Essen
End-to-end applicaiton
Overview
Timeline: January 2024 (74 Hours)
Role: Ux Designer, Ux Research,Added Feature, Student Project
Background
In today's fast-paced society, dining out has become not just a necessity but also a form of leisure and social activity. However, the abundance of dining options available can often overwhelm consumers, leading to decision paralysis and frustration. Recognizing this common challenge, we sought to address the need for a more streamlined and personalized approach to restaurant discovery.
The Problem
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Through user research and market analysis, we identified a gap in the market for a user-friendly restaurant discovery platform.
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Existing solutions were either too generic or lacked the personalization needed to cater to individual preferences.
The Solution
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Essen was conceptualized as a solution to address this problem by providing personalized restaurant recommendations, a simplified search interface, and comprehensive restaurant profiles—all in one convenient app.
Design Process
User Research , User Interviews, Journey Map, High Fidelity Wireframes, Clickable Prototype
Research Goals
Our research aimed to uncover insights into users' dining behaviors, preferences, and pain points to inform the development of Essen and ensure it meets the needs of its target audience.
1. Understanding Users Dining Behaviors:
Our first research goal was to gain a deep understanding of users' dining habits, including how often they dine out, their preferred cuisines, and their dining preferences (e.g., ambiance, price range)
2.Persona Development:
We aimed to identify the specific pain points users encounter when searching for restaurants, such as difficulty finding suitable options, lack of personalized recommendations, or overwhelming choice overload.
3.Ideation and Prototyping:
Ultimately, our research goals were geared towards informing the development of Essen, ensuring that the app is designed with the user in mind and delivers a seamless, personalized, and enjoyable dining discovery experience
User Interviews
Interviewing Participants
We conducted a series of in-depth interviews with a diverse group of participants, each bringing a unique perspective to the table. Our participants included individuals from various demographics, lifestyles, and culinary backgrounds, ensuring a well-rounded understanding of users' needs and preferences.
Participant 1: Age 30
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Self-proclaimed foodie who loves exploring new cuisines and dining experiences.
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Enjoys trying out trendy restaurants and discovering hidden gems in her city.
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Participant 2: Age 45
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A family man who values quality time spent with his loved ones over meals.
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Seeks out family-friendly restaurants with a relaxed atmosphere and diverse menu options to accommodate everyone's tastes and dietary restrictions.
Participant 3: Age 35
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Has a hectic lifestyle as a busy professional with limited time for dining out.
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Often relies on quick and convenient options for meals and prefers restaurants that offer online ordering and delivery services.
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Participant 4: Age 25
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A social influencer with a large following on social media platforms.
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Enjoys documenting her dining experiences and sharing recommendations with their followers, often seeking out Instagram-worthy restaurants and unique culinary experiences.
Affinity Mapping
Interpolating interview findings
During the affinity mapping process, we noticed a recurring theme related to users' frustration with the lack of reliable restaurant reviews. This insight prompted us to prioritize the integration of user-generated reviews and ratings within Essen, ensuring that users could access trustworthy information to inform their dining decisions. Additionally, we observed a strong desire among users for a more visually engaging interface, leading us to explore design solutions that would enhance the overall user experience and make Essen more appealing and intuitive to use.
Key Themes:
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Importance of personalized recommendations.
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Need for a streamlined search process.
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The desire for comprehensive restaurant information.
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Value social features that allow them to share restaurant recommendations, read reviews from others, and see where their friends have dined.
User Personas
Humanize potential users
Based on the insights gathered from user interviews and affinity mapping, we created detailed user personas to represent different segments of the Essen target audience. These personas helped us empathize with users' needs and preferences throughout the design process.
Problem Statement
The user personas highlighted common challenges faced by users, such as decision paralysis when choosing a restaurant and frustration with existing restaurant discovery platforms' lack of personalization.
Site Map
Navigating Interactions
To visualize the user journey within Essen, we created a detailed site map outlining the app's navigation flow and interactions. This helped us ensure that users could easily navigate through the app and access its key features with minimal effort.Click to view Site Analysis
Digital Wireframes
Wireframing the Solution
With the user journey and key features in mind, we developed digital wireframes to outline the layout and functionality of Essen's interface. These wireframes served as a blueprint for the app's design, allowing us to iterate and refine the user experience before moving on to visual design. Click to view Hi-Fidelity
Hi-Fidelity
Pallet
The color palette chosen for Essen was carefully selected to evoke a sense of warmth, comfort, and sophistication. Warm tones such as earthy browns, muted oranges, and deep greens were chosen to create a cozy yet modern atmosphere within the app.
Prototype & Testing
Determining the Effectiveness
PROTOTYPE WITH 3 TASK FLOWS:
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Enable Cencorship Toggle
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Now playing Toggle
Usability Test
Does the design work?
Insights from usability testing were used to identify areas for improvement and inform iterative changes to the prototype. By incorporating user feedback, we were able to refine Essen's design and enhance its usability.
At a glance:
Usability test consisted of 3 task flows:
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Onboarding
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Discovery
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Searching
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What Worked:
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Personalized Recommendations: 4/4 users found this feature helpful.
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Simplified Search Interface: 3/4 users praised the ease of use of the search functionality.
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Comprehensive Restaurant Profiles: 2/4 users appreciated the detailed information provided.
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Curated Lists: 1/4 users highlighted the usefulness of curated lists for inspiration.
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What needs to change:
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Technical Performance: 2/4 users experienced issues with app performance and encountered bugs.
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Saving Favorites: 2/4 users reported difficulties with saving favorite restaurants.
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Search Functionality: 1/4 users found the search interface to be clunky and in need of improvement.
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Loading Times: 1/4 users mentioned slow loading times for restaurant profiles as an area for improvement.
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Idea suggestions for more features:
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Social Sharing: 1/4 users suggested adding a feature to share favorite restaurants with friends.
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Reservations Integration: 1/4 users expressed interest in integrating popular reservation platforms.
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Tracking Visited Restaurants: 1/4 users proposed a feature to track visited restaurants and receive recommendations based on past experiences.
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Accessibility Options: 1/4 users recommended adding filters for accessibility options such as wheelchair accessibility.
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Promotions Notification: 1/4 users suggested adding notifications for special deals or promotions at nearby restaurants.
Final Thoughts & Next Steps
Our journey with Essen was filled with insights, challenges, and moments of inspiration. We learned valuable lessons about user-centered design and the importance of empathy in creating meaningful digital experiences.
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As we wrap up this phase of the project, our focus now shifts to the next steps for Essen. This includes further refinement of the app based on user feedback, ongoing testing and validation, and potential expansion to new markets or platforms.