2. Interview Plan
Needfinding domain: Vegan people dining outside
Methodology: Interview
Interview Plan: Find vegan people in vegan restaurants or vegan society and ask them about their dining experience.
Overall Interview Questions:
Introduction:
We are students from Berkeley, we are here to learn about needs for Vegan people dining outside. Would you mind to help us on some interview questions? It will take around 15–20 mins.
- How long have you been vegan?
- When did you become vegan and why?
- In your view, which place in Berkeley has the best vegan food?
- How did you find that place?
- Do you usually find vegan restaurants like that? Walk me through how you usually find vegan places to eat.
- What is your experience eating out or finding good restaurants to eat at? Are there any inconveniences?
- How accessible is vegan food to you when you go out to eat?
- Since you became vegan, how has that experience changed?
- Walk me through your experience when you go eat with other people.
- When hanging out with non-vegan friends, what types of compromises do all members of the party make?
- What types of reactions do you garner from people when they try vegan food for the very first time?
- How do you find vegan places to eat food at if you are in a different country?
- Do you ever (accidentally) end up in places that do not have vegan food? If so, why? How do you deal with that situation?
- Which vegan restaurant do you like the most in the world? Why? Describe your most delightful dining experience.
- What about vegan dining do you like least?
- Do you have any comments about the vegan dining experience that you would like to share with restaurants?
- Is there anything that we did not talk about yet that you want to tell us?
3. Interview Results and Key Insights
User 1 (Conducted by Bowen & Tobias)
Location of interview: The Butcher’s Son (Berkeley, CA)
Time: 09 Sep 2019, 12:40 PM
User Profile : Male, Late 20s, has changed from Vegetarian to Vegan. Pre-med student (do community based medicine). Came for lunch together with family. However, he is the only vegan in the family.
Interview notes: Interview notes for User 1
Insights
From this interview, we observed that it is very easy for the interviewee dining outside in the local area. He enjoys being a vegan and suggests more and more people should get a chance to understand what veganism is. Veganism is not just a diet restriction, it is more about lifestyle (not abusing animals and treating animals as life rather than the product, and care about the global environment and climate change). Small videos on social media will be able to raise public awareness of the vegan lifestyle. Besides, a lot of restaurants actually provide vegan options or they are able to provide customized choices for vegan people which allow them to go dining with friends. Friends and family don’t need to treat vegan people specially or make special arrangements for them. Vegan people can eat together with friends outside in vegan/non-vegan places. No big deal :)
Empathy Map
Findings of Empathy Map
User 1 described himself as a domestic vegan. He doesn’t really find any difficulties when dining outside with friends and family. Normally, he uses Google Maps or prior experiences with different restaurants to find good food. Most restaurants have Vegan options and he can always ask for customization if they don’t have any. He thinks people should be more open-minded in terms of vegan lifestyle. More education on “veganism would be good” should be given to the general public to increase public awareness. He feels support from friends and families and he enjoys being more healthy after becoming vegan.
User needs/goals:
- Needs Well tasting vegan food ;)
- Needs to Encourage others to be open-minded and become vegan
- Needs to be able to Educate the public about veganism and raise public awareness.
User 2 (Conducted by Yi)
Location of interview: Veggie Grill (Berkeley, CA)
Time: 30 September 2019, Noon
User Profile : User 2 lives in Richmond District part of San Francisco, but works in the city of Berkeley. He started the vegan lifestyle about 6 months ago and dines out almost every weekday during his lunch break.
Interview notes: Interview notes for User2
Insights
We observed this user finds social dining a distressing experience when he was going through the process of how he dines out with friends while expressing with a frown. But, he was full of smiles when he animatedly discussed the time when his partner took him to a Vegan brunch place while describing vividly about the food and service. I learn that having support is a major influence when it comes to social dining, especially for people who are transitioning into the vegan lifestyle, or else they find themselves in situations where they are the ones making compromises that leave them unsatisfied either before, duration, or post social gathering.
Empathy Map
Findings of Empathy Map
The user’s disappointment and frustration when describing how his vegan lifestyle has not only affected his relationships with his friends but also dictated his eating habits, in addition to unwarranted time and energy spent, suggest that his transition into the vegan diet has been extremely difficult.
