Zebunnisa

UX and Content Designer

Dinner Dash

A mobile food ordering app for people with dietary restrictions

UX Research

I wanted to assess the viability of a food delivery app targeting adults with dietary restrictions. I wanted to determine how often this demographic chooses to dine out and what their current challenges are while finding safe-to-consume food on mainstream food delivery apps. I also wanted to learn what motivates them to use food delivery apps and how satisfied they are with existing products on the market.

Given that this product is in its infancy stage, I wanted to run an initial study to test it’s viability. I was particularly interested in adults with dietary restrictions who use food delivery or pickup apps. I surveyed 44 adults in order to understand needs, pain points, and how they use existing apps in the market to order or pick-up restaurant meals.

Key Research Questions

Needs: What is essential for a food delivery app that addresses dietary concerns?
Behaviours: How do they interact with the food delivery apps they currently use?
Competition: How do users feel about existing products?

Key Insights and Recommendations

- People with dietary restrictions are regularly seeking out restaurant meals that are safe for them to consume

- Almost half the people have multiple dietary restrictions
  36% of people surveyed had more than one dietary restriction
  5% of people surveyed had more than two dietary restriction

- What are the most important factors that motivate people to use these apps?
  1. Convenience
  2. Indulgence

- What specific features are most important to users?
  - Variety of options
  - Description of dish
  - List of ingredients
  - Certifications such as halal, kosher, gluten free or nut free
  - Time of arrival
  - Highlight free delivery options

View full UXR report

Design Sprint

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Synthesis

My quantitative study revealed some pretty clear behaviour patterns which made me confident about the direction this product was heading in. An overwhelming amount of survey participants fit the customer profile I wanted to target: people with multiple dietary restrictions who were actively looking for restaurant meals that were safe for them to consume. I was confident that I was building the right thing for my users.

Ideation

The synthesis of my research data identified several problem that needed solving. Of those, the most critical were:

How might we simplify the ordering process?
How might we make it easier for users to navigate food options that are safe for them to consume?
How might we speed up the ordering process?
How might we provide an indulgent experience for users?

Feature prioritization

At this point in the process, my main design objective was to create adoption of and engagement with this new product. I wanted to focus on creating a food pickup and delivery app that served a unique target market, and was delightful to use.

The following features were weighted, then prioritized in order to achieve a MVP:

Sort food by multiple D.R.
De-cluttered screens & simple user flows
UX copy that emphasizes ease
Favourites
Stickers for certifications such as gluten-free, halal, kosher, nut-free
UX copy that creates a sense of indulgence

Risks

Some risks I'm considering at this point:

It might be a lot of work for restaurants to register on this app, since restauranteurs will have to tag each dish so it can be sorted by the available dietary restriction filters. On the other hand the app will be a space that attracts a lot of restaurants that cater to specific dietary restrictions because of our target users.
Because some of the features of this app are complex, it will be a heavy dev lift. That being said, the custom features in this app are what makes it unique, therefore we aim to secure an investor that's willing to back a product that is unlike any other in the market.

Low-fi prototype

After getting all my ideas down on paper, I used Figma to design a low-fidelity, clickable prototype of one critical user journey: signing up, signing in and choosing a meal.

Quick and easy sign-up requires user to enter email, password and click register

Once the user is registered, log-in is simple as well

After log-in, user is sent to the home screen where they can sort food options based on their dietary restrictions

Usability study

The usability study was conducted in-person using a clickable feels like prototype made in Figma.

During the usability study, I identified three key problems with the current design:

On the login page, user tries clicking cancel to avoid registering
The "all recipes" option leads user to believe the app is for collecting recipes
The user thinks heart and plus icons are both for favouriting

Low-fi prototype: Second iteration

I designed solutions to these problems in the second iteration.

User provided with a faster registering process through Google or Facebook

On the home screen, a modal pops up prompting user to choose delivery or pickup, making it clearer to the user what they are shopping for. UX copy sets an indulgent tone.

"All Recipes" button renamed to "All Dishes" for clarity. "Add to order" button has a label for more clarity and it's position has been moved away from the favourite button to create distinction

Hi-fi prototype

I then used Figma to create a hi-fidelity design for the main home screen. I also created a style guide and pattern library sheet.

Home screen

Meal options sorted by "meat"

Filet mignon favourited

What's next?

I would like to go back to the research phase in order to dig deeper so I can design the inner workings of the app with the data I collect.

I would start with a detailed competitor analysis of the apps that were most popular in my survey results. Then, I would spend time doing more in depth user interviews and use paper prototyping to conduct testing before moving onto digital prototypes.

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