UX/UI Designer
- Understanding user needs
- Work on Color psychology
- Design Wire-frames
- Perform Usability Testing
Figma, FigJam, Adobe XD, Axure, Flaticons, Adobe Suite.
6 Months
It all started back in 2018 while working with the Enigma Virtulux. Camios burger house and Piatto dessert studio came to us with the same pain point. They had a tough time selling their respective products to customers because of obvious reasons:
- Different names of food dishes.
- Lack of description.
- Food ideas from different continents.
This was the first design we proposed to the client. To keep UI simple we categorized the menu into 4 main parts such as burgers, pizza, drinks, and desserts. We used the "I" icon for ingredients information and the rotational button to rotate 3D objects of food items.
Watch Video.
For course HCI 440 User-Centered Design I got a chance to work on a food-related application so I chose to work on the same project because I felt that I did not do in-depth user research for that and I wanted to implement this idea on a broad-scale and for the ethnic eatery.
Easy Eatz is a mobile application that acts as an alternative to paper menus in the ethnic eatery. It allows users to have a safe and different experience with the current Covid-19 situation.
1. Augmented Reality
2. Food Description
3. Ingredients
This research study assesses the impact of digital menu implementation at ethnic food restaurants. It will also identify the important features that users will find helpful while making their food decisions in ethnic food restaurants elevating the user experience.
Easy-Eatz is a mobile application that acts as an alternative to paper menus in ethnic restaurants. As indicated by our research study customers have confronted issues with traditional paper menus that lack descriptions for the foreign ingredients used in the ethnic cuisines. According to our research, we found that users were in dilemma about the quantity or size of the food they are ordering
It is a mobile application that acts as a supplement to paper menus in ethnic restaurants. It allows users to have a whole new experience in the digital world, by implementing new technologies into the food industry. EazyEats targets people who have access to smartphones (iOS users), who dine at ethnic food restaurants, and feel that they might have better experiences by improving their understanding of the different cultural cuisines. A few common problems customers have faced in regards to the paper menus are the lack of descriptions for the foreign ingredients used in the ethnic cuisines and the failure to provide any information about the quantity or size of the meals. The solution offers a unique and quick dining experience,in which it provides a more efficient and interactive menu that allows users to use AR technology to help visualize the food portions and Idebefore their orders. The digital menu will also provide a detailed description of the foreign ingredients that the user might be looking for as well as offering videos that show how the meals are cooked and plated.
The first step was to conduct a survey and understand our users and their potential needs and pain points to craft a solution. The user survey pointed out some key characteristics in the way most people order their food.
We conducted interviews with potential 34 users and 7 restaurant managers. Also, designed questionnaires and received about 200+ responses. This helped us to better understand the users' pain points and needs.
- Faced difficulty in understanding culturally labeled names and foreign ingredients used in the food items.
- Users were unaware of the process of making the food.
- Upset in terms of quantity or size.
- The language barrier between the customers and servers caused miscommunication.
- When customers inquired about the foreign food items or ingredients, servers were unable to explain to customers.
Major findings showed that 60.8% of the participants do not always know what to order in an ethnic food cuisine, followed by 78.4% of the people asking for more clarification about the ingredients to the server at the ethnic food restaurant.
Additionally, the statement about the speed in decision making influenced by visual representations (example: pictures, videos, and Augmented Reality) received a rating of 9 on a scale of 0 to 10.
1. What are the problems that paper-based menus have in ethnic food restaurants?
2. What type of menu elements influence the user's decision-making process in choosing a food item in an ethnic food restaurant?
3. What are the barriers that people face in making decisions about which ethnic foods to order?
The target audience for this project are people who have access to smartphones, and who dine at ethnic food restaurants. Also, secondary users are the people who are concerned about food ingredients and nutritional values for the food they are served.
The next step in the design process was to organize everything and give a structure to the app. This is known as Information architecture. I started by defining the minimum requirements or deliverables for the app by drafting the User Stories.
I made User Flows and Sitemap to define the app Navigation and its structure followed by Wire frames and Low-fi mock-ups.
After analyzing the user research data and defining the problems we had brainstorming sessions and discussed ideas to come up with a solution. We designed rough sketches and discussed some ideas that could solve our defined problems. One of the interesting ideas was to use Augmented Reality while ordering food!
Storyboarding : The diagram shows an emotional perspective storyboard
Great designs don't just appear overnight they take time to get right. Prototyping can be a quick and effective way of bringing your ideas to life. A sample of your intended users or evaluators can then be observed and tested, and their opinions can be used in order to make improvements during an iterative design process. Prototyping methods are generally classified under one of two broad categories: low-fi or high-fi.
Low-fi Prototyping: Low-fidelity prototyping involves the use of basic models or examples of the product being tested. It is the quick and inexpensive way in which it is possible to make instant changes and test iterations.
High-fi Prototyping: High-fidelity prototypes are prototypes that look and operate closer to the finished product. They are highly engaging.
This is the most exciting part of the design process. This is also the most comprehensive and crucial project stage as it involves designing detailed mockups of the app, designing the logo, choosing an appropriate color scheme, and setting up the style guide to position the brand's presence.
High-Fidelity Mockups
Following the framework established in the low-fidelity mockups, I made the High-Fidelity mockups which presented a detailed view of all the possible screens in the app. It was the most time-consuming task as it involved choosing the appropriate colors, icons, typefaces, font weights, and designing the graphs. Besides, the whole app is consistent with the Google Material Design guidelines.
Since this is a food app, it consists of a lot of data elements. Hence, a deep color palette was necessary to convey important actions & information by associating them with color hierarchy.
We decided to go with these colors because yellow and orange are colors that make people feel hungry. These colors are associated with emotion and passion.
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1) Need for server assistance button on all the application screens.
2) There was a navigational flaw with the app, the ‘back button’ was missing on the screens, so users had difficulty navigating to different screens.
3) Remove button was missing to clear items in the cart.
4) No prompts when users performed actions.
5) The use of technical terms in the UX writing. (3D, Augmented Reality)
1. Navigation must be intuitive. The navigational flow should not make users feel lost while interacting with the app.
2. The app should be designed to keep the user's needs as a central theme. Learn what users are trying to achieve and eliminate any barriers that will get in the way of them accomplishing their goals.
3. Reducing the number of taps while navigating from Point A to Point B.
4. It's wise to use common design patterns and principles which are proven successful.
The solution offers a unique and quick dining experience, which provides an interactive menu that allows users to visualize the food dishes using the Augmented Reality feature. The digital menu will also provide a detailed description of the foreign ingredients that the user might be looking for as well as videos that show how the meals are prepared.