User needs/goals:
- Needs a way to make vegan food more accepted amongst his friends in order for their relationship to be mutual.
- Needs to be able to expand his vegan social circle in order for him to have a positive overall lifestyle.
- Needs to be able to seek out resources that reassure him of his decision to become a vegan so that he can be more confident with his diet.
User 3 (Conducted by Bowen & Tobias)
Location of interview: The Butcher’s Son (Berkeley, CA)
time: 09 Sep 2019, 13:15 PM
User Profile : Male, approx. 30 years old, has been vegan for four years.
Interview notes: Interview notes for User 3
Insights
With this interview, we confirmed that it is generally feasible to find vegan food in the Bay Area (even though it may not always be immediately accessible). The vegan community is growing, and so is the number of offerings targeted at vegan diners. However, two big issues for vegans are international travel to countries with a less pronounced vegan community (e.g. Japan), and work events that do not accommodate vegans. Additionally, our interviewee thinks that more work is needed to convince non-vegans not necessarily to become vegans, but rather that vegan food can also taste good by itself.
Empathy Map
Findings of Empathy Map
The user reported that in his four years of being vegan, the food situation has drastically improved in the United States, and that food can generally be found using various apps, although e.g. the workplace is still not very accommodating.
He thinks that veganism requires more planning and research into foodstuffs and ingredients overall and that improvements in labeling would contribute to the global vegan community.
He uses the HappyCow app to find restaurants (In agreement with his statements that apps are a good way to find vegan food nowadays), and suggests them to his social environment. However, his experiences in Japan (taking hour-long train rides to find food, and ultimately falling back to chains such as 7/11) show that the variety of vegan options found in the US is not necessarily global, and concedes that he generally eats at home rather than at work or at events because accommodation for vegans is still lacking here.
This leaves our interviewee with a general feeling of frustration (especially the experiences at work), but he hopes that over time, people will become more open towards vegan food.
User needs/goals:
- Needs to make non-vegan people more open-minded towards vegan food
- Needs to be able to find food at business events and functions, including client dinners
- Needs to be able to find vegan food in countries with no widespread vegan culture
- Needs to be able to easily identify vegan foods and ingredients
User 4 (Conducted by Shefali)
Location of interview: Cafe Milano (Berkeley, CA)
Time: October 2nd, 8:00pm
User Profile : 19 year-old male, transfer student at UC Berkeley studying biology. Became a vegetarian 4 years ago and became a vegan 1 year ago after being a part of the animal rights movement
Interview notes: Interview notes for User 4
Insights
The interviewee is a huge animal rights activist and officially became a vegan one year ago after learning about the treatment of cows. He tends to cook at home as options outside tend to primarily have American(non-ethnic) food and are expensive. He also mentioned that being a vegan among people around him and in restaurants seemed to be a bit of an inconvenience. For example, when he mentions that he’s vegan, sometimes people (like family) will begin to explain their own philosophies about why it’s okay to eat meat. Additionally, he feels that the “annoying part is more about asking for simple trivial things. Like you feel like you’re being isolated for being vegan” and that “asking to make something vegan — it’s like you’re asking for a favor.” He also wishes the process would be more normalized where people wouldn’t make fun — he’s had experiences where friends who are vegetarians will make fun of other vegans. He also cited food costs as a factor for why he doesn’t go to vegan restaurants, but also did say that vegan meals as a whole tend to be cheaper anyway.
Empathy Map
Findings of Empathy Map
The user’s actions are derived from his passion for the animal rights movements. He says that he generally avoids eating outside and that many vegan places that are cheap tend to have ethnic origins. He thinks that he is causing an inconvenience to others when he asks for vegan options as though it’s a favor. He recommends other restaurants to people who are looking for restaurants to eat but have dietary restrictions and is happy to help. He feels that the concept of veganism still isn’t normalized yet.
User needs/goals:
- Needs to have other people understand that veganism is normal and not question him for his beliefs
- Needs to be able to ask for vegan options without feeling like he’s asking for a favor
- Needs to not have people explain their philosophies about meat when he says he’s vegan
- Needs to have vegan food options that are cheaper and have more of a variety
4. Problem Statement
How might we encourage the adoption of vegan food in social circles and situations that are currently averse to vegan foods
5. Designing for Understanding — Prototyping
Identify Problem and Brainstorming ideas
After interviewing different users, we identified the users’ needs and came up with a number of solutions. We are trying to answer the following questions:
- How might we improve the dining experience for vegans?
