The Problem:
The problems I wanted to solve for users were how to efficiently spend their money at restaurants and also give them a good visual representation of food at restaurants in terms of presentation. They also had no idea what the interiors of the restaurants looked like so they might have bad lighting or food that didn't look presentable for someone who wanted to do food photography. FrugalEats was designed to help users accurately decide which restaurants to visit based on their available budget as well as the restaurant's atmosphere. We hope to give users an accurate enough depiction of restaurant interiors and food presentation. How might we improve the visual representation of restaurant environments and food quality so that our customers are content with our app’s provided choices based on increased frequency of use and positive user reviews?
Solution:
The FrugalEats app solves the problem of not knowing how to spend money effectively to visit as many restaurants as possible/not overspend by having a budget setting option. Users can choose a range of what they want to spend and based on their current location the FrugaEats app will give suggestions that fits within their price range for dining . It also solves the problem of not knowing what to expect inside of a restaurant by having pictures of the interior as well as the exterior of a restaurant. Users will have an accurate understanding of the atmosphere and also what the food presentation is like. They will also have reviews from other users that detail their experiences as well as the photos that they took when they were there. Providing a visual representation of the food and restaurant environment for users interested in taking photos of their meals will help in easing the preselection process of restaurants to visit. Users who do food photography for a living or passionate hobby will save their time selecting with our services by knowing their options will be locations that promote high quality photo opportunities.
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MY ROLE: UX designer (Individual Project)
TOOLS: Figma/Figjam, phone, paper, pen/pencil
Interview Plan
I conducted my research by performing interviews. I used interviews because I wanted to know the rationals of travel planning from multiple individuals.
The interview questions were developed from wanting to know what motivated people to travel and what were the factors that could affect their motivations. Things that I wanted to know included:
What are the user’s motivations for traveling?( this was my core research question)
(How do you plan your trips)
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How do you decide where to go for your travel trips?
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What apps do you use when planning your trips, if any?
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What is your preferred mode of transportation?
(What do you like about traveling)
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What activities do you do at your destinations?
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What is your most memorable trip?
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What is your favorite part of travel planning?
(What makes planning difficult)
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How much money do you usually spend on your trips?
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How has traveling changed for you after covid?
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What has been your worst travel experience?
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What I noticed from my interviews was there were many similarities in replies of the most difficult parts of planning and following through on trips was how much it costs. Almost everyone I interviewed did not have a set budget for when they traveled. Another similarity that I noticed was they found food to be expensive and that it could also be underwhelming compared to what they anticipated.
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Affinity Diagram
Persona
Persona
Empathy Map
An empathy map was created using the information of the affinity diagram to get an idea of a general user with the similarities I found. The pain points were not knowing how to budget, food experiences being underwhelming, and not knowing how much food expenses will be at travel locations.
User Insight Statement
We believe providing a visual representation of the food and restaurant environment for users interested in taking photos of their meals will help in easing the preselection process of restaurants to visit. Users who do food photography for a living or passionate hobby will save their time selecting with our services by knowing their options will be locations that promote high quality photo opportunities.
Problem Statement
FrugalEats was designed to help users accurately decide which restaurants to visit based on their available budget as well as the restaurant's atmosphere. We have observed that FrugalEats isn't meeting user satisfaction with their restaurant experiences by not giving accurate enough depictions of restaurant interiors and food presentation, which is causing our rating to decrease based on negative reviews of our app. How might we improve the visual representation of restaurant environments and food quality so that our customers are content with our app’s provided choices based on increased frequency of use and positive user reviews?
My organization FrugalEats is developing a restaurant budgeting app to help photographers with an interest in food to solve the problem of paying for overpriced food while being unable to find photogenic restaurants in terms of lighting and food presentation .
We’re better because we offer definitive suggestions to give users the best possible culinary experience.
We're believable because our users save money while doing what they love.
Prototyping
Digital Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
Digital Wireframes
Recorded User Tests
I performed some recorded user tests that lead to some great feedback in improving my prototype in terms of flow and usability.
Key Learning form User Tests
Based on feedback received I added more confirmation screens, added buttons to go back to previous coaching screens, fixed fav typo, made budget a slider, and changed the user flow of having the payment options added after selecting prepay.
Final Thoughts
I learned a good deal about the process of UX/UI design and how simple things can make a big difference in making something easier to use vs being confusing an example being confirmation on successfully completing a task in the user flow. I also learned what motivates people to travel as well as what could be deterrents/pain points from the start of a travel plan to making it to the destination. Budget was a repeating similarity as well as negative food experiences and i believe an app like FrugalEats would make things easier for people with those concerns.