CHOOSINE: A Mobile App Prototype

THE PROBLEM:
The abundance of restaurant options and overwhelming process of choosing where to eat in a group results in frustration and settling for a familiar routine.

HYPOTHESIS:
We hypothesize that people experience frustrations when trying to decide where and what to eat because they are indecisive about the many restaurant (including take out and delivery) options available.

THE SOLUTION:
A mobile application that eliminates the indecisiveness of where to eat with others.

GOAL:
Create an interactive app that allows users to efficiently select a restaurant so that everyone in the group is delightfully satisfied through implementation of the design thinking method and UX design principles.

SUMMARY

• Created and distributed a survey about dining habits and choices.

• Conducted 8 user interviews both remotely and in person.

• Questions and conversations highlighted three main areas:
  1. How do users choose where to eat?
  2. How do users navigate through indecision?
  3. What tools do users use to aid in overcoming their indecision?

• We focused primarily on how users choose where to eat in group dining scenarios.

PROTO PERSONA

Meet "Betty Bites"

SURVEY

• 163 people responded to the 9 question survey about dining decisions and habits.

RESULTS

• 78% rated dining difficulty higher than 3 (on scale from 1-5)

• 73 users typically eat with their significant other in a normal week

USER INTERVIEW QUOTES

KEY INSIGHTS

• Hard to decide in groups

• Settles on familiar

• Wants to save money

• Convenience is key

• Indecision is strong and time consuming

• Accurate maps, photos, and information

• Too many options (overwhelm)

• Mutual satisfaction in choosing is important

During the define phase of the the design thinking process my team and I expanded on our user persona, "Betty Bites" driven from insights from the user survey, interviews, and research. After combining insights from the research we took the following defining steps:

1. Affinity Diagram
2. Empathy Map
3. User Persona
4. User Journey Map
5. Storyboard

AFFINITY DIAGRAM

We synthesized insights from user research into an affinity diagram. Next we created an empathy map, user person, user journey map, and storyboard. During this phase we defined the users motivations and pain points and the user persona's story to identify the problem statement and possible solution.

EMPATHY MAP

STORYBOARD

Next we ideated and brainstormed on our user persona’s story and the direction of our redesign by defining features, brainstorming app names and creating a user flow.

To define the key features to focus on in our design we brainstormed features using the 

“I Like” “I Wish” “What if...” method.

Through brainstorming we sorted ideas and insights into a feature prioritization matrix and decided on the primary functionality features of our app. 

Through voting we decided that the primary feature of our app: 

Our next brainstorm and voting session was on what to name our food selector app

Behold! A name for our app:

Next we created a user flow based on our user persona's story and feature prioritization 

For the first few rounds of prototyping, my team and I divided then collaborated. Each team member made paper and lo-fi prototypes based on our research, definition, ideation, and user flow. Then we collaborated to make one cohesive mid-fi design.

After iterations from user testing and group discussions we completed our hi-fi final prototype.

PAPER WIREFRAMES

LO-FI WIREFRAMES

HI-FI WIREFRAMES

We did multiple rounds of testing for our lo-fi to mid-fi prototypes. 

Our main objectives for testing:

1. Identify pain points in the sign up process
2. Identify pain points with the meal search

Testing Tasks:

1. Sign up for the app and complete tutorials
2. Begin a swipe search, choose a friend and set the preferences for your search
3. Swipe through choices, swipe yes on Super Foods

We wanted to identify pain points in both the sign up and meal search, so we decided on 3 tasks for our users to complete. Signing up, Beginning a search with a friend, and match on super food.

The feedback from these tests was prioritized to develop our final prototype.

USER TESTING NOTES/ANALYSIS/MATRIX 

The results from our user tests were gathered and their feedback was mapped. Knowing how frequently an insight was offered led us into our prioritization matrix, so that we could determine what was high priority and doable for us at this stage. We considered our feedback prioritization matrix when making our hifi prototype.

Some of the main changes made through user testing were: Reformatted contacts permission, revamped tutorials to make more intuitive, condensed preferences input pages and standardized components.

Onboarding, Tool Tips, and Preferences

Search, Swipe, Match, Chat

As the first group design challenge (and second prototype ever made) this project taught me a lot about the values and difficulties of collaborative UX design.

Sometimes team members disagree and compromises must be made. This project allowed me to hone in on my leadership skills and manage the project with compassion and patience.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHOOSINE:

• Further develop quick add, finding friends/contacts on the app, and solo search.
• Further develop quick add, finding friends/contacts on the app, and solo search.
• Improve organization of past matches and bookmarks.
• More testing and iteration on the whole specially with the user preferences and profile.