Role | UX / UI Designer
Timeline | August 2021 - Present
Setting | Startup of 9, consisting of UI/UX, project management, software development, marketing, and strategy
Responsibilities | Conducting interviews, digital wireframing, low- and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs
Tools | Adobe XD, Miro, and Zoom
Background
In the last decade, around 5 million immigrants moved into the U.S (Ryan Baugh, 2020). Moreover, more than 1 million international students came to the U.S. from all over the world to receive education from 2019 to 2020 (Institute of International Education, 2021). For these groups who are newcomers to the country, they would often miss the taste of their hometown’s foods, and look for the familiar flavors in the area where they live.
However, it is difficult for them to get the most authentic flavors, as the information about restaurants online is often ambiguous, and the food reviews are written by people with diverse tastes.
Our team aims to create a mobile app for recent immigrants and international students to help them find their home cuisine around them faster and easier.
Design Process
1. Empathize
The purpose of the user research is to study how immigrants and international students seek foods of their home cuisine and, more specifically, what kinds of information they look for, and how they get them.
I conducted primary research with five target users. The study was critical for our team to understand the users' pain points and explore opportunities to improve their experiences. After the study, we factored these findings into the design of our product.
Key research questions
• How often do users go to a restaurant to have home cuisine?
• What channels of information do users use to find the places of home cuisine?
• What kinds of information do users want to know about the restaurant to decide if it is worth going to?
• What challenges or frustrations do users have when finding a restaurant of home cuisine?
Method
The study was implemented through a 15-minute video semi-structured interview with each participant to gather in-depth qualitative data. I used the interview script as a guide and ask follow-up questions based on answers from the users. The detailed method of the interview plan including Recruitment, Script, and Interview Questions can be found via this link.
Masked screenshot of a user interview session
Persona
Based on the informative insights I obtained from the interviewees, I created two personas representing distinct groups of potential users along with a user journey map of our focused user group. They helped the team to understand the frustrations users may have and explore opportunities to improve their experiences.
Persona 01
Persona 02
User Journey Map
2. Define
Pain Points
3. Ideate
I used rapid brainstorming to facilitate the team to ideate potential solutions (feasible and ridiculous) to solve each pain point. Moreover, I conducted competitive audits of our direct and indirect competitors in the food tech industry to better position the app's value propositions.
Brainstorming
Competitive Audit
Design Decision
With all the insights I gathered from user research, we decided to solve users’ pain points by offering comprehensive dish-level information, personalized recommendations, and online communities.
Information Architecture
4. Prototype
Low-Fidelity Prototype
I created a low-fidelity prototype that demonstrates the main user flows of the app. I used the low-fi prototype to test and receive feedback on the early concepts. You can interact with the prototype via this link.
High-Fidelity Prototype 1.0
After several iterations of the early concepts, I designed a hi-fi prototype of the app for the first product launch.
To interact with the complete hi-fi prototype, please click this link.
Account & Preference Setup
Users can create personal accounts and set up their food preferences to receive personalized recommendations of food.
Profile
Users can show their personal information and food preferences on the profile page to help them connect with other people who share interests.
Home
On the home page, users can browse dish personalized recommendations by interests (Explore) or distance to the restaurant (Nearby).
Diary
Users can view their friends' posts on the diary page. They are able to like, collect, and comment on each other's posts to engage in the communities.
Dish Detail
Users can access detailed information on every dish, including restaurant info, dish description, photos, price, and reviews. Users can comment on, like, and collect the dish for future meal plans.
Search
Users can look for information about dishes, restaurants, and communities by searching names or keywords such as authenticity, scenarios, moods, etc.
Dish Post
Users can share their dining experiences by uploading photos and posting reviews about dishes. The posts will show up on the timeline of the diary page, as well as the associated dish detail page.
Collection
Users can save any dishes that interest them to the “To-Eat List” for future meal plans.
Accessibility Considerations
Visual Design
5. Usability Study
I conducted several moderated usability tests with the prototype along the design process. The studies were implemented through an online meeting software Zoom. Participants were asked to share their screens while using the GourmetCarte app to complete assigned tasks. After they went through all tasks, participants filled out a short survey about their experiences with the app. For the detailed research plan, please check this link.
Masked screenshot of a usability test session
Affinity Diagram
After conducting studies with 5 participants, I created an affinity diagram to group data from the research results. It helped me to synthesize the main findings, and make design iterations accordingly.
Finding 01 - My Preference Setup
It was very inefficient to understand users’ food preferences by asking them to select a representative city of their taste. The app needs a better method to collect users’ food preferences more effectively on the setup phrase.
Iteration
Finding 02 - Dish Post
Most users felt restricted by the fact that they could only choose one dish on each post. They need a function to post about multiple dishes in one post.
Iteration
Finding 03 - Collection
Users want the ability to group their collected dishes.
Iteration
Finding 04 - Social Profile
Users want to keep track of their posts and the people they socialize with to feel more engaged in the communities.
Iteration
Going Forward
So far, I have received a lot of informative feedback on the prototype, as well as interest in the product from our future users. I'm closely working with the development team and we planned to release the first MVP in January 2021. Meanwhile, I will keep testing the prototype with more users for improvement.
Contact Me
Thank you for your time reviewing my work on the GourmetCarte! If you’d like to see more or get in touch, my contact information is provided below.
Email: kexinkangxr@gmail.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kexin-kang/
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