People who are on a diet or have a dietary preference often have a hard time searching for food that fits their needs.

WHY IS IT A PROBLEM?

As a vegetarian myself, it’s frustrating when I need to order delivery. It takes me a long time to find food that fits my needs, healthy, and easy to find in any food delivery app. For this case study, I’m using Uber Eats and Seamless apps to base my research and redesign of the UI.

The app will have the option to pick from a few different diets, such as Keto, Gluten-free, vegan, and more. Based on the option picked, the app will recommend restaurants and specific foods that will support the type of diet the user is following. The goal of the app is to allow users to order delivery food as any other user would. The app will have a simple, accessible, and visual design that will enable users to decide on what food to order quickly. The users will have the option to customize their profile to save their dietary preferences for future simple ordering.

DESCRIPTION OF THE KINDS OF USERS EXPECTED

The diet app will target urban, educated, health-conscious consumers. The main target is young and mid professionals. The age spectrum can range from ages 18 to 65. The users live busy lives in mid-size to large cities around the U.S. Some users want to stay fit, but not always have the time to meal prep, but don’t want to feel as they can’t order delivery foods. Others are committed to a diet to lose weight or keep it off and not always can or know how to meal prep. Based on observation, ordering healthy food is not always easy. As seen in research, I expect to have a slight majority of women using the diet app. Based on the data released by The NPD Group in 2013, “about 20 percent of adults report they are on a diet, down from a peak of 31 percent in 1991 according to NPD’s National Eating Trends® food and beverage market research. In 1992, 34 percent of women told NPD they were on a diet, and in 2012, 23 percent of women reported being on a diet.” According to U.S. Census Bureau, it can be calculated that in 2012, there were 23% of women (36,260,190) in America reported that they were on a diet, while about 16.7% of men (25,505,210) reported. Hungry for Change.

WHY IT’S USEFUL AND WHAT PROBLEMS IT SOLVES

Most food apps display food results based on location and type of food, not dietary preference. For people who want to stay healthy or are following a specific diet, this is a big problem. First, by showing unhealthy foods, users will second-guess themselves and feel guilty by wanting to order food not accepted by their diet. Second, some users will even get tempted and end up ordering food not included in their regime. Finally, by developing an app that will cater to user needs, they can spend less time ordering and more time enjoying their healthy food. As more people live busy, urban lives, cooking, or meal prepping is not always the right solution. “UBS Investment Bank forecast delivery sales could rise an annual average of more than 20% to $365 billion worldwide by 2030, from $35 billion.” Cheng, Andria. “Millennials Are Ordering More Food Delivery, But Are They Killing The Kitchen, Too?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 June 2018. The app will also help people stay on track by only giving them options based on their preferred diet. By narrowing the food choices, but still providing the same ordering experience users will not feel left out when ordering delivery at the office or family gathering. “Applications in which emotional impact is important, include social interaction.” “Social and cultural interactions entail aspects, such as trustworthiness and credibility.” The UX Book: Agile UX Design for a Quality User Experience 2nd Edition, p. 12.

WHY DO USERS CARE?

Staying fit and healthy is hard nowadays. There are too many food options, and the serving sizes only get bigger. Thus, keeping weight off or following a diet is hard. My target audience will care about this app because they often feel left out by not being able to order food with their friends and family. Causing them to feel annoyed and sometimes hopeless. 

I interviewed a few people who usually order food at work. The goal was to explore the entire ordering process from deciding what to eat to adding a meal to the cart and check out process.

To discover pain points in the user experience of the popular food delivery apps, I interviewed a few people from my job who usually order food for lunch. I wanted to capture how people with varying diets use and interact with different apps. I interviewed five people in their 20s and 30s, who use Uber Eats, and Seamless and have dietary restrictions. I then gave them tasks to perform in the app of their choosing and observed their behavior.

TASK SCENARIO 1 — Look for a healthy meal that offers delivery in each of your favorite delivery apps. Describe the steps that you see and the choices you are making.

TASK SCENARIO 2 — If you were following a stricter diet such as vegan, can you find any options that appeal to you? Describe the process you see while looking for options.

I listened to my interviewees and took notes mostly. I observed their gestures and body language. I also did a few sketches after the sessions to remember critical moments of the conversations. 

The conclusion was eye opening. All of the people I interviewed took a long time to find a meal that followed their diet. The filter sections where not meeting their needs and the visual design was confusing as it was displaying an array of options, non of which were what they were looking for.

WORK ACTIVITY NOTES

WAAD — WORK AFFINITY ACTIVITY DIAGRAM

Requirements > Interaction design > Transaction flow

USER PERSONA

I created a user persona to help me understand and communicate who I wanted my app design to target. Based on research and interviews, I added their motivations, goals, and behaviors.

CONCLUSION

Needs
An easy and convenient way to eat healthy at work when she doesn’t have time to meal prep.

Wants
She would love to be able to order delivery food without having to worry about the calories or being tempted with greasy, unhealthy food.

Pain points
At work, she’s swamped and often doesn’t have time to eat or grabs whatever she finds in between meetings. Many of her coworkers order delivery food, but it’s usually not a healthy option.