kind of guy or tries to be, but gets stumped when asked "Where do you want to eat?".

Storyboard

Examining Kevin's journey in using the app. A big picture and a close up.

App Map

So how does this app work? In order to get a better understanding, I created a app map and listed all its function from the main to the subs. I wanted to keep the end user's in mind, and provide an enjoyable experience.

User Flow

Here are two possible scenarios that highlight the features that Kevin may experience when using the app.

Sketches

Sketching helped with laying out the ideas and how I want to build this prototype. I also looked back and examined my app map to see how each screen would flow and connect. There were some challenges that I encountered, for example the receipt logging screen, I had to test a few ideas and I was able to pick one and iterate on it.

Lo-Fidelity Wireframes

I decided to focus on the core functions of the app, and created lo-fi wireframes based off my sketches, this gave me a better idea of how this gacha system would function. While laying out the frames, I tested and merged a few options that I thought where good and thought about how the user's experience would be. The next steps is to test this with some friends and to make further changes to improve the experience.

Usability Study and Revision

Study Type: Unmoderated Usability
Study Location: United States, Remote ( Home )
Participants: 5 participants, each completing the study individually.
Duration: 5-10mins based on prompt

The information I uncovered helped me rework my screens to provide a better experience. I re-examined these pain points and put myself in my user’s shoes. I wanted my user’s to have a clear goal that made sense and that would keep them on track.

• Rework onboarding process.
• Added location input for users.
• Removed map section, app is not used for directions.
• Reworked restaurant suggestion page, removed map.
• Replaced receipt capture with QR instead, easier for data entry and tracking.
• To access QR scan, users are required to have an account. User Registration option added.
• Simplified rewards/points page as it was too cluttered.

Further Testing and Revision

Study Type: Unmoderated Usability
Study Location: United States, Remote ( Home )
Participants: 5 participants, each completing the study individually.
Duration: 5-10mins based on prompt

The revision focused on the gacha system as the previous set up was too complicated and some of the users got lost along the way. The update makes it easier to navigate and get to the end point of finding a restaurant to eat at. Even if the user revisits the app later on, the task is easily completed without a refresh to the onboarding.

• Simplified home page so users can easily naviage to what they need.
• Added in a menu tab instead of sliding hamburger menu.
• Added suggestion section for quick recommendations of the day.
• Gacha section now has a "My List" and "Last Visited" option instead of a pop up.
• Reworked gacha system with steps.
• Added tags to each of the categories to help with identification.
• Added in search function for receipts.
• Reworked Profile to better reflect design guidelines.
• Allow user to choose between 1 or 3 rerolls or have options where users can exchange tokens for more rolls.

Revision Comparison

User testing and feed back helped redefine the overall look of the final design. Instead of having the gacha function on the home page, it is now split into sections. This allows for a more intuitive experience for those that revisit the app later on or letting a friend use it for the first time.

Logo and Branding

The creation of the logo was based off the gacha capsule. I explored different ways of how I could make it playful and still have some aspects of food included into it. What do people think about when food comes to mind? A fork and spoon for me, but how would this work? I did some sketching and developed a mascot.

I wanted to choose a color that was refreshing and went with orange, for the complementary colors I went with gray and white. The colors worked really well to help balance the look and give enough contrast for the menus and texts shown in the app.