Web App Prototype for Making Social Dining Easy
The Challenge
Problem: Planning social dining is difficult for groups of people because some people have dietary restrictions including food allergies (wheat, seafood, etc.) and special diets (vegetarian, vegan, etc.)
Duration: 2 and a half weeks (Nov 2015)
Group size: 3 UX designers
My role: Participated in user research, created the first iteration of hi-fi wireframes using Sketch and created the final prototype using Invision.
Tools: Sketch and Invision
Design Process: Double Diamond
Summary
Desired Outcomes:
- The validated target users- which would be the primary people who would experience this product.
- User journey maps - To show Nibble’s opportunities to resolve each persona’s pain points in their experience in planning social dining events.
- Interactive prototype- to visually showcase each persona’s activity with Nibble.
Process
Evaluate and decide on small casual dining groups vs. large corporate social dining groups.
Validate the hypothesis, narrow down the scope.
- A lot of iteration on the paper prototype after doing user testing.
Insights- Decisions
- The results from the survey revealed that people with dietary restrictions care more about their food choices, but people with no restrictions also care.
- We redefined the problem to narrow down the scope of the target audience.
- We did a lot of iterations on the on boarding experience to make it as easy as possible.
Results
- We achieved all the desired outcomes (Validate target users, User journey maps and an interactive prototype) and the client was satisfied.
- We ended up considering the large dining groups as a secondary user for the same App.
Lessons Learned
- Always try to narrow the scope as much as possible; the more specific the product is, the better the target audience is defined, the clearer the user goals are.
- Working collaboratively during the several rounds of design studio, helped us incorporate every element that was necessary to the final design.
Detailed Case Study
discover
OUR APPROACH
We started by Narrowing our scope. We understood that we needed to have a focused starting point. We chose to begin in San Francisco because of proximity (we are able to talk to people in person), and also because San Franciscans are known to be early adopters.
The second step to our narrowed scope was choosing a setting for Nibble: casual vs. corporate. We chose the casual social dining route because of frequent usage. We then were able to conduct more focused research in order to test our hypothesis and set our design direction.
HYPOTHESIS
People with dietary restrictions care more about their food choices than people who don't have dietary restrictions.
SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS
To validate our hypothesis we created surveys and interviewed 6 different people. Here are the key insights:
Our hypothesis was validated.
define
REDIFINE PROBLEM
Many San Francisco locals have dietary restrictions and find difficulty in planning and participation in social dining events.
SOLUTION
Design platform to make group dining easier and more accommodating for everyone's dietary restrictions and preferences.
PERSONAS & USER JOURNEY MAPS
We created personas to have a better perspective on our design decisions. We created journey maps to show how Nibble improves the process of planning social dinning:
Brenda
Lily
design
DESIGN STUDIO & PAPER PROTOTYPE
We did design studio to get sketch our ideas. After several rounds, we combined the best ideas to create a paper prototype.
Design studio
Paper prototype
USER TESTING
We tested the paper prototype in 6 different people. We used the feedback to create an easier and better experience.
WIREFRAMES
Once we had tested the lower fidelity wireframes, we created higher fidelity wireframes using Sketch.
Brenda's Wireframes
INVITATION CREATION
Brenda can easily invite her friends’ who aren’t current Nibble users, to her event through different platform.
Planning is one of Nibble’s Key opportunity areas.
- It's difficult to figure out where to go because everyone has different preferences and restrictions.
Nibble provides a GROUP TASTE PROFILE so planners can make informed decision.
-It shows the group’s varying levels of preferences, restrictions, and allergies
PLANNING
Since Brenda’s group members haven’t fully filled out their Nibble preferences, her profile isnt complete.
-She still has trouble figuring out where the best place for her group would be.
-To help her out, she is able to send out a cuisine or restaurant poll to better fill out the group profile.
CONFIRMATION
The poll results help to better fill out the group’s profile; now seeing this she can make a more informed decision.
Based on the poll results Nibble gives Brenda the option to view a curated list of restaurants based on her updated Group’s profile.
ATTENDING
She can go through the list of relevantly recommended restaurants. She can pick one that best accommodates her group and send them an invite.
Lily's Wireframes
INVITATION CREATION
Being invited to the new platform is easy and engaging.
-Lily receives text from her friend Brenda, which gives it a personal touch.
PLANNING
Lily feels involved in the planning process; Nibble allows her to input her preferences and restrictions.
CONFIRMATION
She sees that her preference were considered; Nibble now makes her feel like her input was valued.
ATTENDING
Now that she is a Nibble User, she has a better way of looking for restaurants and planning events taking into consideration her dietary preferences and restrictions.
Deliver
FINAL PROTOTYPE
We used Invision to walk our client through the final prototype.
The task: Brenda invites Lily to a dinner event, she creates a poll to have a better understanding of the group profile// Lily receives an invitation from Brenda, she accepts and creates her own profile.
CONCLUSION
All of our goals as a group were met. Our client was satisfied with the final product, understanding that the next step will be developing the Web App. More user testing once the App is built will be necessary to keep improving the experience of, not only small group dining, but also larger groups (weddings, conferences, etc.).