The Product
BringMyFood is a regional food delivery service located in Kolkata, India. BringMyFood strives to deliver healthy, specialty food and beverage. They offer a wide range of competitive pricing. BringMyFoodtar gets customers like commuters and workers who lack the time or ability to prepare a family dinner.
The Problem
Busy workers and commuters lack the time necessary to prepare a meal.
The Goal
Design an app for BringMyFood that allows users to easily order and pick up fresh, healthy dishes.
My Role
UX designer designing an app for BringMyFood from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, paper and digital wireframing, low and high-fidelity prototyping, conducting usability studies, accounting for accessibility, and iterating on designs.
User Research
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users I am designing for and their needs. A primary user group identified through research was working adults who don’t have time to cook meals.
This user group confirmed initial assumptions about BringMyFood customers, but research also revealed that time was not the only factor limiting users from cooking at home. Other user problems included obligations, interests, or challenges that make it difficult to get groceries for cooking or go to restaurants in-person.
Time
Working adults are too busy to spend time on meal prep
Accessibility
Platforms for ordering food are not equipped with assistive technologies
Usability
Text-heavy menus in apps are often difficult to read and order from
Persona: Debjani
Problem Statement:
Debjani is a busy working
adult who needs easy access to healthy food ordering options because they have no time to cook dinner for themself.
User Journey Map
Mapping Debjani’s user journey revealed how helpful it would be for
users to have access to a dedicated BringMyFood app.
Paper Wireframes
Taking the time to draft iterations of each screen of the app on paper ensured that the elements that made it to digital wireframes would be well-suited to address user pain points. For the home screen, I prioritized a quick and easy ordering process to help users save time.
Digital Wireframes
As the initial design phase continued, I made sure to base screen designs on feedback and findings from the user research.
Digital Wireframes
Easy navigation was a key user need to address in the designs in addition to equipping the app to work with assistive technologies.
Low-fidelity prototype
Using the completed set of digital wireframes, I created a low-fidelity prototype. The primary user flow I connected was building and ordering a pizza, so the prototype could be used in a usability study.
Usability study: findings
I conducted two rounds of usability studies. Findings from the first study helped guide the designs from wireframes to mockups. The second study used a high-fidelity prototype and revealed what aspects of the mockups needed refining.
Round 1 findings
-
Users want to order quickly
-
Users want more customization options
Round 2 findings
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The checkout process is confusing
-
“Ingredients” functionality is confusing
Mockups
Early designs allowed for some customization,
but after the usability studies, I added more details and text based instructions.
Mockups
The second usability study revealed frustration with the checkout flow. to streamline this flow, I consolidated the “Current order” and “Checkout screens” to one “Order summary” screen.
I also added the track delivery to this screen.
High-fidelity prototype
The final high-fidelity prototype presented cleaner user flows for building a pizza and checkout. It also met user needs for a pickup or delivery option as well as more customization.
Accessibility considerations
1
Provided access to users who are vision impaired through adding alt text to images for screen readers.
2
Used icons to help make navigation easier.
3
Used detailed imagery for food to help all users better understand the designs.
Takeaways
Impact
The app makes users feel like BringMyFood really thinks about how to meet their needs.
One quote from peer feedback:
“The app made it so easy and fun to order my food! I would definitely use this app as a go-to for a delicious, fast, and even healthy meal.”
My Learning
While designing the BringMyFood app, I learned that the first ideas for the app are only the beginning of the process. Usability studies and peer feedback influenced each iteration of the app’s designs
Next steps
1
Conduct another round of usability studies to validate whether the pain points users experienced have been effectively addressed
2
Conduct more user research to determine any new areas of need.
