Food Lives Near You
Stop playing the hunger game 
This was a case study to find out what were the main challenges people are facing when it comes to food. A friend of mine told me he had this constant nagging issue of not knowing what to eat all the time. I could immediately resonate with him since I too, had my issues with food as mentioned earlier. The purpose of this case study was to rapid prototype a food review app called Food Lives Near You.
SCOPE
Mobile app design
Rapid prototyping
ROLE
UX research
User testing
Wireframe
Prototyping
UI design
Problem
Can you recall a time when you made a poor decision because you were hungry? Have you ever visited a highly reviewed restaurant only to be served with food that wasn’t impressive at all? Have you been assigned the daunting task of deciding where to eat for dinner? Chances are, you probably had your fair share of issues from these examples I mentioned. I wanted to solve this problems:
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What am I going to eat today?
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Where can I get good food?
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Can trust this review won’t screw me like last time?
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What sort of options do I have now?
The process
Using the double diamond process, I was able to go through a very systematic yet insightful process to reach my goal. I really wanted to develop a solution that people would use.
Research
I interviewed 6 people from very diverse backgrounds to understand what could be the underlying pain when it comes to a trusted news source for dinning. These questions helped me get to the core issues deterring their food experiences.
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How do you decide what to eat for your next meal (i.e. lunch or dinner)?
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Tell me the last time you had a horrible dining experience. How did you get to know of the place?
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Tell me the last time you had a splendid dining experience. How did you get to know of the place?
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Do you use any form of technology for the dining experience? If yes, how comfortable are you with it?
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How committed are you towards using technology to help you better your food experience?
I focused a lot on these 4 areas to gather more insights that will allow me to gain a better understanding of the problem and come out with a viable solution.
Affinity mapping
Based on the data collected, I identified patterns using the affinity mapping tool.
There were some trends surrounding issues like these:
“Location has to be convenient to where I am currently at.”
“Long queue, waiting time and take forever to pay bill! Don’t trust app reviews anymore!”
“Food availability is the main issue, the company and cravings too!”
There were other trends being spotted as well:
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Unreliable food reviews
Great experience from beginning to the end.
Pleasure and commitment to food apps.
Defining the problem statement
People are unhappy with inaccurate food reviews and the lack of information for convenient food. If this problem is not addressed, it will continue to disrupt the dining experience of people.
The solution
A mobile app that provides accurate, reliable reviews and recommendations for food that is convenient to the users will improve people’s dining experience significantly.
Main features of the app
1. A simple map interface where it shows the user at a specific location. The app then provides reliable suggestions so the user can make more informed decisions.
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2. When user selects the place to eat, user is provided with trustable reviews from his direct or close friends, so he can trust the source.
Storyboard
I created a storyboard to illustrate the process of how the app 'Foodlivesnearyou' can help solve users' problems when it comes to dining. This app tackles the tricky situations people face every day.
Lo-fi prototype for fast user testing
The idea was quickly sketched out on paper using wireframes to get a fast idea of the flow. It allows me to test the flow with my users to see if the screen experience was seamless.
User flow
With the storyboards, especially the product boards, it helped me formulate some basic flow. Here is the general flow in terms of events and also an in-app user flow.
A user flow that illustrates the scenario whenever a user launches the app.
A user flow where the app suggests a place for the user to give him options within the current location.
A user flow illustrating a search results page that has the option to submit or acknowledge reviews of the restaurants.
Hi-fi prototype
After testing the lo-fi prototype, I went ahead to test it out with users. I made sure the map feature was the first thing the user sees when the app launches. It ensures that people know exactly what options are available around them.
Hi-fi prototype
After gathering all the data, I crafted the design using Sketch for my hi-fi mockups.
Nearby restaurant
Launch app
Landing page
Restaurant reviews
Friend's review (module)
Submit review (module)