- How might we create a good experience at locations that offer vegan food?
- How might we make non-vegans be more open towards eating vegan food from time to time?
To address these questions, we designed the following four prototypes:
Prototyping
1. Foodie (Bowen) — Figma Prototype: Delightful choice
For the Foodie application, We used Figma for the Hi-Fi prototype. The idea is to create an application for vegan and non-vegan people to get discounted price for food options and expanding their social connections as well.
Problems and questions we try to solve for Foodie prototype:
From our last week’s interview, we noticed that some vegan people have problems finding people to eat together with them. They end up eating alone for 2 weeks. The problems are 1) They don’t know where to find people who are also Vegan or who are non-vegan but willing to try vegan food (especially for people who are vegan newbies). 2) Vegan food are pricey for a lot of non-vegan people, They don’t prefer to spend those money eating vegetables. In order to encourage more non-vegan people try vegan food and expand vegan people’s social cycle, we design “Foodie” to collaborate with restaurants who provide vegan options to address these 2 problems.
Questions intend to answer:
- How do we make the socialized element in the application less awkward (more natural and not on purpose)?
- How to help vegan people to find accompanist? Shall we use dining with strangers or provides more easy communication tool through friends circle or restaurant perspective (See VeMenu example below)?
- What is an efficient way for people to decide on what to eat? (E.g should they “like” the food they want, or they choose the food they don’t like and get a surprise dish (See Vegariation example below) ?
Low-Fi Prototype:
First Version:
Second Version:
Iterations of “Join Group” function:
We name it Foodie as it is a food related application and people love to talk about food, everyone enjoys good food (we are all foodie)!
Work flow of the prototype (High-Fi Prototype):
Introduction:
Foodie will collaborate with different restaurants who provide vegan options and issue discount coupons for users. The discounted coupons are pre-set in Foodie’s system and updated regularly (every 2 weeks). Usually, the discounted coupon is for certain food (most of them are vegan food) offered by the restaurant (E.g: 5 $ off for vegan burger). When users are using Foodie, they are able to view different food options from the restaurant (either with discount coupons or normal price). If users happen to like a food option which the food provider also has a promotion on it, they will get a discount coupon for that food. This is called a food match. The coupon requires users to utilize that on a specific time. If users are willing to accept the coupon, they are able to add the coupon in their pocket. They can only hold 4 unused coupons in 2 weeks period. In the meantime, if 2 other people are also interested in the same food and accept the coupon, they have the choice to join as a group and enjoy that food together. For those food with normal price and user select to“like” these food, if there are future promotion on that food, users are still able to receive the “match” notification and have the choice to accept or reject the coupon.
The overall workflow:
- Users first login to Foodie App, there will be instructions on how to use the application. Swipe right or click the smile face to like the food. Swipe left or click on sad face to pass the food.
- Users are also able to select their dietary preferences by clicking on the choices they prefer.
- Users are able to like or dislike different food.
- If there is a food match, the screen will show the coupon information and users can choose to add coupons to their pocket or close the coupon information based on the restaurants’ location and their availability (maximum 4 unused coupons for 2 weeks period).
- If users choose to accept the coupon, they are able to view the coupon information in their pockets. In their pocket, not used coupons are tag as green, used coupons are tag as grey. If they click on the coupon, they are able to see the coupon details, find directions to go to restaurants and find the social group if they are willing to meet new people.
- “Find my group” provide them an option to chat with people who accept the same coupon, and it also provides a map function if they need to find each other on the dining out day.
- Users are able to manage their coupons and groups through my profile page. For example, they can choose to continue the group conversations after the dinning or leave the group.
By using Foodie, people are able to get discounted price for vegan food. This will encourage non-vegan people to try some vegan food. Moreover, Foodie provide vegan people an opportunity to expand their social cycle and make new friends.
