Case study: Designing a food delivery app for healthy home-food
This is a case study we did for our learning of UX. The project was created during the UI UX Course at DesignBoat UI/UX School, Bangalore in spring 2021.
The Problem:
A large number of people today depend on food delivery services for their meals. The reasons are multiple. Some of them being, a busy lifestyle, lack of time and patience to cook food, insufficient knowledge or motivation to cook.
We researched and it was revealed that when they finally reach out to order, the users do not have the time and patience to order a healthy meal.
Well into the second year of the pandemic, we have realized the importance of a healthy living. The food we eat impacts our health in a significant way. For many its not a choice, as there are numerous health conditions/allergies that require a strict diet, which are often very difficult to follow.
The Objective:
The objective was to provide a platform that eases the problem of having healthy, nutritious, diet based food every day, and manages the complete healthy food needs at the user’s home.
The aim was also to connect the user- the one who wants a healthy meal- with the home chef who is ready to provide a healthy home cooked meal.
The overall idea was to provide an integrated solution which provides users with tailored meal suggestions, hence encouraging them to stick to a diet.
Business opportunity:
Will an App be sustainable with such a niche service?
Our research showed that this demand isn’t niche anymore. People are moving swiftly towards a healthy living and are looking for means and motivation to change their lifestyle. My conversations with friends revealed that there are many who faced challenges in doing this.
I engaged with some influencers in the food industry on social media and received some promising reactions.
There are many home cooks who are looking at getting a better reach for their business. I came across this conversation in our apartment women’s group. The community has 500+ apartments and it was interesting to see many home cooks who regularly cook meals for orders within the apartment.
Our intention was to fill this gap and connect the two with a seamless platform
Competitor’s analysis
We researched and analyzed a few competitors who were in the food delivery business.
These were the findings
· The User interface in most Apps was not very intuitive.
· None of the Apps have healthy food focus, nutritionist consultation, calorie tracker and home food integration
USER RESEARCH:
Quantitative research:
We conducted an online survey where close to 70 people answered our questions.
Here are some findings about the survey:
Findings:
· The users mostly had little or no knowledge of nutrition value of food.
· They preferred the concept of home cooked food in relation to ‘healthy’ eating
· They would really like an App which integrates healthy food, nutritionists and calorie tracking
Qualitative research:
We made a list of questions which would help us understand the needs, wants and challenges which the potential users would face.
I had some conversations with some friends over phone calls and chat
This revealed their motivations, frustrations and pain points
Analysis:
With the help of the research we did, I drew some sketches to flesh out two user scenarios. With this our personas started taking shape
These are just two of them, but there could be multiple challenges and scenarios based on their age, family structure, daily activities, fitness status etc.
Personas:
Based on all these findings we created two personas, a working mother with a family and a child and a young guy who stays away from his family.
Empathy Mapping:
We later drew an empathy map to articulate what we know about the user personas in order to
· Create an understanding of our user’s needs
· Aid in decision making
Ideation:
How might we?:
We listed some ‘How Might We’ questions and came up with some features that would help the user with this journey.
· Collaborate with Home chefs so that the users get home food
· Have portion sized meals to avoid wastage
· Have a specific taste feedback for the meal that will help the vendor understand the customer or a chat with the home chef
· Give a break up of calories and proteins of each meal
· Create a filter of likes and dislikes which we can get from the questionnaire or use algorithms
· To motivate a user we can have push notifications. We can incentivize the user on a goal reached to motivate the user. Further, we can also have a section of User stories, Blogs articles, to inspire the user to eat healthy and get fitter.
· Give better meal rates for subscriptions which will help both the user and the business.
· We can have in house nutritionists who will give a customized meal plan based on the users data.
User Flow:
We made the user flow to understand each and every step the user will take from the entry to the final interaction
Card Sorting:
As a team we also also did an exercise of card sorting to organize the information collected into logical groups.
Information Architecture:
Information architecture (IA) is the science of organizing and structuring the content of an App.
This helped us in organizing the content of our App so that the users could easily adjust to the functionality of the product and could find everything they need without much effort.
Design:
Low Fidelity wireframe sketches:
This was a very exciting phase as I would finally be putting all my research into use and the App would start taking shape.
As an experienced architect, I know the importance of sketches. They are the starting point for a design process. Sketches allow us to test the appearance of our imagined designs without the impediments of any tools.
High Fidelity wireframe:
Once I had my low fidelity sketches in place, I worked on translating the sketches to high fidelity wireframes in Adobe XD.
Final Screens:
You can view my UI design for Nutridabba here:
https://www.behance.net/bimbarao
Conclusion:
Working on this project gave a hands-on experience to go through the various engaging stages of User Experience design. Our project made it even more exciting as it dealt with the most basic need of a human and also an essential need (staying fit) of the current times.
Overall this project was a lot of fun!
