ABOUT THE BRAND
Some days, your body can be your best friend, BUT if you unknowingly ingest a food that gives you a reaction, it can be your worst enemy. Being that I suffer from the autoimmune disease known as Celiac, as well as a number of additional dietary restrictions, I have immense difficulty with the food ordering process.
So, I set out to create Food Friends… the single source to accommodate finding food delivery options for those with similar challenges.
Food Friends is an app that was created to improve the experience of ordering food for those with dietary restrictions. Extensive User Research and Empathy Mapping revealed the many pain points for those attempting to order food, while suffering from food allergies, autoimmune disease, etc. Navigating an extensive Site Map, Red Routes and User Flows was an enlightening challenge to incorporate many customized features while remaining as User Centric as possible. It is clear that there is a current industry void for a tool such as this, and Food Friends provides a much-welcomed hope for people in need of a confident solution to this widespread issue.
TARGET AUDIENCE
“How does anyone with Celiac or food allergies even eat out at a restaurant, let alone order food on a delivery app?”
HOW MIGHT WE?
Connect people who have dietary restrictions with restaurants that offers such menu items?
Ensure that those restaurants are transparent and allow users to feel confident when placing orders?
Generate only dietary restrictive focused menus for users to browse, without having to sort through?
USER RESEARCH
Who knew the process of ordering food could evoke so many feelings? The Research process consisted of conducting User Surveys as well as Interviews.
Of those surveyed, we found:
Orders occurred never, or only once a week
40/60 split of app ordering vs. calling to place an order by phone
Most orders were delivered
Allergies ranged from moderate to severe
There was always a modification made to a dish
All participants were willing to try a new method that helps simplify the process
DATA SYNTHESIS
The data analyzed from User Interviews and Surveys was then formulated into an Empathy Map showing pain points reflecting food ordering process.
Food ordering has truly affected users, and it reflects in their thoughts, feelings conversations and behaviors.
Because of this, most who have dietary restrictions are:
prepared to order something that’s not their top choice
equipped with a backup snack on hand, or have already eaten prior
forced to order items without buns, croutons, and certain marinades, spices or dressings
After conducting interviews, the traits, characteristics, behaviors and concerns of these users are reflected in the Personas shown here.
SKETCHES AND IDEATION
User Flows, Red Route Sketches, Site Map and Wireframes all held a role in the Ideation Process. As we navigate through the Food Friends app, it’s important to keep the user need top of mind. The following ideas need to remain prioritized to ensure user confidence.
User Flow
Site Map
Red Route Sketches
Wireframes
DESIGN CONCEPTS
In order to remain true to the concept of transparency and assisting in a widespread issue, Food Friends’ Brand Personality and Mission evolved, along with a Logo that’s reflective of clean, fresh, real food ingredients with a dash of love. You will see components of Design Elements that encompass the same type of color scheme and feeling.
HIGH-FIDELITY SCREENS AND USER TESTING
After combining the iterations of wireframes with design concepts, elements and components, High-Fidelity screens emerged and a Clickable Prototype progressed for User Testing.
User Testing proved to be successful. Participants did not have any issue navigating throughout the app, and were pleased to share feedback. Here are the biggest takeaways:
Ordering with ease
User friendly search categories
The ability to see every ingredient in each dish on the menu
The customizable component to personalize order instructions
CHALLENGES
Reiterating a concept that already exists, but doesn’t include a good deal of the population wasn’t easy… these are some challenges faced when designing this app:
Incorporating a Dashboard page that wasn’t congested, but allowed for personalized preferences and new suggestions
Encompassing all dietary restrictions, not just Celiac for search and filter purposes
Concepts on how to partner with local restaurants in order to provide the very detailed ingredient and preparation information, and how to display on a mobile screen
Allowing for maximum number of characters with custom orders