Empathy Map and Prototype (What and How):
For all of our interviewed users (User 1,2,3,4), Foodie addresses their needs by encouraging the public to be open minded and try vegan food and raise public awareness. By using Foodie, these users are able to talk to different people (including non-vegan friends as well). they can do more public education on vegan food and encourage others to try on vegan food. Public also get a chance to try out vegan food at lower costs which make them easier to try out new food.
For User 2, who wants to expand his vegan social cycle and seek out resources that reassure him of his decision to become a vegan. Foodie provides the dining group opportunities for him to meet new people and friends. He is able to chat with other vegan people and get support from them if he need.
For User 4, Foodie collaborates with restaurants to provide discount options for cheaper vegan food options. This aligns with user 4’s need on have vegan options that are cheaper.
2. VeMenu (Tobias) — Figma Prototype: Most likely to work
Problems and questions we try to solve for VeMenu prototype:
This prototype attempts to tackle the hurdles encountered by vegans when ordering food in restaurants and to thereby improve the vegan dining experience. Our interviews confirm that it is common for vegans to have to ask about which food offerings are vegan, and about how they might modify other menu items to make them vegan. One of our interviewees reported that this is especially hard while travelling abroad, and another expressed concern about feeling like they were asking for a favor when inquiring about adjustments. With this digitized menu, we address both the informational and the social aspects of this problem.
Low-Fi Prototype:
From the initial low-fidelity prototype, we transformed individual pages into medium-fidelity versions to confirm the rough layout and idea before advancing to the final high-fidelity prototype:
High-Fi Figma prototype:
Our high-fidelity Figma prototype is not just a proof-of-concept design, but also intended to discover whether the system by which users can select substitutions for non-vegan ingredients is sufficiently clear and flexible for the average user.
For the typical user without dietary restrictions, the experience is not much different from a normal restaurant menu, and this prototype is designed to be handled that way — on a tablet handed to customers by the waitstaff in a restaurant. Foods are categorized just like in a standard menu, and there is plenty of room for restaurants to customize the layout and to promote individual items (for example, our prototype’s restaurant wants to upsell the customer on sweet potato fries over normal fries).
However, for vegan users (or any other users with similar dietary restrictions), the menu overview is instead sorted to first show items that already match their dietary requirements. Next, it lists items that are commonly adapted to your needs. Only at the end does it list foods that do not yet match your diet and for which you may need to make custom substitutions. The detailed item view is adjusted to highlight ingredients that do not fit a vegan diet, and the user is prompted to replace these items with alternative ingredients before adding the dish to their order.
The final order overview allows users to modify their choices before placing the order and handing back the tablet. It should also be noted at this point that this menu intentionally only covers the ordering process and not the payment process at the end of the meal, which was not part of the needs discovered during the interviews.
Empathy Map and Prototype (What and How):
VeMenu helps inform vegans of what foods are available to them without having to resort to asking restaurant staff that is potentially underinformed as to the exact extent of their needs, and eliminates the social pressure inherent in asking for substitutions. Our fourth interviewee describes exactly this scenario in their interview: They feel as if asking for substitutions is like asking the restaurant for a favor, even though it should not. Faced with this menu, this user would — after selecting “Vegan” on the dietary restrictions page — be able to easily see which vegan options the restaurant offers, but can just as easily adapt a non-vegan dish (and indeed is presented with common substitutions made by other vegans, to make it even easier to pick a vegan item). Because these types of substitutions are part of the normal ordering flow, there is no feeling of asking for a favor or special treatment.
3. VeganRecs (Shefali) — Figma Prototype: Rational Choice
Problems and questions we try to solve for VeganRecs prototype:
In our interview process, we noticed that two of our interviewees mentioned that there was a stigma associated with mentioning the fact that they were vegan while in a group of friends. In Sabrina’s interview, her interviewee mentioned that as the minority, “it seems like you’re the only one that has to make the compromise. As I have mentioned earlier, I would have to just eat beforehand before I meet up with them. In addition, I’ve just don’t dine out with friends as much.” In Shefali’s interview, her interviewee mentioned that he “overheard a couple of friends talking about other vegan friends and were making fun that they only liked to eat at vegan places.” This prototype aims to solve the difficulty in finding vegan food options with friends in a way that removes the difficulty and need to compromise in deciding where to go.
The question we wanted to answer here was: how can we make the process to choose a place to eat with vegan options seamless?
Low-Fi prototype
High-Fi prototype (link)
Work flow of the prototype:
- The user first is sent to the Welcome page where they are asked to choose whether they would like to find a place for themselves or for a group.
- If they select a place for themselves, they will be taken to a page with recommendations, as well as places they have gone to before.
- If they select a place for a group, then they will have the option to input details about their group, such as the group size, the dietary restrictions, and the types of food they would like.
- After inputting these details, the app takes the user to pages of 3 restaurants that are recommended for this user. The Flying Falafel is one example, and the example page contains more information about the distance from the user and the ratings given. The user is then given the option to choose a restaurant via the green button at the bottom.
Empathy Map and Prototype (What and How):
This app focuses on the empathy map for the user that Sabrina interviewed. He says in his interview, “Social dining is great and all when you do not have any dietary restrictions but it’s an unpleasant experience for those who do…When you are the minority in the group, it seems like you’re the only one that has to make the compromise.” One of the main statements we created to solve these difficulties last week is that a new vegan needs to make vegan food more accepted amongst his friends in order for their relationship to be mutual. This acceptance of his habits among his social circle could thus be a huge factor in his happiness in his social life. This app aims to help vegans and their friends by understanding their group dynamics and food interests, and generating places that are compatible with all of their lifestyles.
4. Vegariation (Sabrina) — Figma & Video Prototype: Dark Horse
Prototype created using Figma with a video walkthrough demo
Problems and questions we try to solve for Vegariation prototype:
This prototype targets the problem of how might we improve the dining experience for vegan food. From the user interviews we’ve conducted, it seems that certain areas/towns have limited vegan restaurants due to lack of demand for them.
The question we intend to answer with this prototype:
The question we intend to answer with this prototype is what can we do to allow vegans to experience different meals with the ability to decide what they aren’t feeling in the moment.
That’s where the concept of Vegariation come to life. Vegariation is a vegan restaurant that allows the user to customize his/her meal with a twist, s/he identifies how s/he does not want the meal to be prepared and what types of items they do not want in their meal. The customers make their decisions by interacting with a touch-screen device in order to customize their meal. After they have confirmed what they do not want, the restaurant whips up a unique meal and is served to the user.
Low-Fi Prototype: (storyboard + mockup wireframe)
Work flow of the prototype:
The user engage the Vegariation application on a touch-screen device through swiping the screen and selecting options:
- The user begins by swiping left with their finger.
- The second screen will ask if the user has any dietary restrictions by selecting the icon or if they do not have any, there is ‘none’ element at the bottom to indicate so, then they swipe again to get through the next page
- The user will be presented with the following screens in order: Preparations, Base, Proteins, Vegetables, Oil, Condiments;
- With each screen, the user will select what they do not want as the option by selecting the icons with labels on them.
- After the user parses through the categories, s/he will be presented with a confirmation screen. In the confirmation screen, the user can modify the list by either adding or removing the item
- If the user wants to add an item they do not want in their meal, they have the option to do that by selecting the box with a plus sign. Then they will be redirected to the screen of the category they have selected. After they have selected/deselected the item(s), they can confirm new modification by clicking done.
- If the user wants to remove the iterm in the confirmation list, s/he can hover onto the icon of them item, a ‘-’ button will pop up, then the user presses it and the item is removed.
- After the user is satisfied with the list, s/he presses the confirm order button.
- Then the screen will indicate that the food is preparing!
- The chef creates a surprise dish for the user.
Empathy Map and Prototype (What and How):
User 1’s potential engagement with Vegariation
This prototype can serve the needs of User 1 as he experiments with restaurant from time to time. The user can select options to exclude certain types of vegetables and see how the combination of other options he did not exclude can bring to his taste palette. User 1 will be presented with numerous options that he will never run out of options to experiment with his vegan.
User 2’s potential engagement with Vegariation
This prototype can boost User’s 2 social engagement with his friends by using the very mindset his friends have about dining at a vegan restaurant. User’s 2 friends and User 2 can bond over this particular dining experience by selecting options they do not like, and this can create a sense of control for both User 2 and User’s 2 friends since they are given options to choose from that satisfies their needs versus just going to a restaurant and have to settle with options that are already determined.
